Lina Abirafeh, PhD

Dr. Lina Abirafeh, (Executive Director of the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University) is based in New York and Lebanon. Her background is in gender-based violence prevention and response in development and humanitarian contexts.

She brings over 20 years’ experience in countries such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nepal, and others.

Her 2015 TEDx talk summarizes her experience. Lina completed her doctoral work from the London School of Economics and published “Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention” based on her research.

She speaks and publishes frequently on a range of gender issues. In 2018, Lina was listed as one of the Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People in Global Policy – one of only two Arabs to make the list.

Diana Abou Abbas

Diana Abou Abbas is the Executive Director of Marsa – Sexual Health Center – in Beirut, Lebanon. She has grown as a person and as a professional along with Marsa since 2011. She is a people aficionado and an activist for sexual and reproductive rights, LGBTIQ, and women’s rights. She strives for respect in a country where a fundamental right has become a challenge. Diana graduated from the Lebanese American University with a degree in Communication Arts, and has invested her passion for media and communication in Marsa’s awareness campaigns and promotional videos.

Marsa Sexual Health Center was launched in 2011 as a safe environment to promote sexual and reproductive health rights. The center provides comprehensive, sexual healthcare services with a multidisciplinary team in a safe, welcoming, accessible and friendly environment that is free of judgment and bias with a focus on women, vulnerable groups, and economically disadvantaged populations.

OluTimehin Adegbeye

OluTimehin Adegbeye is a writer, speaker, and advocate whose work focuses on human rights, inclusion and justice in the areas of Gender, Sexualities, and Urbanisation.

Her TED Talk “Who Belongs in a City?”, on the subject of inclusive urbanisation in her home city of Lagos, was delivered when she was 25 years old. It has been viewed over 2 million times and was chosen by TED as one of the best ten talks of 2017.

As a leading voice in the Nigerian Young Feminist movement, Ms Adegbeye has worked with a wide range of political, cultural, civil society and corporate organisations, including the European Union in Nigeria, UN Women, Unilever, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), the Ake Arts and Book Festival, The Initiative for Equal Rights, and other entities.

She has been invited to speak at events in a dozen countries across four continents, including the inaugural U20 Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her writing, which is available both digitally and in print, has been translated into multiple languages.

Martín Aguirre

Martín is a journalist and a lawyer, working with the biggest newspaper in Uruguay, El País, where he leads a newsroom of more than 100 professionals. He also commands the digital strategy of the newspaper, and writes a very popular column every Sunday analyzing local politics. Some of his articles of covering different issues, from soccer to international politics, have been published in newspapers such as The Guardian, El Tiempo, from Colombia, or El Mercurio, of Chile. He is also a college professor, where he teaches legal regulation of media and communications, and has been involved in the recent process of modification of the law that regulates media companies. He has studied Spanish literature, Latin American studies, and recently published his first book, “The progressive wave”, about the series of left wing governments that have re shaped South American politics during the last decade. And during 2017-2018 he was a Humphrey Fellow, a program supervised by the State Department of the United States.

President of Ghana His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was sworn into office on 7th January, 2017, as the 5th President of Ghana’s 4th Republic.

He has been a prominent champion of human rights, rule of law, justice, freedom, and democracy in Ghana. Indeed, as a lawyer, he undertook many of the most important constitutional cases of the modern era in Ghana, which, inter alia, protected the independence of the judiciary, the right of the citizen to demonstrate without police permit, and the right of equal access of all political parties to the State-owned media.

Nana Akufo-Addo has held numerous positions, and played various active roles in the public life of Ghana. He was a three term Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2008. He served as Attorney General and Minister for Justice (2001-2003), and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from April 2003 to July 2007, both under the government of the former President of the Republic of Ghana, HE John Agyekum Kufuor.

On 23rd December, 2007, he was elected as the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidate. In the 2008 presidential election, Akufo-Addo led in the first round of voting, but failed to obtain the required 50%+1, pushing the election into a second round runoff between him and the National Democratic Congress candidate, the late John Evans Atta Mills, who eventually won with 50.23% as against Akufo-Addo’s 49.77% vote.

In 2010, he was elected presidential candidate of the NPP, but, again, lost the 2012 election marginally to the incumbent, the then President John Dramani Mahama. The NPP challenged the results of the election through a petition at the Supreme Court, losing by a 5-4 verdict. Akufo-Addo immediately accepted the decision, congratulated President Mahama, and called upon all NPP supporters to accept the decision, even though he and they all disagreed with it.

This act of statesmanship culminated in the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations, the United States of America, the Christian Council of Ghana and the Chief Imam of Ghana, amongst others, applauding Akufo-Addo for preserving Ghana’s peace, and maintaining Ghana’s status as a beacon of democracy in Africa.

Nana Akufo-Addo was, on 18th October, 2014, re-elected to lead the NPP into the 2016 general elections. He won the presidential election, after defeating the incumbent, President John Dramani Mahama. He obtained 53.85% of the total valid votes cast, as announced by the Electoral Commission, with 44.40% for the losing incumbent.

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen

A renowned leader in development and gender equality, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen has worked for over 25 years in international development, human rights, change management and diplomacy.

Ms. Albrectsen has been CEO of Plan International since September 2015. Prior to this she was United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Management at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 

Ms. Albrectsen is also Chairperson of the International Civil Society Centre and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and a member of the United Nations Every Woman Every Child High Level Steering Group and the Generation Unlimited Global Board. 

Ms. Albrectsen has previously held senior leadership positions in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNFPA and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She served with the UNDP from 1997 to 2004, in Indonesia and later as Director of the Administrator’s Office at UNDP Headquarters. She led country operations for UNFPA in Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan from 2004-2006. From 2007-2009, she led the Danish government’s humanitarian and civil society affairs work as the director of the relevant division in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ms. Albrectsen is Danish and holds a law degree from the University of Copenhagen.

Shahira Amin

Shahira Amin is an independent journalist based in Cairo. Former Deputy Head of Egypt’s English-language channel Nile TV and one of the channel’s Senior Anchors, Amin quit her job in the height of the January 2011 uprising to protest censorship. A longtime contributor to CNN’s Inside Africa, Amin reported mainly on women’s issues (female genital mutilation, girls education, early marriages, domestic violence etc.) and the rights of minorities (the plight of Sudanese refugees, discrimination against Coptic Christians, sectarian clashes etc.) from 2000 to 2012. In May 2011 (a couple of months after the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down), Amin broke the story on virginity tests performed by a military doctor on 17 Tahrir female protesters after she got the first admission from a senior army general that the tests had been carried out. Her coverage contributed to the issuance of a decree ruling that such tests will never be carried out again in Egypt.  For the last seven years, Amin has worked as an online journalist reporting on the post-revolution developments in her country. Her work has been published mainly in Index on Censorship, Freemuse and Al Monitor. She has also worked  as a filmmaker, producing 9 documentaries for various UN agencies (UNIDO, ILO, UNICEF and UN Women.) Amin is a founding member of the Egyptian Women Journalists Union, a network established in 2015 that extends legal, moral and professional support to female journalists in Egypt. The NGO organizes training workshops for young and mid-career journalists (male and female) in provinces outside Cairo where training opportunities are limited and has recently produced a training manual for journalists covering population issues (family planning, gender-based violence etc.) with the support of UNFPA. She is also a board member of the International Women’s Forum, a Washington-based NGO working to promote women leadership and youth empowerment. Amin has won several international awards including the BMW’s Responsible Leaders Award 2016, The Global Thinkers Forum Excellence in Promoting Gender Equality Award 2013 and Spain’s Julio Anguita Parrado Award for Courageous Journalism 2012.

Georgia Arnold

Georgia Arnold is Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at Viacom International Media Networks and the Executive Director of MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

Ms. Arnold was instrumental in establishing the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in 2005, and was appointed Executive Director in October 2007. MTV SAF is a global charitable body that provides grants to grassroots, youth-led organisations to set up HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns in their communities, and have supported 207 organizations, totaling over $6million. MTV SAF also produce the multi award-winning MTV Shuga – a 360-degree mass-media HIV prevention edutainment campaign.

Gary Barker

Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and founder of Promundo, which has worked over 20 years in more than 40 countries. Beginning in low-income areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Promundo’s approaches have been incorporated into ministries of health and education around the world. Promundo is a Global Consortium with members in Brazil, the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Portugal. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in 45 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He co-created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largest-ever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015 and 2017 State of the World’s Fathers reports. He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. Gary holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology.

Carmen Barroso, PhD

Carmen Barroso is Interim CEO of Global Doctors for Choice. the Co-Chair of the Gender and Rights Technical Group of WHO, and the former Co-Chair of the Independent Accountability Panel.

She was the Director of IPPF-WHR; the Director of Population at the MacArthur Foundation, Professor at Macalester College, and at the University of Sao Paulo, and Senior Researcher at the Chagas Foundation, where she pioneered Brazil’s first women’s studies centre. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and did post-doctoral work at Cornell University. She received the 2016 UN Population Award.

