Ai-Jen Poo
Ai-jen Poo is the Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), the leading organization working to build power, respect, and fair labor standards for the 2.5 million nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers in the U.S. She began organizing immigrant women workers in 1996 as the Women Workers Project organizer at CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities in New York City. In 2000, she co-founded Domestic Workers United (DWU), a city-wide, multiracial organization of domestic workers. DWU led the way to the passage of the nation’s first Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2010, historic legislation that extends basic labor protections to over 200,000 domestic workers in New York state. DWU helped to organize the first national meeting of domestic worker organizations at the US Social Forum in 2007, which resulted in the formation of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She has been NDWA’s director since April 2010. Ai-jen serves on the Board of Social Justice Leadership, the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation, the Labor Advisory Board at Cornell ILR School, Momsrising, National Jobs with Justice, the New Labor Forum Editorial Board, Working America and the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.
Ai-jen was the 2000 recipient of an Open Society Institute New York City Community Fellowship, the recipient of the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award, the Ernest de Maio Award from Labor Research Association, the Woman of Vision Award from Ms. Foundation for Women and in 2009 was named as one of Crain's "40 Under 40" and New York Moves Magazine "Power Women" Awards. More recently, she is a recipient of the Alston Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color, the Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Fellowship at University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women, and the Prime Movers Fellowship. In 2010, Feminist Press recognized her in their "40 Under 40" awards. In honor of the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, Women Deliber recognized Ai-jen as one of 100 women internationally who are "delivering" for other women. In 2011, she received Independent Sector’s American Express NGen Leadership Award. In 2012, Ai-jen was named on Newsweek’s 150 Fearless Women list and on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Ai-jen was the 2000 recipient of an Open Society Institute New York City Community Fellowship, the recipient of the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award, the Ernest de Maio Award from Labor Research Association, the Woman of Vision Award from Ms. Foundation for Women and in 2009 was named as one of Crain's "40 Under 40" and New York Moves Magazine "Power Women" Awards. More recently, she is a recipient of the Alston Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color, the Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Fellowship at University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women, and the Prime Movers Fellowship. In 2010, Feminist Press recognized her in their "40 Under 40" awards. In honor of the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, Women Deliber recognized Ai-jen as one of 100 women internationally who are "delivering" for other women. In 2011, she received Independent Sector’s American Express NGen Leadership Award. In 2012, Ai-jen was named on Newsweek’s 150 Fearless Women list and on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Saima Hasan, '08
Saima Hasan is the Founder of Roshni, a nonprofit organization that empowers girls in India to break the cycle of poverty through employability and life skills training programs. In 2008, while a Senior at Stanford, she launched Roshni with 30 girls and has since led the organization's growth to train over 5,000 girls across India, over 90% of whom have broken the cycle of poverty. Saima has been appointed by the Supreme Court of India to a National Commission to influence country-wide education and livelihood policies for adolescent girls, and has been invited to present before President Abdul Kalam and Education Minister Kapil Sibal. She has also been named a "Global Shaper" by the World Economic Forum. Saima graduated from Stanford in 2008 and will be joining Harvard Business School in the Fall of 2013.
Emily May
Emily May is an international leader in the anti-street harassment movement, and has been named one of twelve “women to watch in 2012” by the Daily Muse. In 2005, at the age of 24, she co-founded Hollaback! (iHollaback.org) in New York City, and in 2010 she became the first full-time executive director. Hollaback!’s mission is to give women and LGBTQ folks an empowered response to street harassment, and ultimately, to end it. Emily, through Hollaback, hopes to leverage the possibilities offered by the Internet to tackle discrimination, by transforming discrimination from a lone experience into a piece of a larger, public movement. Hollaback! offers gives women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals an empowered, real-time response to street harassment that will build public awareness on why street harassment matters, and how it hurts. Emily, who holds a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics in Social Policy, argues that a crowd-sourced movement is the key to changing policy and minds, and ultimately, creating a world where everyone has the right to feel safe and confident. Prior to running Hollaback!, Emily worked in the anti-poverty world as a case manager, political action coordinator, director of development, and most recently, a one-woman research and development team. She has also worked on four political campaigns. When feminist icon Gloria Steinem was asked “What women today inspire you and make you feel that the movement continues?” Her response was, “Emily May of Hollaback! who has empowered women in the street, literally.” In 2008, Emily won the Stonewall Women’s Award, in 2010 the Women’s Media Center selected her as one of thirty “Women Making History” along with Rachel Maddow, and in 2011 she was selected as one of “21 leaders for the 21st century” by Women’s E-news, won the “40 under 40″ award from the New Leadership Council, and was named an Ashoka “Changemaker.” In 2012 she was named one of 20 women “leading the way” by the Huffington Post, a prestigious list that includes Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Diane Sawyer, and Sonia Sotomeyor, and one of Jezebel’s “25 kick-ass and amazing women we love.”
