Phonchan Kraiwatnutsorn (Newey) in Bangkok

(CNN) -- Meet Phonchan Kraiwatnutsorn (Newey) and you quickly get the feeling, she is a no-nonsense young lady with a driving personality.

But you don't need Thai lessons to pronounce her name, because she goes by the nickname "Newey". Most Thais forsake their formal names for a single nickname.

At 30, Newey is a Thai citizen and director of the Youth Venture program in Thailand, an initiative that is empowering young "changemakers," as the parent organization Ashoka calls them, to improve the quality of life in their communities.

Ashoka is a global, not-for-profit organization working to promote social change. What they do and how they do it will be the subject of Newey's blogs, because it is very different from anything you've ever seen. We'll link you to Ashoka's Web site as well.

Newey has quite a track record of working in this field, having co-founded YIY, a youth group that creates opportunities for young people to grow into engaged citizens and social entrepreneurs.

Her day-to-day role as Youth Venture director takes her to all parts of Thailand to meet, encourage and support 14-24 year-olds -- be they middle class, underprivileged, marginalized, or delinquent.

The challenge is to develop an idea that benefits their community. Youth Venture provides them with the necessary tools and resources in addition to linking them with mentors, ultimately allowing them to develop and implement projects that are far more broad and sustaining than they could achieve on their own.

By helping the programs get off the ground, dealing with the obstacles, learning from mistakes, she and her Youth Venture teams are really making a difference in people's lives. Newey's going to show you how they are doing this.

As for Newey, she's a deep individual and an artist at heart. She doggedly pursued her desire to learn the art of bookmaking a few years back, something that requires severe patience, all the way to the U.S. She paid for the trip with her own savings.

"Reading and writing is a way to peace and a channel to express myself," Newey says of her true love.

Over the course of the next year, Newey will show you her work in the teeming city of Bangkok, but also take you to the rural countryside, where conditions can be even more challenging. E-mail to a friend