Hadiqa Bashir

Hadiqa is a 17 year old young activist from Pakistan. She is a bold, confident, impulsive, optimistic, visionary feminist who is challenging the patriarchy and has taken up the issues of child marriage and violence against women and girls in the tribal areas of Pakistan. She promotes the principles of feminism and gender equality, to build the capacity of the adolescent girls in her community. Her work advocates to ensure equal status, rights and opportunities for all women and girls of Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Pakistan. The young women and girls cannot be silenced any more and the momentum is stirring within our bright eyed and hopeful youth.

Alvaro Bermejo

Dr. Alvaro Bermejo is the Director General of IPPF, a role he began on 1st of March 2018. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior executive in global federations, working across HIV and AIDS, humanitarian issues and health policy. Before joining IPPF Alvaro was the Executive Director of the Survive & Thrive portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation which included work on nutrition, health, deworming and education.

Prior to that, Alvaro was Executive Director at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, where he contributed to the design and implementation of its strategy, oversaw its rapid growth and expansion to 36 countries, and led a team which achieved significant policy influence. From 2011 to 2013 he served as Board member for the Developed Country NGO delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Alvaro also spent more than ten years with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where latterly as Director, Health and Care, he created the environment and partnerships that positioned the Red Cross as a key player in the fight against HIV and AIDS and helped establish the IFRC’s global emergency health response mechanisms. He has also worked for the Spanish official overseas development assistance agency (AECI) and held field positions in primary health care programmes in both Bolivia and Nicaragua.
Alvaro qualified as a medical doctor from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and holds an MA in Public Health from the University of Leeds.

Joannie Marlene Bewa

Joannie Marlene Bewa is a physician, researcher, and sexual and reproductive health advocate. She was recently named a United Nations Young Leader for the SDGs by the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. She founded in Benin Republic, the Young Beninese Leaders Association (YBLA), a youth and women-led organization, which among other achievements empowered and trained more than 10,000 youth, girls, and women through capacity-building, mentoring on sexuality education, reproductive health, leadership, and entrepreneurship and was awarded the First Lady Michelle Obama Young African Women Leaders Grant. Joannie is also a public health researcher at the College of Public Health, University of South Florida and is advancing scientific research for women’s health.

Joannie works to advance women’s rights and health through her many roles and affiliations: board member for Merck for Mothers, Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2016), founding member of the UNFPA Youth Panel Benin, and member of the Adolescent and Youth Constituency of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, Children’s Health (PMNCH) hosted by the World Health Organization.

Joannie was featured by Melinda Gates’ on her list of six influential women on the topic of global access to contraception in 2016, recently recognized as a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper and a ONE Campaign Woman of the Year. She supported global advocacy alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on International Women’s Day for a commitment of 650 million dollars for women’s health globally and is one the spokesperson of the ONE Campaign Open Letter for women’s right which reached over 150,000 signatures in few days.

Suzanne Biegel

Suzanne is a globally recognised expert, field builder, and speaker on gender-smart investing. She is the Co-Producer of the Gender-Smart Investing Summit. She is Investment Director for SPRING Accelerator, focused on enterprises in emerging markets that positively effect adolescent girls. She is Senior Gender Lens Investing Adviser to Wharton Social Impact Initiative at Wharton Business School, to CDC Group, to Tara Health Foundation, for DFAT’s Investing in Women Initiative, and others. She is a Fellow at the Aspen Institute. She serves on numerous boards and advisory boards including Cornerstone Capital, SheEO, The Boardroom Africa, and WorldPulse. She received the Beacon Award for Philanthropy in the UK in 2015, amongst numerous other accolades in the UK and the US over the past 25 years. She began her career in the corporate world at IBM, and grew and ultimately sold a successful educational technology business through the 1990’s. Her personal portfolio is invested across all asset classes with an impact and gender lens and she is an active angel and venture investor. She is an alumna of The Wharton School and the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and has been based in London for nine years.

Tarana Burke

For more than 25 years, activist and advocate Tarana J. Burke has worked at the intersection of racial justice and sexual violence. Fueled by commitments to interrupt sexual violence and other systemic inequalities disproportionately impacting marginalized people, particularly black women and girls, Tarana has created and led various campaigns focused on increasing access to resources and support for impacted communities, including the ‘me too’ movement.

A proud native of the Bronx, NY, Tarana’s passion for community organizing began in the late 1980’s when as a young girl, she joined a youth development organization called 21^st Century, and led campaigns around issues like racial discrimination, housing inequality and economic justice across the city. That work, coupled with a desire to deepen her education and organizing skills led her to attend Alabama State University, a historically black institution.  Her organizing and advocacy work continued throughout college and remains a pillar of her professional life.

Her career took an intentional turn toward supporting survivors of sexual violence upon moving to Selma, Alabama to work for 21^st Century. She encountered dozens of black girls who were sharing stories of sexual violence and abuse, stories she identified with very well.  Tarana realized too many girls were suffering through abuse without access to resources, safe spaces and support, so in 2007 she created Justbe Inc., an organization committed to the empowerment and wellness of black girls. The impacts of Justbe Inc. are widespread, as the program, which was adopted by every public school in Selma, has hundreds of alumni who have gone on to thrive and succeed in various ways. Tarana’s role as the senior director at Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn, NY, an inter-generational non-profit dedicated to strengthening local communities by creating opportunities for young women and girls to live self-determined lives, is a continuation of what she considers her lifes’ work.

Since #metoo, the hashtag she created more than ten years ago, went viral last fall Tarana has emerged as a global leader in the evolving conversation around sexual violence and the need for survivor-centered solutions. Her theory of using empathy to empower survivors is changing the way the nation and the world think about and engage with survivors, and her belief that healing isn’t a destination but a journey has touched and inspired millions of survivors who previously lived with the pain, shame and trauma of their assaults in isolation.

Winnie Byanyima

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director at Oxfam International, is a global authority on economic inequality and women’s rights. Born in Mbarara, Uganda, her activism was inspired by the brave women in her village. She continues to support women’s rights struggles worldwide. Winnie formerly led the directorates of gender and development at the UN Development Programme and the African Union Commission, and served in the Ugandan Parliament for 11 years.

Ms. Byanyima is a signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement and has helped to broker and support women’s participation in peace processes in several African countries. As part of her drive to bring women’s perspectives into core development issues, she co-founded the Global Gender and Climate Alliance and chaired UN-wide task forces on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and climate change.

Ms. Byanyima has served on numerous global boards and commissions and is currently a member of the Executive Board of the International Centre for Research on Women. She holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in Energy Conservation and the Environment (University of Cranfield, UK), and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering (University of Manchester, UK).

John Cary

When architect-turned-writer John Cary co-authored an op-ed with partner Courtney E. Martin on the design failures of the breast pump, it sparked an MIT Media Lab hackathon and the launch of multiple companies. It’s a perfect example of his knack for linking good design and public good. John is the author of two books, most recently Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone with a foreword by Melinda Gates, and his writing on design, philanthropy, and fatherhood is widely published. John works as a philanthropic advisor to an array of foundations and nonprofits around the world, including as Senior Program Officer of The Audacious Project, a big-bet philanthropy program managed by TED. In addition to being a TED speaker, John also frequently curates and hosts events for TED, the Aspen Institute, and other entities. Deeply committed to diversifying the public stage, John is also a founding partner in FRESH Speakers, a next-generation speakers bureau that represents young women and people of color. He lives with his family in a co-housing community in Oakland, Calif.

Maria Cavalcanti

Maria Cavalcanti is President and CEO of Pro Mujer. She holds over 25 years of professional experience advancing women and working with a wide range of business and non-profit organizations across Latin America, the United States, Western Europe, and India.

Maria leads Pro Mujer in sustainable growth, developing an extended, large-scale service and products platform to empower women in Latin America.

Before joining Pro Mujer, Maria co-founded and became managing partner of FIRST Impact Investing, a private equity fund in Brazil. Prior to FIRST, she served as Chief Strategy Officer for Fundación Avina, where she spearheaded strategy and operational initiatives across the organization, spanning 15 countries. Earlier in her career, Maria worked at Dell Inc. and as a management consultant with A. T. Kearney and TPI.

Maria is recognized as a leading speaker on impact investing and financial inclusion in Latin America. She has authored multiple trade and academic articles and has served on international boards, including the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, PYME Capital Fund, and FUNDES. In 2017, she was appointed Co-chair of Partnership for Responsible Financial Inclusion (formerly MCWG).

Maria holds an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin and an MS in Information Science from Columbia University in New York.

Aya Chebbi

Aya Chebbi is an award-winning Pan-African feminist. She is the first African Union Youth Envoy and the youngest diplomat at the African Union Commission Chairperson’s Cabinet. She is the founder of multiple platforms such as Youth Programme of Holistic Empowerment Mentoring (Y-PHEM), Afrika Youth Movement (AYM), and Afresist. Aya served on the Board of Directors of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the World Refugee Council, and Oxfam Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct.

Chebbi became a world renowned blogger during Tunisia’s Revolution running Proudly Tunisian. Her blogs were published at OpenDemocracy and Al-Jazeera among others. Since then, she has been traveling across the African continent to support and train thousands of social movement leaders and activists on mobilization, blogging, leadership and non-violence and continues to travel the world as a scholar, mentor, speaker and activist.

