Saru Jayaraman is the co-founder and President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), which grew into a national movement of restaurant workers, employers and consumers. She then launched One Fair Wage as a national campaign to end all subminimum wages in the United States. The story of Saru and her co-founder’s work founding ROC has been chronicled in the book The Accidental American, and the story of the One Fair Wage campaign has been profiled in the award winning documentary, Waging Change. Saru is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

She was profiled in The New York Times “Public Lives” section in 2005, named one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” in 2008, was 1010 Wins’ “Newsmaker of the Year” and New York Magazine’s “Influentials” of New York City. Saru was listed in CNN’s “Top10 Visionary Women” and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015, and the SF Chronicle ‘Visionary of the Year’ in 2019. She has appeared on CNN with Soledad O’Brien, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, Melissa Harris Perry and UP with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, the Today Show, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Saru is also the author of four books including her latest, One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Pay in America (The New Press, November 2021). Additional publications include Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), Forked: A New Standard for American Dining (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning, (UC Press, 2020). She attended the Golden Globes in January 2018 with Amy Poehler as part of the Times Up action to address sexual harassment.

Recognized as one of 50 Game Changers of PR by PR News and a Champion of PR by PRWeek, Vanessa Wakeman is one of a few black women to found and own a social change agency— helping to shift the paradigm of an industry that is led primarily by white men. She shapes narratives and stories that reflect our multicultural world.

Vanessa is a futurist and strategic advisor. Her work through her company, The Wakeman Agency, focuses on the ecosystem of social change and advancing the efforts of mission-driven causes. Growing up in New York, Vanessa’s activism and commitment to social justice were instilled early on. She organized the workers at her first job, a catering company, to demand and win better labor conditions —when she was only 15. After working her way through college at some of New York City’s top law firms, she landed a position at Morgan Stanley. There, she created a record number of career opportunities for women and people of color in the firm’s technology department.

Vanessa is a trusted advisor to nonprofit organizations and socially responsible companies in the U.S. and internationally. She has successfully led initiatives to support values-driven transformation and communications for boards of directors, leadership, employees and other stakeholder groups.

Vanessa is highly knowledgeable in developing communication strategies, assessing organizational culture, creating safe spaces for difficult conversations, and helping to build frameworks for organizations to cultivate healthy and equitable environments.

During the COVID- 19 pandemic and in the wake of the recent racially motivated murders, she has been called upon by a number of organizations to help them re-imagine their values, culture and operations, through the lens of racial justice.

As a public relations expert and thought leader, Vanessa has created and executed highly successful engagements for clients that include The Alliance for Financial Inclusion, Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, The New York Women’s Foundation, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and many others.

Vanessa is an outspoken voice on the need for more inclusion and equity in the public relations and nonprofit sectors, while also working to amplify the voices of underrepresented groups in the media. Most recently she created She Roars, the first thought leadership training program designed for women. The Narrative Justice Project soon followed, which is a free media training program developed specifically for people of color.

Vanessa has been a keynote presenter, session leader and panelist on topics ranging from philanthropy to thought leadership for women. Recent speaking engagements include UN Women, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, Utah Association of Nonprofits and the Women’s Leadership Institute at Manhattanville College.

In addition to her work at The Wakeman Agency, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Relations Society of America Foundation and the Commission for Public Relations Education, leading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to develop higher education curriculum standards through a multicultural lens.

Samina Ali is an award-winning author, activist and cultural commentator. Her debut novel, Madras on Rainy Days (Farrar, Straus, Giroux), was the winner of France’s prestigious Prix Premier Roman Etranger Award and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in Fiction. The book, about a young woman’s arranged marriage and political awakening, was partly inspired by Samina’s real-life experience growing up bi-culturally in Hyderabad, India and St. Paul, Minnesota.

At the heart of Samina’s work is her belief in personal narrative as a vital force for achieving women’s individual and political freedom – and in the power of new and traditional media as platforms for social transformation. As the curator of the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed virtual exhibition, Muslima: Muslim Women’s Art & Voices, Samina illuminated the multi-dimensional realities of women’s lives to challenge fears and misconceptions of Muslims and Islam within and beyond Muslim communities.