Jessica Greer Morris
Jessica Greer Morris is a human rights advocate and published playwright listed in Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of the 150 Fearless Women who “shake up the world” for her innovative leadership at Girl Be Heard (formerly Project Girl Performance Collective). Jessica brings her expertise in the area of public health, strategic management and communications to Girl Be Heard, having been a consultant for many years. In this role, she became a principal of Man Up, a global, youth-led campaign to stop violence against women. She helped launch Man Up in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup with 100 young activists from 25 countries.
Jessica also wrote and starred in a New York Times-acclaimed one-woman show, Searching for a Mensch. She has produced theatrical work for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women conference, TED Women, a special performance at the White House, the Samuel French One-Act Competition, NYC Fringe Festival, and the Estrogenius Festival. Last year, she was commissioned to take Girl Be Heard on a five-city tour with the United Nations Girl Up Foundation. Jessica recently did a TED talk at Columbia’s Teacher College about how storytelling and fostering gender equity in education inspires her work.
Jessica graduated from Columbia University with a Masters in Public Health and was asked to serve as the Acting Director of the Executive MPH Program at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. She then worked as an HIV/AIDS consultant for the International Center for AIDS Care and Prevention, one of the largest AIDS-service providers in the developing world, before becoming Communications and Development Director at Family Care International. Jessica lives in Brooklyn Heights with her husband and feisty, identical twin boys.
Jessica also wrote and starred in a New York Times-acclaimed one-woman show, Searching for a Mensch. She has produced theatrical work for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women conference, TED Women, a special performance at the White House, the Samuel French One-Act Competition, NYC Fringe Festival, and the Estrogenius Festival. Last year, she was commissioned to take Girl Be Heard on a five-city tour with the United Nations Girl Up Foundation. Jessica recently did a TED talk at Columbia’s Teacher College about how storytelling and fostering gender equity in education inspires her work.
Jessica graduated from Columbia University with a Masters in Public Health and was asked to serve as the Acting Director of the Executive MPH Program at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. She then worked as an HIV/AIDS consultant for the International Center for AIDS Care and Prevention, one of the largest AIDS-service providers in the developing world, before becoming Communications and Development Director at Family Care International. Jessica lives in Brooklyn Heights with her husband and feisty, identical twin boys.
Leila Janah
Leila Janah is the founder of Samasource, an award-winning social business that connects people living in poverty with “microwork”— small, computer-based tasks that build skills and generate life-changing income. She serves on the boards of OneLeap and TechSoup Global and as an advisor to mobile shopping app RevelTouch. Prior to beginning her work with Samasource, Janah served as a Visiting Scholar with the “Stanford Program on Global Justice”, and the Australian National University’s “Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics”. She is the founding Director of “Incentives for Global Health, an initiative to increase R&D spending on diseases of the poor, and is a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners (now Booz & Co.). She has also worked at the World Bank, and as a travel writer for Let’s Go in Mozambique, Brazil, and Borneo. Janah is the recipient of a 2011 World Technology Award, as well as a 2012 Tech Fellow Award. She received a BA from Harvard and lives in San Francisco.
Peta Lindsay
Peta Lindsay is the 2012 presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Lindsay is a founding member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and a member of the PSL’s Central Committee.
A 2008 graduate of Howard University, Lindsay currently lives in Los Angeles where she remains a leader and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California with the goal of becoming a public school teacher.
Born in Virginia, Lindsay spent much of her childhood in Philadelphia where, as a middle school student, she became an organizer with the Philadelphia Student Union, a citywide group struggling against racism and for education rights. In 1996, she helped lead a protest in which 2,000 students walked out of Philadelphia schools to advocate for increased public school funding.
For over a decade, Lindsay has helped to lead countless demonstrations across the country against imperialist wars, racism, budget cuts, tuition hikes, police brutality, anti-LGBT bigotry, and in support of immigrant rights, women’s rights and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and has been a tireless advocate for the rights of working people and for socialism.
A 2008 graduate of Howard University, Lindsay currently lives in Los Angeles where she remains a leader and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California with the goal of becoming a public school teacher.
Born in Virginia, Lindsay spent much of her childhood in Philadelphia where, as a middle school student, she became an organizer with the Philadelphia Student Union, a citywide group struggling against racism and for education rights. In 1996, she helped lead a protest in which 2,000 students walked out of Philadelphia schools to advocate for increased public school funding.
For over a decade, Lindsay has helped to lead countless demonstrations across the country against imperialist wars, racism, budget cuts, tuition hikes, police brutality, anti-LGBT bigotry, and in support of immigrant rights, women’s rights and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, and has been a tireless advocate for the rights of working people and for socialism.
Janet Hanson
Janet Hanson is widely respected as a leading entrepreneur, and is recognized as a unique voice and champion for women globally. As CEO and Founder of 85 Broads, Janet has built a global network community of 30,000 trailblazing women who want to leverage their best personal and professional relationships to create greater success for themselves and each other.