In 2012, Chebbi was a Fulbright scholar at Georgia Southern University and 2015 Mo Ibrahim Scholar for her Masters in African Politics at SOAS, University of London. She was recognized in 2016 and 2018 among 100 Under 40 Most Influential Africans in the World. She received the 2016 Inspirational Woman of the Year by Women4Africa Awards, 2017 Pan-African Humanitarian Award by Pahawards and 2018 Young Talent of the year by UNLEASH Festival.

Chmba

Chmba (Ellen Chilemba) is a DJ, Producer and Activist. She is the Founder of Tiwale, a women’s center in Malawi supporting girls/women through economic and educational opportunities. Chmba started Tiwale at 17-years-old to end the vicious cycle of child marriage. Tiwale has supported over 250 women in educational and vocation skills training opportunities. Chmba has since shifted to primarily curating educational and collective safe spaces for LGBTQ+ Africans.

For her work, she was named Glamour Magazine’s College Woman of the Year, Forbes’ Africa 30 Under 30, Ashoka Future Forward Winner, Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Global Citizen Youth Advocate, One Young World Ambassador, Commonwealth Awardee for Excellence in Development and Powell Emerging Leader.

Dr. Roopa Dhatt

Dr. Roopa Dhatt is a physician by training and an advocate by principle. She was recently recognized in the Gender Equality Top 100, the most influential people in global policy 2019. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Women in Global Health (@womeningh), an organization that aims to achieve gender equality in global health leadership and advance women’s leadership. Women in Global Health is a global movement with ~21K followers, from 90+ countries, with global chapters in 4 continents. 

She serves as the Co-Chair of Global Health Workforce Network Gender Equity Hub, is on several advisory bodies, including the Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGS) Advisory Board; Strategic Advisory Committee for the Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN); the Global Health 50-50 Advisory Council, Global Health Council Advisory Council, the GlobeMed Advisory Board, and formerly, in the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference Steering Committee. She has served on World Health Organization task teams and working groups to improve meaningful civil society engagement. 

Dr. Dhatt is deeply committed to providing primary care, as she is an Internist, in Washington D.C. She completed her training at Case Western Reserve University, Department of Internal Medicine in the International Health Track. She has a decade of experience in global health from leading world-wide campaigns on global health issues including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Change, Social Determinants of Health, Universal Health Coverage, and Health in All Policies, engaging people from 120+ countries. Formerly, she was the President of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations and is the founder of the Young Voices, Youth: Pre-World Health Assembly (#yWHA) in 2013 with the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute. She has a B.A. and B.S. from the University of California, Davis in Cell Biology and African American and African studies; a Master in Public Affairs from Sciences Po, Paris, France; and an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine. 

Lyse Doucet

Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent who is deployed to present special news coverage and report across the BBC’s domestic and global outlets.

Lyse spent 15 years as a BBC foreign correspondent with postings in Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Tehran, Kabul and Abidjan.

She was nominated to the Order of Canada in 2018 and received an OBE in the Queen’s Honours list in 2014 for services to broadcasting. Other recent awards include the 2018 Trailblazer Award from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security,  a 2016 Columbia School of Journalism Award for exceptional journalist achievement, and an Emmy award in 2014 for her team’s reporting from Syria.

Born in eastern Canada, Lyse has honorary doctorates from leading British and Canadian Universities. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a BA Hons from Queen’s University in Kingston.

Lyse is a trustee of Inter Mediate, an honorary patron of Canadian Crossroads International, and a member of Friends of Aschiana UK which supports working street children in Afghanistan. She is a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network and a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She is a Trustee of the Frontline Club for Journalists and a member of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma.

Barkha Dutt

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning TV journalist, anchor and columnist with more than two decades of reporting experience. She is India’s only Emmy-nominated journalist who has won multiple national and international awards, including the Padmashri, which is India’s fourth highest civilian honour.

Barkha graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a degree in English Literature. She did her Master’s in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York.

Barkha has reported from some of the toughest spots and conflict zones in India and across the world including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Egypt. Her frontline reporting of the Kargil war first made her a household name.

She is an out spoken feminist voice on the global stage and also the Founder-Editor of Mojo, a multi-media events and content venture. She is also the founder of ‘We The Women’, a multi-city festival and current affairs website that focuses on the biggest gender debates of our time.

She is a featured Columnist with Washington Post; appears regularly as an analyst on CNN and BBC and is also a Contributing Editor at The Week magazine. 

June Eric-Udorie

June Eric-Udorie is a writer and a feminist campaigner based in Great Britain. She is a journalist and blogger for the Guardian and the New Statesman, as well as Cosmopolitan. In 2016, the BBC included her as an inspirational and influential woman on the list of 100 Women. June successfully petitioned to include the study of feminism to the A-level politics curriculum in the UK, and was a member of Plan UK’s Youth Advisory Panel. She is also an FGM Ambassador for Plan UK and the Young Press Officer for Integrate Bristol. June was nominated for the Young Commentariat of the Year in 2015, as well as the Words By Women Award in 2015 and the PRECIOUS Awards for Leadership. She has also been selected as a trainee editor for Random House.

Arthur Erken

Since joining UNFPA in 1993, Arthur Erken has held a range of increasingly senior positions, both in policy (ICPD Secretariat; Technical and Evaluation Division; Office of the Executive Director), and programme (Division for Arab States and Europe; Africa Division; Asia and Pacific Division). He has served in both Headquarters and the field.

Since April 2015, he is the Director of the Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships. Prior to that, he served as UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, providing strategic leadership and direction to the country programme and office. Prior to that, he served as UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh, where he successfully positioned UNFPA as a leader in maternal health and on the prevention of violence against women.

Arthur Erken, a national from the Netherlands, holds a masters degree in cultural anthropology. He is married and has two daughters.

Vanina Escales

Vanina Escales is an essayist and a journalist, and a founder of the movement Ni Una Menos. She was a member of the founding group of journalists, and was the one to propose the name ‘Ni Una Menos’ for their platform. She is director of LatFem, a feminist media based in Argentina, it provides a free access information service, mainly focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. She has been a member of the Communications Area of the Center for Legal and Social Studies -CELS-since August 2014. CELS is an Argentine human rights organization founded during the last military dictatorship.

Between 2010 and 2012, she was a doctorate scholar in the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET, according to its initials in Spanish). She won scholarships from the National Arts Fund for the literature category in both 2003 and 2009. She wrote a biography of the anarchist and feminist writer Salvadora Medina Onrubia (in press), of the philosopher Lou Andreas Salomé (Capital Intelectual, 2008) and compiled two anthologies, accompanied with preliminary studies: Crónicas del Centenario by Juan José de Soiza Reilly (Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina, 2008) and Desobediencia civil y otros escritos by Henry David Thoreau (Editorial Terramar, 2009). Her journalism has centered on problems linked to gender, institutional violence and human rights, and also writes as a critic and cultural journalist.

Farwiza Farhan

Farwiza is the leader of Forest, Nature & Environment Aceh (HAkA) a homegrown Acehnese NGO, which is striving to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra. In her work, she seeks to share knowledge, connect and empower the local community to have their participation accounted for in decision making over land in their area. In the past, she has participated in initiating legal challenges against government and companies in order to have Leuser’s protection acknowledged and recognized. She focuses her efforts on policy and advocacy element, starting from building grass-roots movements, equipping the local communities with knowledge and connection to the global communities. Farwiza’s impact on community driven conservation was recognized with the 2016 Whitley Award.

Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga

Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga is an engaged journalist who defends the freedom of expression and gender equality. She is founder and Chief-Editor of Swiss magazine, Klvin Mag, correspondent in Switzerland for France 24 (French International Tv channel) and for CGTN-Français (International Chinese channel in French language). She is vice-president of the Swiss Press Club (Club Suisse de la Presse). She is also a presenter and producer of television news reports.

A TV, radio and print journalist specialized in African politics and women issues, Catherine has been based in Geneva since 1999. She has covered many armed conflicts in Africa and hosted seminars with West African journalists to sensitize them to the duty of non-partisan information.

She is a regular speaker and moderator at high profile conferences on security, humanitarian relief, health care, trade, culture and women’s issues. She has interviewed numerous World leaders.

She often collaborates with international Foundations or NGOs to promote peace, safety and international cooperation through education and training. She was elected vice-president of the Association of the Accredited Correspondents at UN Geneva (ACANU).

Catherine was born in Geneva (Switzerland) to a father from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Belgian Flemish mother.

Helga Fogstad

Helga Fogstad currently heads the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), which is the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, combining over 1,000 partner organization from 10 diverse constituencies across 192 countries. Helga has 30 years’ experience in health systems strengthening, public health and reproductive, maternal, newborn child, and adolescent-related issues. Her experience covers health planning and development at facility, district and national levels, as well as at international level within multilateral and bilateral agencies.  She has also chaired and been actively involved in many global processes to forge consensus and increase global mobilization for RMNCAH, including the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.

Previously Helga was Director of Global Health, Education and Research at the Norwegian Agency for Development (Norad) where she was central in providing technical guidance on Norway’s health, education, research and development portfolio, both through the bilateral programs, as well as global initiatives and funds supported by Norway.

She is a health economist and has co-authored several publications related to public health.

