Biographical research and life stories have contributed to highlighting individual women's lives. While it is always difficult to measure their impact on societal development and to isolate the contribution of their education to this effect, this may more easily be done when women are in the forefront of developments, acting as pioneers for new ideas and movements at times when society is at a turning point. This, in fact, seems to have been the case of Kerstin Hesselgren (1872-1964), nicknamed "Kerstin den Forsta" (Kerstin the First) because she was among the first in Sweden to benefit from new educational opportunities for girls, the first woman to assume certain professional jobs, a leader in social movements and women's organizations, the first female Swedish parliamentarian, and the first woman to join Swedish international delegations to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the League of Nations. Hesselgren is of particular interest in showing not only how her own educational choices determined her career and had an impact on societal development in Sweden, but also in her use of education as an awareness-raising and empowering tool in the work she undertook. She pursued values and ideas and worked in areas that are fundamental to UNESCO's mandate and in many ways represented the social conscience that lies behind the foundation of the United Nations. This article profiles Kerstin Hesselgren and discusses three important areas of her work: social reform, women's rights, and peace and international understanding. (Contains 1 note.)