Launched in 1997, the “founding members” of 85 Broads were women who worked for Goldman Sachs at 85 Broad Street, the firm’s NYC headquarters. Today, trailblazing women are invited to join 85 Broads from every corner of the globe and from every possible career path. As a multi-cultural, multi-generational network, 85 Broads members live, work, and study in 82 different countries and work for thousands of for-profit and not-for-profit companies worldwide.
After graduating from Wheaton College and Columbia Business School, Janet joined Goldman Sachs in 1977. In 1986, she became the first woman in the firm’s history to be promoted to sales management. Following her 14-year career at Goldman Sachs, Janet founded Milestone Capital Management, a $2 billion institutional money management company. From 2004 to 2007, Janet was a Managing Director and Senior Adviser to the President of Lehman Brothers. Janet is also an avid investor and frequently speaks and writes about the importance of women becoming savvy investors. Janet is a member of the Kellogg Center for Executive Women’s Steering Committee. She is a member of the Forbes Executive Women’s Board. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College and a current member of the Board of The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. She is an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University and serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Talent Innovation. She has received a number of awards and honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College in 2007. Janet’s greatest passions are her two spectacular children—Meredith and Chris.
Launched in 1997, the “founding members” of 85 Broads were women who worked for Goldman Sachs at 85 Broad Street, the firm’s NYC headquarters. Today, trailblazing women are invited to join 85 Broads from every corner of the globe and from every possible career path. As a multi-cultural, multi-generational network, 85 Broads members live, work, and study in 82 different countries and work for thousands of for-profit and not-for-profit companies worldwide.
After graduating from Wheaton College and Columbia Business School, Janet joined Goldman Sachs in 1977. In 1986, she became the first woman in the firm’s history to be promoted to sales management. Following her 14-year career at Goldman Sachs, Janet founded Milestone Capital Management, a $2 billion institutional money management company. From 2004 to 2007, Janet was a Managing Director and Senior Adviser to the President of Lehman Brothers. Janet is also an avid investor and frequently speaks and writes about the importance of women becoming savvy investors. Janet is a member of the Kellogg Center for Executive Women’s Steering Committee. She is a member of the Forbes Executive Women’s Board. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Wheaton College and a current member of the Board of The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. She is an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University and serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for Talent Innovation. She has received a number of awards and honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College in 2007. Janet’s greatest passions are her two spectacular children—Meredith and Chris.
DEBBIE STERLING, '05
Debbie Sterling is a female engineer and founder of GoldieBlox, a toy company out to inspire the next generation of female engineers. She has made it her mission in life to tackle the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math.
GoldieBlox is a book series+construction set that engages kids to build through the story of Goldie, the girl inventor who solves problems by building simple machines. Debbie writes and illustrates Goldie's stories, taking inspiration from her grandmother, one of the first female cartoonists and creator of "Mr. Magoo". Her company, launched in 2012, raised over $285,000 in 30 days through Kickstarter, and has been featured in numerous publications such as The Atlantic and Forbes.
Prior to founding GoldieBlox, Debbie served as the Marketing Director of Lori Bonn, a national jewelry company. For the past 7 years, she has also served as a brand strategy consultant for a wide variety of organizations including Microsoft, T-Mobile, Organic Valley and the New York Knicks.
Debbie's inspiration to create a mission-driven company came in 2008, when she spent 6 months volunteering at a grassroots nonprofit in rural India. She created a viral-video fundraising campaign called "I Want a Goat", raising over $30,000 for economic and educational development in the region. This experience helped pave the way to finding her true passion: inspiring the next generation of female engineers.
Debbie completed her degree in engineering at Stanford (Product Design, '05) and currently lives with her husband in San Francisco.
GoldieBlox is a book series+construction set that engages kids to build through the story of Goldie, the girl inventor who solves problems by building simple machines. Debbie writes and illustrates Goldie's stories, taking inspiration from her grandmother, one of the first female cartoonists and creator of "Mr. Magoo". Her company, launched in 2012, raised over $285,000 in 30 days through Kickstarter, and has been featured in numerous publications such as The Atlantic and Forbes.
Prior to founding GoldieBlox, Debbie served as the Marketing Director of Lori Bonn, a national jewelry company. For the past 7 years, she has also served as a brand strategy consultant for a wide variety of organizations including Microsoft, T-Mobile, Organic Valley and the New York Knicks.
Debbie's inspiration to create a mission-driven company came in 2008, when she spent 6 months volunteering at a grassroots nonprofit in rural India. She created a viral-video fundraising campaign called "I Want a Goat", raising over $30,000 for economic and educational development in the region. This experience helped pave the way to finding her true passion: inspiring the next generation of female engineers.
Debbie completed her degree in engineering at Stanford (Product Design, '05) and currently lives with her husband in San Francisco.