Henrietta H. Fore

Henrietta Fore is UNICEF’s seventh Executive Director. Ms. Fore brings to the role more than four decades of private and public sector leadership experience.

Prior to taking up this appointment Ms. Fore served as Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Holsman International, a manufacturing and investment company. From 2007 to2009, Ms. Fore, an American national, served as both the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as Director of United States Foreign Assistance in the U.S. State Department. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Fore was Under Secretary of State for Management, the Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that, she was the 37th Director of the United States Mint, a position she held from 2001 to 2005. Earlier in her career, at USAID, she was appointed as Assistant Administrator for Asia and Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise (1989-1993). She also served on the Boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

In addition to her Government service, Ms. Fore has had leadership roles in a number of organizations in civil society, including being Global Co-Chair of the Asia Society, and associations with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Aspen Institute, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, and the Center for Global Development.

Ms. Fore has also had leadership roles in the corporate sector, serving on the boards of a number of U.S. and international public corporations, and being active in promoting best practices in the corporate sector – including as Co-Chair of Women Corporate Directors. Effective December 31, 2017 Ms. Fore will have stepped down from all outside board engagements.

Ms. Fore has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wellesley College and a Master of Science in Public Administration from the University of Northern Colorado. She is married and has four children.

Ken Frazier

Kenneth C. Frazier has served as the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Merck & Co., Inc. since 2011.

Under Ken’s leadership, Merck is delivering innovative lifesaving medicines and vaccines as well as long-term and sustainable value to its multiple stakeholders. Ken has substantially increased Merck’s investment in research, including early research, while refocusing the organization on the launch and growth of key products that provide benefit to society. He has also led the formation of philanthropic and other initiatives that build on Merck’s 125-year plus legacy.

Ken joined the company in 1992 and has held positions of increasing responsibility including General Counsel and President. Prior to joining Merck, Ken was a partner with the Philadelphia law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath. Ken’s contributions, especially in the legal, business and humanitarian fields, have been widely recognized. He sits on the boards of PhRMA, Weill Cornell Medicine, Exxon Mobil Corporation, and Cornerstone Christian Academy in Philadelphia, PA. He also is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, The Business Council, the Council of the American Law Institute, and the American Bar Association.

Ken received his bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Melinda Gates

Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls.

As the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda sets the direction and priorities of the world’s largest philanthropy. She is also the founder of Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company working to drive social progress for women and families in the United States.

Melinda grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School. Melinda spent the first decade of her career developing multimedia products at Microsoft before leaving the company to focus on her family and philanthropic work. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, Bill. They have three children, Jenn, Rory, and Phoebe. 

Kristalina Georgieva

Kristalina Georgieva is the Chief Executive Officer for the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association). Georgieva’s role is to build support across the international community to mobilize resources for poor and middle-income countries and to create better opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable people.

Previously, Georgieva, a Bulgarian national, played a leading role in shaping the agenda of the European Union, first as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets, and later as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources, in charge of the European Union’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff around the world.

Before joining the European Commission, Georgieva held multiple positions at the World Bank, including, most recently, Vice President and Corporate Secretary (2008-2010), and from 2007 to 2008, Director for Sustainable Development in charge of 60 percent of the World Bank’s policy and lending operations.

Julie Gichuru

Julie Gathoni Sumira Gichuru is a Kenyan entrepreneur and media personality with investments in media, fashion retail and entertainment sectors. She is an Independent Director at Acumen Communication Limited and is a Fellow and trustee of the Africa Leadership Initiative EA. Julie’s career in the media spans over the past 19 years and has seen her work across the fields of broadcast, print and digital media. Julie has also pioneered an impressive number of television shows, from the first Kenyan investigative TV series, The Inside Story on Kenya Television Network to various current affairs shows at NTV (Kenya) including political and current affairs programs Showdown, On the Spot, You The Jury and The People’s Voice, the celebrated news program Sunday Live, peace and reconciliation program Fist to Five at Citizen TV and the celebrated post-election peace special Voices of Reason.

Through Arimus Media Limited Julie now oversees the production of quality African content such as Africa Leadership Dialogues, the Great Debaters Contest and entertainment series such as Maisha, Glam Show, Trading Bell, The Code and Shinda Washinde.

Hon Julia Gillard AC

Julia Gillard served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010-13. As Prime Minister and in her previous role as Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Gillard was central to the successful management of Australia’s economy, the 12th biggest in the world, during the Global Financial Crisis.  Ms Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level, from early childhood to university education, and commenced the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities.

Ms Gillard is the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. In October 2012, Ms Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.

In April 2018, Ms Gillard was appointed Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College, London.  In 2014, Ms Gillard was appointed chair of the Global Partnership for Education, a leading organization dedicated to expanding access and quality education worldwide.   Ms Gillard is a non-resident Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Kate Gilmore

Kate Gilmore was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1st December 2015.

She brings to the position diverse and longstanding experience in strategic leadership and human rights advocacy with the United Nations, government and non-government organizations.

Prior to joining OHCHR, Ms. Gilmore was Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Programmes with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Previously she was National Director of Amnesty International Australia and then Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Ms. Gilmore started her career as a social worker and government policy officer in Australia.  She helped establish Australia’s first Centre Against Sexual Assault at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital and her work over a number of years focused on prevention of violence against women.  In Australia, she was granted honorary appointments to provincial and national public policy and law reform processes, including membership of the country’s first National Committee on Violence Against Women.

Ms. Gilmore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New England and postgraduate degrees in Social Work from the University of Melbourne and Community Development from RMIT.

Girl Be Heard

Girl Be Heard develops, amplifies, and celebrates the voices of young women through socially conscious theatre-making. Founding CEO/Executive Director Jessica Greer Morris will be joined by performing artists Chelsea Allison, Camryn Bruno, Halle Paredes, and Breani Saintonge (aka Purrsian White) who will light up the stage at Women Deliver with their original spoken word poems, raps. Halle wrote the song that will be performed at the Women Deliver 2019 Conference.

Girl Be Heard (GBH) runs after school and weekend programs in NYC and Trinidad and Tobago. GBH centers our youth as experts in their own lives. Our education curriculum and methodology is designed to create safe, fun, nurturing spaces for self-expression, grow individual talents (writing, rapping, acting, step dancing, singing) and provide opportunities for youth to “be heard” at open mics and ensemble shows during their first year with us. Economic empowerment is central to our work. After one year, our artist/activists (ages 13 and up) get paid $15 per hour and up for devising and performing their original work.

As a theatre collective, GBH uses performance and personal storytelling to catalyze change around systemic human rights issues youth face around the world. We bring workshops and performances into detention centers, schools, refugee camps, domestic violence shelters, churches, community centers, theaters and countless other venues. We also work in partnership with the United Nations, the State Department, and local elected officials to engage and persuade decision-makers to advocate for, invest in, and create policies that protect, empower, and elevate the status of women, girls, and gender non-conforming youth. GBH has toured 8 countries (Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States). To bring Girl Be Heard to your community, please contact girlbeheard@girlbeheard.org.

Dr. Githinji Gitahi

A passionate advocate for a pro-poor Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Githinji Gitahi is Group CEO of Amref Health Africa and Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, a global World Bank and World Health Organization initiative for UHC. Amref Health Africa, founded in 1957, is the largest African-led international organization on the continent reaching more than 9 million people through over 150 health-focused projects across 35 countries.

Dr. Gitahi has received the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS), a commendation from the President of Kenya, for promoting health in Kenya. He has a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Nairobi, a Master’s in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing, from United States International University and a Certificate for Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management from Harvard University.

Dr. Aparajita Gogoi

Dr. Aparajita Gogoi is the Executive Director of Centre for Catalyzing Change and the National Coordinator of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, India and the co-chair of the global What Women Want campaign which heard directly from more than 1 million women and girls from 114 countries about their top needs for reproductive and maternal healthcare. Dr. Gogoi is a political scientist with more than 25 years of experience in program management, advocacy campaigns, and defining approaches and strategies for policy issues. Dr. Aparajita Gogoi is a passionate advocate and crusader for health and rights of women and young girls. She works with networks and advocates to affect change by mobilizing people and action. She holds a PhD (International Politics) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Post graduate diploma in Journalism.

Wendy Grant-John

Wendy Grant-John is a Senior Aboriginal Advisor at Deloitte. She grew up with cultural values and teachings instilled by her family and surrounding families. Wendy is a member of Musqueam Chief and Council and has spent most of her adult life working for her community as well as representing First Nations across this country in many different forums. Wendy is a recipient of the Order of BC and has two Honourary Doctorates of Law.

Mrs. Grant-John served three terms as Chief of the Musqueam and was the first woman elected Regional Chief to the Assembly of First Nations. As Musqueam Chief, she helped to negotiate one of the first Aboriginal commercial fisheries in Canada. She has previously worked at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada as Associate Regional Director General of British Columbia and has served as a lay bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia and as a Board Member with Canada Lands Company Limited. She has also served as a Commissioner on the Pacific Salmon Commission. She was a founding member and director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and a founder of the Musqueam Weavers. Most recently, Mrs. Grant-John was the official Representative for the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on the issue of Matrimonial Real Property on Reserve.