Weaving her personal story with a passionate appeal for women’s equality and justice, Samina’s current project is an account of her near-death experience delivering her firstborn and an unsparing look at gender bias and the crisis of preventable maternal deaths in one of the most advanced healthcare systems in the world. In this memoir-in-progress, Samina describes how she defied the odds by boldly charting her own path to recovery, from relearning to walk alongside her son’s first steps, to retraining her mind — word by word — to write what would become her debut novel.

Samina has spoken extensively at a wide range of universities, from Harvard and Yale Universities to community colleges, as well as at other institutions worldwide, including as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department, a Master Teacher for the Mama Gena School of Womanly Arts and a featured presenter at the Nobel Women’s Initiative 2017 International Conference. The recipient of fiction awards from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, she has been featured in The Economist, The Guardian, Vogue, National Public Radio (NPR) and elsewhere. A regular contributor to The Huffington Post and Daily Beast, she has written for The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications.

Never one to say no to a challenge, Samina defied the odds — again — and gave birth to a second child. She now lives happily with her husband, son and daughter in California.

Amy Ziering is an Oscar nominated and two-time Emmy and Peabody award winning investigative filmmaker whose groundbreaking documentaries have single-handedly transformed and shaped our culture.

Ziering’s works include: NOT SO PRETTY (HBOMAX 2022) a four-part original investigative expose of the cosmetics industry that led to Johnson and Johnson removing products off of shelves; ALLEN v. FARROW (HBO 2021), a seven-time Emmy nominated series examining the accusations of sexual abuse against Woody Allen by Dylan, his daughter with Mia Farrow; ON THE RECORD (HBOMAX 2020) a searing examination of the unique plight women of color face in the wake of assault crimes; The Oscar-nominated THE INVISIBLE WAR (PBS 2012) which broke the story of the epidemic of rape in the US military and led to five congressional hearing and the passing of 35 reforms through congress; THE HUNTING GROUND (CNN 2015) an expose of the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses that ignited sweeping policy reforms at hundreds of institutions; THE BLEEDING EDGE (NETFLIX 2018), the first ever comprehensive critique of the medical device industry’s corruption and malfeasance; compelling industry giant Bayer to remove a harmful device from the market and catalyzing a worldwide debate about regulation and patient safety.

Ziering, along with collaborator Kirby Dick, were the first filmmakers to create a short film for Vanity Fair that debuted as a part of a groundbreaking multimedia project on sexual harassment during the Old Hollywood studio system in their March 2022 issue. Ziering also directed and produced the two-time Webby winning ALLEN v. FARROW podcast (APPLE PODCASTS).

Ziering also co-directed and produced the award-winning DERRIDA (2002), a complex portrait of the world-renowned French philosopher and putative “father of deconstruction,” Jacques Derrida. Other films include OUTRAGE (2009) an expose of closeted politicians who actively legislate against LGBTQI rights – which was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism; Ziering also executive produced Kirsten Johnson’s award-winning CAMERAPERSON, and Josh Fox’s AWAKE – A Dream from Standing Rock.

Throughout Ziering’s filmography, notable accolades her projects have amassed include: 2 Oscar nominations, 12 Emmy nominations, 2 Emmy awards, a Peabody award, an Independent Spirit Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, 2 Webby Awards, a Grammy, the Nestor Almendros Prize for Courage and Filmmaking, the Upton Sinclair Award, the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize, a Gracie Award, and the George Polk Award.

Amy Ziering’s company Jane Doe films’ motto, “we don’t make films, we make history,” has proven true – as Ziering’s work has directly led to the penning and passing of 35 pieces of legislation, shifts in military policy, the removal of dangerous products off our shelves, and provided the necessary kindling that sparked the #metoo movement.

Ziering has worked with Oscar winning composers Ryuichi Sakamoto and Diane Warren, as well as Emmy nominated Michael Abels and Terence Blanchard, and global superstars Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige, and Keke Palmer. She has often appeared as a subject expert on CNN and MSNBC, and has appeared on The Daily Show and Good Morning America.

