Michelle Bachelet

On September 1, 2018 Michelle Bachelet assumed her functions as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Established in 1993, Ms. Bachelet is its seventh Commissioner. Ms. Bachelet was elected President of Chile on two occasions (2006-2010 and 2014-2018) and was the first female president of Chile. During her presidential tenures, she promoted the rights of all, but particularly those of the most vulnerable. Among her many achievements include education and tax reforms, the creation of the National Institute for Human Rights, the establishment of the Ministry of Women and Gender Equality, the adoption of quotas to increase women’s political participation, and the approval of Civil Union Act legislation which granted rights to same sex couples. In 2011, she was named the first Director of UN Women, an organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of women and girls internationally. As Co-Chair of the High-Level Steering Group for Every Woman Every Child, Ms. Bachelet launched Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean, the first platform for tailored, regional implementation of the EWEC Global Strategy. Michelle Bachelet has a Medical Degree in Surgery, with a specialization in Pediatrics and Public Health. She also studied military strategy at Chile's National Academy of Strategy and Policy and at the Inter-American Defense College in the United States.

Brian Heilman

Brian Heilman's work focuses on eliminating harmful masculine norms, preventing all forms of gender-based violence, and achieving broader social justice in the United States and around the world. As Senior Research Officer at Promundo, Brian has co-authored the 2017 and 2019 editions of the State of the World’s Fathers, and continues to travel extensively to lead new research and programs on masculinities and violence.

Mabel Bianco

Mabel Bianco is a feminist and the founder, in 1989, and president of Fundacion para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer, in Argentina, an NGO with ECOSOC status. Bianco is Co-Chair of the NGO Committee for the Commission on the Status of Women Latin America and Caribbean and elected OP of the Women's Major Group for Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, Bianco serves as Coordinator of the global campaign Women Won't Wait End HIV and Violence NOW!, a member of the Advisory Board of the  Latin America and Caribbean Women's Health Network (LACWHN) since 2000, Board Member from 1992 till 2000. She is the author of 8 books and 150 articles.

Jama Jack

Jama Jack is a Women Deliver Young Leader and the Communications Manager at Think Young Women (TYW), a youth-led organization based in The Gambia. She is passionate about teaching girls and young women about women’s rights and using communication as a tool for social change. At TYW, Jama is responsible for leading communication processes and creating effective advocacy and community engagement strategies for the organization. Through her work, she positioned effective communication on her organization’s work, leading to more partnerships Jama inspires and mentors a new generation of youth advocates effectively using new media to communicate and engage with peers and communities on issues of interest, including women’s rights.

Lyric Thompson

Lyric Thompson is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this capacity she leads the institution’s formulation of evidence-based policy recommendations and manages ICRW’s advocacy efforts with the U.S. Government and internationally. She is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University, where she teaches a graduate level course on women’s rights advocacy.Lyric is on the board of North Carolina Women United and leads or is a member of a number of advocacy coalitions on women’s rights issues, including Girls Not Brides USA, the Coalition for Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality, the Coalition to End Gender-Based Violence Globally, the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and the Coalition for Adolescent Girls. She is on the Editorial Board of Apolitical, and writes regularly on gender and foreign policy for such outlets as Ms., Huffington Post, Devex, The Hill, Thomson-Reuters Foundation and Foreign Policy.

Lopa Banerjee

Lopa Banerjee is the Director of the Civil Society Division at UN Women. She leads UN Women’s work on partnering with, supporting and strengthening women’s rights groups and civil society networks as well as their contribution, participation and influence in policy discussion at global, regional and national levels. Lopa’s work focuses on partnership development with civil society organizations to influence global action on gender equality, in particular related to standard setting, policy discussion and stakeholder accountability.A gender and human rights thematic expert with substantive experience in social policy and governance issues across Asia and Africa, Lopa has worked for over 3 decades on international development, policy advocacy, communication and partnership building, across the UN and in the private sector in different countries. Lopa’s areas of specialization include feminist policy advocacy and analysis, and inclusive partnership development and engagement. She lives in New York City.

Yasmina Zaidman

Yasmina Zaidman is the Chief Partnerships Officer at Acumen, which works to change the way the world tackles poverty. She leads its work with strategic corporate partners that share Acumen’s commitment to entrepreneurial approaches to tackling poverty. She spearheaded Acumen’s gender integration work, co-authoring the report “Women and Social Enterprises: How Gender Integration can Boost Entrepreneurial Solutions to Poverty” (ICRW). Ms. Zaidman has worked in the arenas of international development, corporate sustainability and social entrepreneurship for more than 20 years. She is on the board of the White Ribbon Alliance, which supports advocacy for safe birth for women around the world.

Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan

Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan was cited as one of the top 50 women in business by Business Today, a leading magazine in India in the year 2017 and “Entrepreneur of the Year in Social Business Category” by Forbes India in 2018.

She has a doctorate in Development Studies with 30 publications in the areas of labour and employment and gender issues to her credit. Gayathri was also a speaker at the EY World Entrepreneur Forum 2017 at Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Between 1999 and 2007, Gayathri worked for the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency. She co-founded LabourNet in 2006 with a vision to enable livelihoods and enhance quality of life through Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship. LabourNet’s model has been widely acclaimed as one of the few companies in this space which is run profitably and having far reaching impact. LabourNet has impacted about a million lives, empowering youth, men and women to earn a decent living or become profitable micro entrepreneurs.

Yen Do

Based in Vietnam, Yen focuses on investment opportunities in Vietnam and the Philippines. Prior to joining Patamar Capital, Yen was a Business Intelligence Analyst at Trust Circle Vietnam Ltd., a local fintech start-up with the mission to serve the financial needs of ordinary people using technology. Prior to Trust Circle, Yen started her career as an investment banking analyst in Vietnam’s leading brokerage firm, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC). Yen graduated cum laude from North Central College, Illinois where she pursued a B.S. in Finance and B.A. in Global Studies, and served in multiple student-led organizations.