Grant-John’s weaving group proved to have a significant impact on her own life. “Those women encouraged me to run politically, and when I was 38 years old, I was first elected chief. Things just grew from there.”

Hauwa

Hauwa, 18, is a Boko Haram survivor and winner of the 2018 Too Young to Wed: Girls’ Champion Award. 

At 14, Hauwa had only recently begun secondary school in Bama, Nigeria when a small group of fighters from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram burst into her family’s thatched-roof home and demanded her as a bride. Her parents refused and were murdered. After destroying her school, the insurgents took Hauwa with some 150 other girls, many of them friends and classmates, to their camps deep within the 200-square-mile Sambisa Forest. 

After two years in captivity – and at nine-months pregnant – Hauwa finally escaped her captors and fled through the forest and a series of indifferent villages before arriving to the relative safety of Maiduguri. Only months later, she courageously shared her story with Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair and the nonprofit Too Young to Wed (TYTW) for a transmedia project published The New York Times Sunday Review. At her request, TYTW re-enrolled Hauwa in school and provided her with emergency assistance in the form of food and clothing.  

In March 2018, Hauwa boarded her first airplane and came to the United States to once again bravely share her story, this time before 32 members of Congress and at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Her advocacy mission to Washington and New York was widely captured by the media, bringing much-needed attention to the plight of Boko Haram “brides” and the thousands of other young women and girls who remain in captivity today.  

Karl Hofmann

Karl Hofmann leads PSI (Population Services International), a global health non-profit organization operating in over 50 countries worldwide, working in family planning and reproductive health, malaria, water and sanitation, HIV, and non-communicable diseases.

For 50 years, PSI has measurably improved the health of people in the developing world, making it easier for them to lead healthier lives and plan the families they desire.  PSI partners with the private sector, national governments, and local organizations to create health solutions that are built to last.

Looking to the future, PSI is reimagining healthcare, to put the consumer at the center of programming, and wherever possible, to bring care directly to her front door.

Before joining PSI, Karl was a career American diplomat for 23 years. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Togo, Executive Secretary of the Department of State, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France. He also served on President Clinton’s National Security Council staff.

Karl is Vice Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the CSIS Commission on American Health Security.  He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the National Defense University.

Alison Holder

Alison Holder is Director of Equal Measures 2030, an independent civil society and private sector-led partnership that connects data and evidence with advocacy and action, helping to fuel progress towards gender equality.  The partnership is a joint effort of leading regional and global organizations from civil society and the development and private sectors, including: the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Data2X, the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), KPMG International, ONE Campaign, Plan International and Women Deliver.

Alison has nearly 20 years’ experience working in international development and the private sector, including leading policy, advocacy and campaigning work on issues ranging from inequality, tax justice, accountability, and corporate responsibility at Action Aid, Oxfam, and Save the Children.  She has also worked on livelihoods projects with women’s groups in India and small business development in South Africa.  Prior to working in the development sector, Alison worked in corporate social responsibility and business strategy consulting at Accenture.

Alison has an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada.

Haldis Host

Haldis Holst is Deputy General Secretary of Education International (EI) which represents organisations of teachers and other education employees across the globe and is the world’s largest federation of unions.

Ms. Holst is also currently Chair of the Governing Board of The European Wergeland Centre (EWC). The EWC is a resource centre based in Oslo for education professionals, researchers, civil society, policymakers, parents and students across Europe. In addition, Ms. Holst serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and on the Board of the Global Campaign Against Child Labour.

Ms. Holst graduated as a teacher in 1983, after majoring in English and Physical Education. She has worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools and has been a union representative at local, regional and national level. In 2001, she became Vice-President of Norsk Lærerlag (NL). After the merger of the two largest teacher unions in Norway in 2002, she was an Executive Board member and later Vice President of Utdanningsforbundet (Union of Education Norway).

Ms. Holst has also served as Norway’s representative on the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and been a member of the Executive Board of Education International. Ms. Holst was Vice-President of EI from 2009 –2012.

Regina Honu

Regina is the CEO of Soronko Solutions. She just opened the first coding and human centered design school for children and adults called Soronko Academy. She was just awarded the 2018 AFS Active Global Citizen Award​ for her contributions to global competence education.

She recently spoke at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and on closing the gender gap in computer science. She also spoke at Brookings Institute in Washington DC on Advancing Female entrepreneurship in Africa. She is an ambassador and mentor for thecamp, first European campus dedicated to emerging technology and social innovation. She is listed as one of BBC 100 most inspirational and innovative women for 2017. She was also recently interviewed by Bishop TD Jakes. She was awarded the 2017 Northwestern University Buffet Institute for Emerging Global Leaders Award and awarded by Coca Cola in the Coca Cola young achievers award as one of the big six and a leader in technology. She was also unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. She won Startup Entrepreneur of the year and Soronko Solutions won Social Start-up of the year for 2016 at the Ghana Startup Awards. She was featured on CNN as one the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She was named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of 10 female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies. She was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year by the GPA Awards from Africa 2.0 and JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement. Soronko Solutions was nominated for the editor’s choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK. She was featured on CNN African Voices,CNN African Startups and interviewed by BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and Aljazeera. She is an Ashoka Fellow, Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, GOOD Fellow, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow and a Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change. She belongs to Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa.

Waneek Horn-Miller

Waneek works and travels extensively throughout the Aboriginal world. Through her work as a sports commentator for CBC and APTN, Waneek has become a community advocate for sport, fitness and wellness. She also has traveled extensively throughout North America as a motivational speaker. As one of Canada’s few Aboriginal Olympians, Waneek has used her passion and experiences in sport to influence Aboriginal and non-aboriginal leadership towards making Sport and Wellness a community building priority. Waneek was the director of Community engagement for the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. She is currently working as the brand ambassador for the aboriginal forward company Manitobah Mukluks as well as pursuing graduate studies in the field of Indigenous Motivation at the University of British Columbia.

Vivian Hunt

Vivian is the Managing Partner for McKinsey & Company’s United Kingdom and Ireland offices.

In addition to her client responsibilities, Vivian is a leader within the firm on leadership and diversity. She frequently speaks on McKinsey’s flagship research on the topic and has co-authored publications, such as Women Matter, Delivering through Diversity, and The Power of Parity: How advancing women’s equality can add $12 trillion to global growth. She was previously named as one of the top ten “most influential black people in Britain” by the Powerlist Foundation, and The Financial Times identified her as one of the “European Women to Watch” and more recently as one of the 30 most influential people in the City of London.

Vivian is on the board of several important business groups in the United Kingdom, including BritishAmerican Business, the CBI London Council, and the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board. She is also a member of the UK Government-backed Industrial Strategy Council and the Trilateral Commission. Vivian is Chair of HRH Prince of Wales’ Business in the Community’s “Seeing is Believing” programme, and a reader for the Queen’s Anniversary Prize. She sits on the Advisory Council of the Tate Modern and the Southbank Centre, the Teach First’s Business Leaders’ Council, and is on the board of the US–UK Fulbright Commission.

Vivian is an alumna of Harvard College and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2018, Vivian was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the economy and women in business.

Katja Iversen

Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver – a leading global advocate for investment in gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women, with a specific focus on maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Iversen, an internationally recognized expert on development, advocacy and communications, has more than 25 years of experience working in NGOs, corporates and United Nation agencies. Previously, she held the position as Chief of Strategic Communication and Public Advocacy with UNICEF, a position she came to after almost six years of leading the team responsible for advocacy and communication on reproductive health with UNFPA. She holds a master’s degree in communications, bachelor’s degree in public administration and certificates in management, conflict resolution, and international development. Iversen has worked in global development for more than 20 years and has an extensive network within the UN, development communities, and global media. She has counseled and trained multiple Fortune 500 executives on cross cultural management and cross cultural communication. She is a member of President Macron’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group, and an International Gender Champion. Iversen was recently named 2018 Dane of the Yearand included in the top 10 of Apolitical’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy.She is also a sought lecturer and speaker.

Rand Jarallah

Rand Jarallah is passionate about combining art and activism. She is founder of Randistic, a platform that uses art, performance, and makeup to convey stories on a range of topics, including human rights and mental health. Rand is also a Women Deliver Young Leader from the Class of 2016.

Since becoming a Women Deliver Young Leader, Rand has led many successful makeup campaigns, including a collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund on #7DaysOfMakeup, which helped raise awareness on the needs of displaced girls and women. Her artivism has been featured in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Vogue, The Independent, CNN, BBC, Mashable, and other media outlets.

Rand was born and raised in Palestine. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Art and Politics and has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Sociology, and Marketing.

Heather Jarvis

Heather Jarvis is a queer woman, activist, survivor, and feminist who was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada as a child.

For over a decade Heather has been honoured to volunteer and work with a variety of grassroots social justice projects involving survivors of sexual violence, queer and trans people, sex workers, incarcerated women, drug users, and people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2011 Heather co-founded SlutWalk Toronto, a small rally that began in Toronto and then spread around the world. Since then, she has done a TEDx talk, won awards recognizing her activism from Planned Parenthood, Utne and Flare, been interviewed by media around the world, and become a public speaker, advocate and educator at conferences and on campuses across Canada.