Known as the co-founder and COO of scrappy-start-up-turned-global-women’s- media-company, BlogHer, Inc. Since selling BlogHer in 2014, Elisa Camahort Page now consults with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and organizations at inflection points when they are contemplating pivots, diversifying and scaling their revenue streams, and looking for better ways to control their narrative.

As one of BlogHer’s co-founders, Elisa was named among Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, one of the most influential women in Web 2.0 and technology by Fast Company, and as one of the seven most powerful people in new media by Forbes Magazine. As a speaker, she’s delivered keynote presentations and conducted high-profile interviews across the globe to audiences numbering in the thousands. A sampling of speaking engagements include: INFORUM@Commonwealth Club, United State of Women,TEDx, DLD Women, SXSW, DENT, and BlogHer.

When not speaking or conducting interviews with luminaries such as Guy Kawasaki, Tig Notaro, Christy Turlington Burns and Luvvie Ajayi, Elisa is working with leaders at every level to identify, prioritize, and strategize their next big leaps, ensuring that they build a diverse, inclusive community and workforce, online and off.

Most recently, with the success of her book, Road Map for Revolutionaries, published by Ten Speed Press, she is working to provide practical tactics for engaging in effective day-to-day activism and advocacy at all levels in today’s gridlocked, heavily-surveilled, and politically volatile landscape.

Kamilah Willingham is writer, national activist, and civil rights advocate. Kamilah’s work is grounded in advancing the rights of survivors of sexual violence in prisons, schools, and beyond, highlighting the culture of silence and inequity that dominates social and systemic responses to gender-based violence. In 2016 Kamilah spearheaded the viral social media campaign, #JustSaySorry. This campaign encouraged survivors of campus sexual assaults and gender-based violence to petition for an apology from their institutions, calling attention to the resilience of survivors and the failures of schools to to submit to basic measures of accountability.

Kamilah investigates the consequences of patriarchy and misogyny, at the intersections of race and sex, and illustrates how our culture, norms and institutions are complicit in this abuse. Kamilah has trained a variety of stakeholders, from prison guards to campus officials, on their responsibilities to prevent and address sexual violence among their ranks and within their environments. Through this work, Kamilah invites audiences to explore healing from trauma as a path to resistance and revolution. Through her nuanced and personal perspective Kamilah helps audiences imagine alternative systems for healing and reconciliation outside of our justice system.

Since graduating Harvard Law School in 2011, Kamilah’s scholarship has been published in Teen Vogue, VICE, Huffpost, The Nation, The Establishment, and others. Kamilah shared her personal experience of surviving sexual assault and civil rights violations as a student at Harvard Law School in the award-winning 2015 documentary THE HUNTING GROUND. She currently sits on the board of the Equal Rights Amendment Coalition and is a mother of two.

Kori Cioca is a proud veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. She is also a survivor of military sexual assault.

The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that 20% of active-duty female soldiers and 1% of active-duty male soldiers are sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. military. Only 8% of reported cases are ever prosecuted, and 2% result in convictions.

In 2005, Kori was violently raped by her supervising officer. He hit her across the face, dislocating her jaw, and relegating her to years of pain, both physical and emotional. The commanding officer was never convicted, and the Department of Veterans Affairs denied Kori the medical benefits to pay for the surgery she needed for the nerve damage to her face. Kori is presently receiving nerve block injections and has spent years on a soft food diet.

Kori bravely tells her story in the acclaimed documentary film The Invisible War, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards. Focusing on the powerful stories of rape victims, The Invisible War exposes the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling women and men’s struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. It also features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm of conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long-hidden history, and what can be done to bring about much-needed change.

Kori is now speaking at military bases and events around the country and is an advocate for survivors of military sexual assault. In 2012 Newsweek magazine named her one of the world’s “150 Most Fearless Women” and she was one of fifty women to make MORE Magazine’s 3rd Annual Fierce List. In 2014, Kori received an Outstanding Hero of the Year Award from the American Red Cross.