Robert Webster

Bob Webster is a Managing Director at SEAF, currently supporting a number of initiatives, including SEAF’s Women’s Opportunity Fund in SE Asia. Mr. Webster has been an active trainer and advisor in impact investing, including for the GIIN, ANDE, Santa Clara University and the Harvard Business School. He also serves as the mentor for investment readiness for the social enterprise accelerator at Santa Clara University. Bob holds an MBA in finance and a BA in Mathematics from Indiana University. He completed Harvard University’s Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development Executive Program, and he has completed post-graduate work in agricultural economics at the University of London.

Katja Freiwald

Katja Freiwald has been working with Unilever for more than 10 years and has built her career around a broad expertise in consumer and B2B marketing. She leads on developing the advocacy and partnerships strategies on the areas of gender equality and livelihoods, and has extensive experience in developing and implementing successful partnerships with organizations such as: UN Women, WFP, IFAD, GAIN, PSI, Acumen and governmental organizations such as GIZ and the Dutch Government. Katja uses her marketing expertise to the overall development of partnerships supporting behavioral change campaigns as well as seeking innovative business models to deliver sustainable development for business and communities.

Monica Magoke-Mhoja

Dr. Magoke-Mhoja brings over 25 years of experience in leading women’s rights programs including designing and implementing collaborative community and international programs on land rights  and gender-based violence. She is the first chairperson of WiLDAF-Tanzania and the first coordinator of the United Nations’ CEDAW Task Force in Tanzania. She is also the founder of the Women’s Legal Aid Center and facilitated the establishment of paralegal centers to provide legal aid services. She is a 2003 recipient of the American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Award for significant contribution to human rights, rule of law and access to justice.

Soledad Tlehuactle González

Soledad is an active member and president of the Association of Foresters of the Sierra of Zongolica, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Mexican Network of Peasant Forestry Organizations. Her role within the organization includes aiding women victims of domestic violence, helping women access education as a means to prevent violence, and advocacy to strengthen the rights of women and children as well as access to economic opportunities. Soledad is also a member of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests, a regional organization dedicated to defending the land and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples and forest communities.

Kalpana Giri

Kalpana Giri is a forester by training and action researcher by practice with substantive experience in development policy and practice. She has implemented environmental development projects, primarily in the Asia-Pacific Region, and has provided oversight to all aspects of research and project management, including planning, implementation, evaluation and upscaling. Her areas of technical expertise include action research, policy analysis, gender equity and social inclusion, governance, tenure and developing enabling environments within projects, programs and organizations. She excels in building international, regional, national and community sector partnerships, with demonstrated success in establishing a network of “Gender Champions” who are influencing gender equality in more than 20 key climate change, REDD+, and FLEGT policies and processes in six countries in the Asia-Pacific.

Silene Ramirez

Silene is the Gender Justice lead at the global Coalition Rights and Resource Initiative. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, with an M.A. in Women’s, Gender and Sexuality studies and holds a B.A. in international relations from the National University of Costa Rica. She has worked throughout Latin America on topics related to Indigenous Peoples and Afro-descendant communities’ collective tenure rights, rural and indigenous women’s leadership, health and education. In her home country, Costa Rica, she worked with Amnesty International’s Regional Office with the program Stop Violence Against Women and collaborated with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights.

Memory Zonde-Kachambwa

Memory Zonde-Kachambwa is a pan-African feminist and social-justice activist. She is a recognized cross-cultural thought leader in movement-building and feminist organizing in policy, advocacy, and networking. She has over 18 years of experience developing, managing, and implementing programs promoting women and girls rights regionally and globally. Memory has extensive front-line experience implementing campaigns/policy advocacy initiatives advancing human rights, gender equality, economic justice, sexual-rights and bodily autonomy, transformational leadership, ending-violence-against women and girls and  sustainable development. She passionately dismantles and disrupts patriarchy, neo-liberal systems and structures that oppress and deny women dignity.

Shruti Arora

Shruti has been working on issues of Gender and Sexuality with a feminist understanding since 2011. She has been part of various campaigns, and activist and advocacy forums aimed at understanding, engaging with and speaking out against issues like street sexual harassment, moral policing, control over women and trans people's mobility in public spaces, and legal reforms on sexual violence (post-2012 rape case in Delhi).

Fionna Smyth

Fionna Smyth oversees Oxfam’s humanitarian campaigning to ensure the rights of those affected by crisis. She has worked in development and human rights for 15 years for Oxfam, Amnesty and the UN.

Mbathio Diaw

Marisa Viana

Marisa Viana is currently the Executive Coordinator of RESURJ (Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice Alliance), a transnational feminist alliance of activists working towards the fulfillment sexual and reproductive right and health for all. Marisa’s commitment and dedication to social justice, gender equality and human rights is deeply rooted in her experiences growing up in a resource-poor area of the Brazilian Amazon where discrimination and violence against girls and women continues to be the norm. Marisa’s experience spans policy advocacy, program development and evaluation, implementation of youth-friendly health services, grant making, and young feminist organizing. She has led the Association for Women’s Rights and Development (AWID)’s Young Feminist Program; worked at the Foundation for Tropical Medicine in the Brazilian Amazon implementing youth friendly health services program for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS, and she also served as Latin America Program Associate for the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC). She is a member of the BRICS Feminist Watch, the Vecinas Feministas for sexual and reproductive justice in Latin America, and an advisor to Mama Cash. Marisa has a Master in Public Health from Columbia University.