Heather has a deep commitment to compassion and accountability, harm reduction and transformative justice from the ground up. She currently lives in a small rural cabin with her partner and two rescue dogs, as a settler in Newfoundland & Labrador, and works in St. John’s for Safe Harbour Outreach Project (SHOP), the only sex worker rights program in the province.

Rega Jha

Rega is a writer and creator interested in telling stories across platforms which examine the overlaps of popular culture, digital behaviour, gender politics, and youth wellbeing. She founded BuzzFeed in India in 2014 and served as its editor-in-chief for four years, building up a team and brand that stand for progressive values, authenticity, and social justice among millions of young Indians. Rega studied writing at Columbia University and is 27 years old.

Hina Jilani

Hina Jilani is a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

In addition, Hina Jilani is a pioneering lawyer and human rights defender. As an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, she has conducted many landmark cases setting new human rights standards in the country. She created Pakistan’s first all-women law firm and co-founded Pakistan’s first legal aid centre. She also founded its national Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Action Forum, a prominent pressure group at the heart of Pakistan’s democracy movement. She was the first Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000 to 2008.

Hina is currently the President of the World Organisation Against Torture and co-chairs the World Refugee Council and the International Task Force on Justice.

Alencia Johnson

Named to EBONY Magazine’s “Power 100” list of influential African Americans and PRWeek’s “40 Under 40” list, Alencia Johnson is a  political operative and strategic communications, sitting at the intersection of social justice, politics, and culture. Alencia advises on strategies to engage women and communities of color and is a sought after cultural commentator.

As the Director of Public Engagement at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Alencia engages political, media, entertainment and corporate influencers to shift mainstream culture with positive perceptions of reproductive rights. Alencia created Planned Parenthood’s Constituency Communications department, responsible for national communication campaigns engaging communities of color and new audiences. She developed communication strategies with campaigns for candidates endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, including Hillary Clinton for America.

In 2012, Alencia served on the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama, managing surrogate and influencer strategies to reach Black communities and young people.

Alencia has been seen on MSNBC, NewsOne, BET, Huffington Post Live, and featured in NPR, Washington Post, ESSENCE and more. Alencia has been recognized on “The Root 100” list of influential Black leaders, named a “Champion in PR” by PRWeek and received the Woman of the Year Award from Harvard University’s Black Men’s Forum.

Alencia began her communications career at GEICO’s corporate headquarters after graduating from Christopher Newport University.

Erica Johnson

Erica Johnson is an award-winning investigative journalist with a particular interest in media, gender equality and consumer issues. She has covered gender inequality in Kenya’s education system, sexual harassment inside Canada’s prison system and sexual assault risks for female travellers. As host of Go Public – an investigative segment on national radio, television and online – Johnson exposes wrong-doing and holds corporations and governments to account. Previously, she hosted Canada’s investigative consumer program, Marketplace, for 15 years.

Most recently, Johnson’s examination of misleading sales practices inside Canada’s telecom industry lead to a national public inquiry and better protections for consumers. Her investigation of aggressive sales targets inside Canada’s banks lead to a banking review.

As the mother of a 15 year old daughter, Johnson is pleased to participate in a conference aimed at making the world a better, stronger place for girls and women.

Alan Jope

Alan joined Unilever in the UK in 1985, subsequently working in North America for 14 years and in Asia for 13 years. Before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Alan served as President of Unilever’s Personal Care business from 2014 and continued as President when the name of the division changed in 2018 to Beauty and Personal Care.

From 2009 Alan led Unilever’s business in China and North Asia, doubling its size and laying important foundations for future success. He was appointed to Unilever’s Leadership Executive in 2011 in his role as President of Unilever’s businesses across North Asia. His previous senior roles have also included President Russia, Africa & Middle East; global category leader for several of Unilever’s Foods businesses; and President of Unilever’s Home & Personal Care business in North America. Earlier, Alan worked in a number of sales and marketing roles in the UK, Thailand, and the US.

Alan holds a Bachelor of Commerce with honours from Edinburgh University, Scotland. He also graduated from Harvard Business School’s General Management Program in 2001.

Dr. Natalia Kanem

On 3 October 2017, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Dr. Natalia Kanem as Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Dr. Kanem brings to the position more than 30 years of strategic leadership experience in medicine, public and reproductive health, social justice and philanthropy. She started her career in academia with the Johns Hopkins and Columbia University schools of medicine and public health.

While serving as a Ford Foundation Officer from 1992 to 2005, she helped pioneer work in women’s reproductive health and sexuality, in particular through her position as the representative for West Africa. She then served at the Foundation headquarters, becoming Deputy Vice-President for its worldwide peace and social justice programmes in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and North America.

From 2014 to 2016, Dr. Kanem served as UNFPA Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania. In July 2016, she was named Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA in charge of programs. Dr. Kanem was founding president of ELMA Philanthropies Inc., a private institution focusing primarily on children and youth in Africa. She also has been a senior associate of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies.

Dr. Kanem holds a medical degree from Columbia University, New York, and a Master’s degree in Public Health, with specializations in epidemiology and preventive medicine, from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is also a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied history and science. Dr. Kanem becomes the fifth Executive Director of UNFPA since the Fund became operational in 1969.

Musola Cathrine Kaseketi

Musola Cathrine Kaseketi is the first Zambian female film director and human rights activist, uses film as a tool for human rights advocacy. Initially, she studied film-making in South Africa, then Human Rights and Cinema at European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratization in Italy and Human Rights advocacy and Cinema at the Institute of Human Rights Study, Columbia University, USA. She was subsequently a Disability Equality External Consultant with the International Labour Organisation. She is the founder of Vilole (View) Images Productions, a nonprofit organization which educates upcoming filmmakers, began Zambia’s first international film festival, Shungu Namutitima (Smoke That Thunders), and Women and Girls with Disability Rights of Zambia, a project to empower and improve the lives of women and girls with disabilities, and promotes inclusions. In 2016 she hosted the first Gender Based Violence Conference against women with disabilities.

Many of her films and documentaries address social issues affecting women and girls with disabilities. Her first film, Suwi (“Faith”), which is the first international award winning Zambian feature film released was screened all over Africa, as well as in several European countries. Musola sits on disability and film related committees as a member, advisor or mentor.

Michael Kaufman

Michael Kaufman’s latest book, The Time Has Come: Why Men Must Join the Gender Equality Revolution, draws on his work as an activist, advisor, researcher and educator focused on engaging men to promote the rights of women and girls, end men’s violence against women, and transform fatherhood. Over the past four decades, he has worked in fifty countries with the United Nations, governments, NGOs and women’s organizations, businesses, unions, and universities.

Dr. Kaufman is one of two Canadian members of France’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. In 2017 he was awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service cross.

He is the co-founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. He is a Senior Fellow with the research institute Promundo based in Washington D.C. He was the co-author of the first State of the World’s Fathers report.

Michael is the author or editor of nine books, including two novels. He has two grown children and lives in Toronto, Canada.

His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta

President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s fourth, was sworn in for his second term and final term on 28 November 2017, following that year’s second presidential election.

Born on 26th October 1961, he is the first son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding father and first President. Uhuru was educated at St Mary’s in Nairobi and Amherst in Massachusetts, taking a degree in Political Science and Economics from the latter in 1985.

He is married to Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya’s First Lady. Her Beyond Zero campaign, which raises funds and awareness for maternal and child health initiatives in Kenya, has attracted global attention. They have three children: Jomo, Ngina and Muhoho Kenyatta.

After Amherst, Kenyatta came home and turned his hand to entrepreneurship. He ran his own business, which exported produce, while playing roles in other, established, firms.

He went into politics in 1997, entering Parliament as a nominated member in 1999, and Cabinet as Minister for local government in October 2001.

In 2002, as KANU, then the ruling party, prepared for that year’s general election, he was elected one of its four national vice-chairs. Later that year, Kenyatta emerged as KANU’s candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to the opposition’s Mwai Kibaki, though he was elected MP for his native Gatundu South. He entered Parliament, and served as Leader of the Opposition.

In 2007, he backed President Kibaki’s bid for a second term, and returned to Cabinet in January 2008, after Kibaki won. He would go on to serve as Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister until 2012, before he led the Jubilee alliance to victory in the general election the following year.

Since he took office in 2013, President Kenyatta has pursued a number of policy initiatives. The Big Four, President Kenyatta’s administration’s priority since 2017, has emphasised universal healthcare, housing, industrialization, and agriculture.

Infrastructure has been a second central theme of the presidency. The Northern Corridor, connecting Mombasa with Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been revitalised. The inauguration of LAPSSET — under which Kenya is forging partnerships with investors to build a highway, an oil pipeline, a railway line and a seaport in Lamu, connecting South Sudan and Ethiopia — is a measure of the administration’s ambition. Yet another key infrastructure venture is the Standard Gauge Railway, which reached Nairobi in 2017.

On the continent, President Kenyatta’s administration has emerged as a key proponent of the Pan-African agenda, in recognition of which he was voted chair of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). He has also led regional peace and security initiatives, with a special focus on the situation in the Horn of Africa.