Kori lives with her husband (also a Coast Guard veteran) and their two children.

Mallika Dutt wakes leaders up to our interconnected truth and inspires us to question our current paradigms. She provides us with approaches and tools to strategically shake up and re-envision the world. Mallika has honed this approach through decades of experience leading culture change in entrepreneurial, nonprofit, and philanthropic fields. Her unique methodology combines ancient wisdom, contemplative practices, and social justice activism. The result? Connection and transformation.

As a strategic innovator, Mallika has pioneered effective approaches for social change through the founding of several nonprofits, including Breakthrough and Sakhi for South Asian Women. She has also provided transformational leadership in her roles as a Program Officer for Human Rights and Social Justice at the Ford Foundation’s New Delhi Office, the Director of the Norman Foundation, and the Associate Director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University.

Now, Mallika leverages her experience as a changemaker to catalyze a new, interconnected leadership, through program design, facilitation, public speaking, and coaching. Her intersectional methodology incorporates creative and contemplative approaches, including: narrative strategy, storytelling, somatic embodiment, energy medicine, yoga and mindfulness practices.
A recipient of multiple awards, she received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2016. Mallika has served on several boards and committees and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A graduate of NYU Law School and Columbia University’s School of International Affairs, Mallika began her career as an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton. She is also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from her undergraduate college, Mount Holyoke.

Mónica Ramírez is a long-time advocate, organizer, and attorney fighting to eliminate gender-based violence and secure gender equity. For over two decades, she has fought for the civil and human rights of women, children, and immigrants. In 2003, Mónica created the first legal project in the United States dedicated to addressing gender discrimination against farmworker women, which she later expanded to create Esperanza: The Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2014, Mónica founded Justice for Migrant Women to provide technical assistance to lawyers, advocates, political leaders and law enforcement on addressing workplace sexual violence, as well as other issues confronting migrant women. She is also a co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (The National Farmworker Women’s Alliance), which is the first national farmworker women’s organization in the US.

In November 2017, Mónica wrote a letter to women in the entertainment industry on behalf of Alianza that was published in TIME magazine and has been credited with helping to spark the TIME’S UP movement. In 2018, she attended the Golden Globes with Laura Dern as a part of the TIME’S UP action. Mónica is a leader in efforts to build a cross sector movement to end workplace sexual violence. She has also been recognized as a prominent voice in advancing the rights of low-paid workers, immigrants and women in the United States.

Mónica has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work, including Harvard Kennedy School’s inaugural Gender Equity Changemaker Award, the Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, and Forbes Mexico included her on its 2018 list of 100 Powerful Women, among other recognitions. In November 2018, she was awarded the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award for Social Progress on behalf of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas for the “Dear Sisters” letter and their role in the TIME’S UP movement.

As a Chicago creative artist and entrepreneur, Priya Shah is building a network of artists and collaborators dedicated to igniting social awareness and change through art and imagination.

Shah’s ever-evolving passion for art and travel has led her to help better communities in Chicago and around the world. Her volunteer work in developing countries has allowed her to shape her purpose and connect issues impacting youth, both locally and abroad. This has culminated into her founding the non-profit organization The Simple Good, which aims to connect the meaning of “good” from around the world in order to empower at-risk youth to become positive activists through art and discussion. By uniting communities under a universal truth, Shah hopes to bridge understanding across all walks of life in order to bring down obstacles separating us in working towards improving the lives of our children and in turn, our future. In March 2015, Priya was asked to present her journey at TEDx River North where she delivered a passionate talk called “How the Simple Things Create Hope.”

Since then, she has received a number of honors including being selected as an Ariane de Rothschild Fellow at Cambridge University, Brand Ambassador for Marc Fisher’s #MAKEYOURMARC Women in Philanthropy, winner of MADE Magazine’s Impact List 2016, Chicago Women’s Magazine Changemaker, amongst others. Most recently, she is the Executive Producer for a documentary film on bringing The Simple Good to post-genocide Rwanda called ‘Project: Building Hope.’