Angélique Kidjo

Angélique Kidjo, three-time Grammy Award winner, is one of the greatest artists in international music. Time Magazine considers her “the first African diva” and the Guardian has noted her as one of the 100 most influential women in the world. Her ability to mix Beninese traditions with current music along with her striking voice has taken her beyond African borders from Olympia to Carnegie Hall. She has also been recognized for her strong humanitarian commitment. In 2006, she founded The Batonga Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help empower vulnerable young women and girls in her home country of Benin. Her tireless pursuits to help children in need around the world have led her to be appointed as UNICEF’s International Goodwill Ambassador and to receive Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Dr. Ephraim Kisangala

Ephraim is a young Ugandan medical doctor with demonstrated experience providing healthcare in rural and urban parts of Africa. Through a local organization, he initiated mobile medical outreach programs in rural Uganda while mentoring future professionals to embrace community healthcare.

He is a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2016) who has contributed to several policy documents and programs on reproductive health, menstrual health, and public health in general. He was recently credited for his work on menstrual health by The Duchess of Sussex, HRH Meghan Markle. He has also been a recipient of several awards such as the Windle Trust International Scholarship Award and Global Voices Award.

Ephraim has held several leadership positions, including chairing Africa’s medical students umbrella body (FAMSA) when he was a medical student. He is currently completing a master’s degree in Public Health from Bangor University, UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship.

Raj Kumar

Raj Kumar is the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the media platform for the global development community. A social enterprise dedicated to ensuring global development efforts do more good for more people, Devex was born in 2000 when Raj was a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. Today, there are 100+ Devexers around the world serving a global audience of more than one million aid workers and development professionals. Beginning as a kid in Kerala, India, Raj has witnessed firsthand determined and courageous development work in over 50 countries – it’s what drives the Devex mission to “Do Good. Do It Well.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum, and has interviewed on-camera and on-stage hundreds of global luminaries on the most important challenges of our time. Raj is the author of the book “The Business of Changing the World,” a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.

Raven Lacerte

Raven Lacerte is a proud member of the Carrier First Nation and belongs to the Grizzly Bear Clan. She is the Co-Founder and Ambassador for the Moose Hide Campaign, a National grassroots effort to end violence towards Indigenous and non-Indigenous women and children. She is a hunter and a practitioner of traditional Indigenous cultural and ceremonial activities. Raven is a PROUD mother of daughter Cedar Sus! And a proud partner of Dominic Paul.

Emilienne de León Aulina

Emilienne is Mexican and has over 25 years of experience working as a supporter and consultant of local and international human rights and women’s rights organizations. From 2000-2009 she served as the Executive Director of the Mexican Women’s Fund: Semillas. As the Executive Director of Semillas, Emilienne contributed to a very significant growth of the fundraising and grant making of this organization and to the establishment of its endowment. Her most outstanding achievement was to promote a culture of philanthropy in Mexico and to contribute to the founding of a local network of both individual (Red MIM) and corporate donors. Emilienne is acting as the Executive Director of Prospera, the International Network of Women’s Funds since 2010. Prospera has 38 Women’s Funds based in all over the world.

Emilienne has served in various local and international Boards during her career, like Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia México (1998-2005), Women’s Funding Network (2001-2008). She is also member of the Board of El Poder del Consumidor in Mexico and She is the actual Chair of the Institute of Leadership Simone de Beauvoir. Emilienne received the E-News XXI Century Leaders Award in 2005.

Emi Mahmoud

Emi Mahmoud is a Sudanese-American slam poet, activist, and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. In June 2018, she opened TEDxKakumaCamp, the first ever TEDx event in a refugee camp. Emi uses her work and talent to raise awareness about refugees, notably including Boy in the Sand and Head over Heels. In 2015, she won the Individual World Poetry Slam championship for her poem Mama, a tribute to her mother. She has witnessed UNHCR’s frontline work in the field, having spent time with Syrian refugees in Zaatari and Azraq camps in Jordan in 2018. She has also traveled to Greece and Uganda – in the latter, she led poetry workshops. Emi has represented the UNHCR at multiple high profile events, such as the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in Paris, the Youth Strategy 2030 launch at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize event.

Ayanda Makayi

Ayanda Makayi is a South African actor best known for his starring role as Sol, a troubled young man who prowls the streets of the Zenzele in his taxi, in the fifth and seventh season of the television drama series MTV Shuga. Ayanda has also starred in the recent Mzansi Magic music-based drama series, Ingoma, as smitten boyfriend Ezekiel.

Born and raised in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, Ayanda matriculated from Queen’s College in 2010 before moving to Johannesburg, where he obtained a BA Honours in Live Performance from AFDA. He first appeared on television in the SABC1 drama series Mfolozi Street and he soon landed a string of roles on shows such as Roer Jou Voete, High Rollers and Ashes to Ashes.

In 2016 he landed his first lead role in MTV Shuga, which was quickly followed by his second starring role when he replaced Given Stuurman in the role of Boysie on the second season of the Mzansi Magic supernatural drama series Igazi. He can be seen in a variety of television commercials and feature films both local and international, including Vodacom, Nyaope Boys, Ben9, That Golden Moment, The Journey is the Destination, Bush Pilot, Against the Wild 2: Survive the Serengeti and Skorokoro.

Ayanda is one of the UNHCR ambassadors amongst Nomzamo Mbatha, Anatii, Leanne Mannas and Tressor to mention a few, where they aim to redefine the narrative of our fellow refugee brother and sisters across Africa.

Zoleka Mandela

Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of the late President Nelson Mandela, is a breast cancer survivor, author, global advocate and campaigner.

Zoleka currently serves as Ambassador for the Child Health Initiative (CHI) and its advocacy campaigning, leading a global call to action for adolescent health. She also campaigns as a leading advocate for action on road traffic injury and traffic safety in memory of her daughter Zenani Mandela, who was killed in a road crash in Johannesburg aged just 13. Zoleka has also campaigned globally on cancer and NCDs with the Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) and NCD Alliance.

Zoleka’s campaigning achievements have been recognised by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the United Nations Development Programme, and she has addressed the UN General Assembly on her campaign issues.

Zoleka is inspired by her grandfather, Nelson Mandela, her grandmother Winne Mandela, and her family to campaign for humanitarian causes as a committed social activist. Following the legacy of her grandparents she is a passionate supporter of civil rights and women’s empowerment. She is the founder of the Zoleka Mandela Foundation which focuses its activities on road safety, breast cancer and social responsibility.

Mamarumo Marokane

Mamarumo Marokane’s professional acting career began in 2016 when she graduated with a diploma in Acting for Camera and Live Performance. Mamarumo sought professional acting representation in 2016 and hit the ground running, booking her first two television commercials in 2016 and later that year landed her first lead role in a television series called Grit which aired on BET. In 2017 she was cast in a supporting role on the Netflix series Shadow. Since then, Mamarumo has been seen in multiple commercials as well as in lead roles on various Mzansi Magic films, namely: Isipho Sonthando, Magenge and Wa Lepelle.

This 22-year old talent has been making waves in the entertainment industry and is most popularly known for her most recent role on MTV Shuga: Down South 2 as Dineo, an athletic tomboy studying sports science. Mamarumo describes her love for her craft as “wanting to use the gift she has been blessed with to bless others” and we have no doubt that this actor is going to do just that. Mamarumo has gone on to take further acting classes with an acting coach to continue polishing her skillset, as well as photography classes at Vega, so when she is not on an acting set, she is out with her camera capturing the simple moments life has to offer.

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

The Crown Princess is a passionate advocate for health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She is committed to creating awareness, respect and ensuring compliance of women and girls´ sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to family planning and the reduction of maternal and child mortality.

Crown Princess Mary was a member of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development and serves as patron of several international organizations and agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, but also a number of Danish NGOs: Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Maternity Worldwide.

The Crown Princess is also an Influencer of Women Deliver’s ‘Deliver for Good Campaign’ and is a member of the ICRW Leadership Council. The Crown Princess was patron of the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen in 2016.

In 2007 the Crown Princess founded The Mary Foundation with the mission of fighting social isolation. Under her leadership the foundation brings together untraditional partners to develop and manage projects and programs that focus on prevention, the creation of opportunities and empowering vulnerable individuals and groups who find themselves socially isolated. The foundation’s focus areas are: domestic violence, bullying and wellbeing and loneliness.

Crown Princess Mary is also patron of the Global Fashion Agenda and an advocate for sustainability in fashion.

She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and an honorary member of various associations and societies.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician and United Nations official, and is currently serving as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice. She has worked in government and civil society, with the private sector, and was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country of South Africa. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka began her career as a teacher and gained international experience as a coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva, where she established a global programme for young women. She is the founder of the Umlambo Foundation, which supports leadership and education. A longtime champion of women’s rights, she is affiliated with several organizations devoted to education, women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe

Dr. Moloi-Motsepe is a businesswoman and philanthropist who started her career in medicine, specialising in women’s health. After establishing the Motsepe Foundation with her husband Patrice Motsepe in 1999, they became the first couple in Africa to join the Giving Pledge in 2013.

Dr. Moloi-Motsepe’s philanthropic vision is guided by the Global Goals, and her initiatives focus on community and societal development. Through the Foundation she grants access to education, resources and skills to empower the youth; launched a Girls In STEM programme to create a pipeline of women within these industries; hosts frequent dialogues for building awareness and challenging patriarchy to empower women and men; and supports social entrepreneurs through partnerships with the Schwab Foundation and Harvard Kennedy School.

She is also founder of a fashion company, which promotes African fashion and textiles by creating Fashion Week platforms and identifying commercial opportunities for African designers.

Dr. Moloi-Motsepe is also a member of:

• The Harvard Kennedy Women’s Leadership Board;
• The International Women Forum of South Africa;
• The Cancer Association of South Africa;
• The Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum; and
• Co-chair of Maverick Collective.

The Honourable Maryam Monsef

The Honourable Maryam Monsef is the Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, and Canada’s Minister for Women and Gender Equality.

After running for Mayor of Peterborough in 2014, she became the first woman to be elected in the federal riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, the first Afghan-Canadian Member of Parliament in Canada’s history, and the first Muslim to serve as a federal Cabinet Minister.

Drawing on her years of experience in community organizing, Minister Monsef has worked with local organizations, including the YWCA of Peterborough and Haliburton Board of Directors, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, and the New Canadians Centre. She has served as the Vice-President of the YWCA in her riding, and sat on a number of councils and committees dedicated to promoting social and economic justice. She also founded the Red Pashmina Campaign, which raised money to support education for women and girls in Afghanistan.

As Minister for Women and Gender Equality, she has led Status of Women Canada’s transition from agency to the new Department for Women and Gender Equality, and has secured major investments in Canada’s equality-seeking movement, including over $200 million to help prevent and address gender-based violence, and $100 million to build the capacity of women’s organizations from coast to coast to coast. She launched the first-ever federal gender-based violence strategy, has worked with the Minister of Finance to ensure that all federal budgets have to undergo a gender budgeting process; and partnered with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government to create and pass historic proactive pay equity legislation to ensure equal pay for work of equal value in the federally regulated sector.

Minister Monsef has lived in Peterborough since 1996, and has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Trent University. She speaks English, Farsi and Dari, and continues to work on her French.

Nelly Munyasia

Nelly is the Executive Director for the Reproductive Health Network in Kenya, a network of trained health care providers, who are passionate about ensuring provision of quality comprehensive reproductive health information and services especially safe and legal abortion. She is a trained Midwife/Nurse and a health systems management expert, a Reproductive Health Advocate and Champion for girls and women rights.

Nelly is passionate about protecting reproductive health rights, including safe and legal abortion for vulnerable and marginalized girls and women as a way of ensuring gender equality and realization of their full potential in life.

At RHNK, she has overseen the expansion and growth of the network through training of abortion service providers and establishing community linkages with community gatekeepers and local policy makers for advocacy purposes. Nelly has grown the network to a membership of 571 health care providers that have supported the realization of a healthy society with comprehensive reproductive health services. Under her leadership, RHNK has developed and grown a movement of young people who are instrumental in the realization of the organizations mission.

Nelly has successfully engaged at the national, regional and international advocacy forums that advocate for policy change and gender equality in provision of sexual and reproductive health services including safe abortion services.

Dr. Alaa Murabit

Alaa Murabit is a medical doctor, one of 17 Global Sustainable Development Goal Advocates appointed by the UN Secretary General, and a UN High Level Commissioner on Health & Economic Growth. Alaa is the co-founder of The Emerging Leaders Lab and the Executive Director of Phase Minus 1. An MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and International Deliver For Good Influencer, Alaa serves as a board member for The Malala Fund, Oxfam America, The New Now and Women’s March Global. Her efficacy in security, health policy and sustainable development was most recently recognized by Forbes, Aspen Ideas and Bay Street Bull who named her a 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30, Spotlight Scholar,and Canada’s 30×30 respectively. Her leadership in global policy and in elevating the role of women, particularly young, minority women, on global platforms was recognized by Harvard Law who named her the youngest 2017 Woman Inspiring Change.

Nicknamed “The Libyan Doogie Howser” by Jon Stewart, Alaa completed high school in Saskatoon,  Canada at the age of 15 and moved to Zawia, Libya where she enrolled in medical school and founded VLW at the age of 21. With a strong focus on challenging societal and cultural norms Alaa champions women’s participation in peace processes and conflict mediation. Her programs, such as the groundbreaking “Noor Campaign” are replicated internationally. Her TED Talk, released in July 2015, “What my religion really says about women” was selected as the TED Talk of the Day and one of four moving TED Talks you should watch right now by The New  York Times.

Natasha Mwansa

Natasha Chibesa Wang Mwansa is passionate about using the media to empower young people. She is currently a first year student at the University of Zambia pursuing a degree in Mass Communication with a minor in Political Science and Public Administration. Natasha is also a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018).

Natasha was born and raised in Zambia. As a Junior Reporter, Child Journalist, Child and Women’s Rights Advocate and Activist at the Media Network on Child Rights and Development, she is responsible for gathering and disseminating information and tracking stakeholder progress. Through her work, she was selected to be part of the African Union Commission’s Youth Advisory Board. Additionally, she is the Social Accountability Monitor at Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Dissemination Service and a youth representative for the United Nations Population Fund. As an advocate, Natasha is proud of being in the process of starting an initiative that will foster young people to take radical action and foster positive change.

Humphrey Nabimanya

Humphrey Nabimanya is the founder and Team Leader of Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) and a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2013). He is a youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocate, leader, and change agent.

His youth-led organization RAHU empowers young people through livelihood and skills development, Behavior Change Communication (BCC), SRHR, and HIV/AIDS awareness. RAHU has created campaigns, projects, and programs that appeal to young people while focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including health and wellbeing (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), and gender inequality (SDG 5). Humphrey’s leadership at RAHU has generated a movement of young advocates with over 27 core team members and 500 volunteers through a Peer Educators Academy, which expanded to almost all regions in Uganda.

Humphrey’s mission is to support his peers to take control of their lives and present themselves in ways that inspire, impress, and spur confidence in themselves, and provide them a platform to make informed choices regarding their SRHR. His efforts have earned him speaking engagements at global events such the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival as well as recognition as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards in 2018.

Noelene Nabulivou

Noelene Nabulivou is 51 years old, and a Fijian feminist activist, community organizer, woman human rights defender, gender adviser and advocate for over 35 years, focusing on gender equality and universal human rights, SRHR, social and economic justice, climate change, ecological sustainability, and sustainable development. Noelene is the co-founder and political advisor for Diverse Voices and Action for Equality (DIVA), a grassroots LBT led Organisation using feminist intersectional and interlinkage approaches to social, economic, ecological and climate issues since 2011. Noelene’s work includes action-based research and analysis, feminist training, strategic activism, grassroots hub organizing, peace-building and restorative justice, policy advice, and regional and global multilateral work. Noelene works across Fiji, the Pacific, and global multilateral spaces including the Commission on the Status of Women and Beijing+20, the Post-2015 Development Agenda, UNFCCC, and ICPD Beyond 2014. Noelene spent 5 years providing south feminist and Pacific CSO input into the preparatory processes of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs through to adoption in 2015 and is now involved in long term accountability work on this area. Noelene has sat on the Asia-Pacific CSO Advisory Group to UN Women, currently is part of the Pacific Gender Coordination Mechanism, and was founding focal point for PSIDS in the Women’s Major Group on Sustainable Development. Under her guidance, DIVA for Equality was Global WGC Focal Point to the Presidency of COP23 for the Women and Gender Constituency to the UNFCCC.

Nice Nailantei Leng’ete

A Maasai woman from Kenya, Nice Nailantei Leng’ete challenged social norms in her community to end the harmful practices of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM, also known as Female Genital Cutting or FGC) and child marriage. Through her own efforts, and with the support of Amref Health Africa, Ms. Leng’ete educated elders, boys and the young men (known as Morans) with new messages about sexual and reproductive health and rights. She worked with the whole community to eliminate the practice of FGM/C and replace it with alternative rites of passage for girls that maintain the cultural celebration of the transition to womanhood without FGM/C.

Ms. Leng’ete is a respected community advocate and a recognized global youth leader. In April 2018, she was named to the TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In February 2018 she was chosen as a Women Deliver Young Leader and in March 2018 she received the Annemarie Madison Prize. A recipient of the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, as well as the 2015 Inspirational Woman of the Year Award from the Kenyan Ministry of Devolution, Ms. Leng’ete has been singled out as an innovative change maker dedicated to advancing gender equality.

Nancy Northup

Nancy Northup has served as President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights since 2003.  Under her leadership, the organization has become the global leader in using the power of law to advance reproductive rights as fundamental human rights.  Through its offices on five continents, the Center has transformed how reproductive rights are understood by courts, governments, and human rights bodies around the world.  It has secured legal victories in the U.S., Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe on issues including access to life-saving obstetrics care, contraception, and safe abortion services, as well as the prevention of forced sterilization and child marriage, and has built the legal capacity of women’s rights advocates in over 60 countries.

Northup has devoted her legal career to the public interest.  She was the founding director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and clerked in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Northup has held adjunct appointments at NYU Law School and Columbia Law School and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Femi Oke

Femi Oke is an award winning international journalist, broadcaster and co-founder of the diverse moderators bureau “Moderate The Panel.” Based in Washington, D.C., she hosts the interactive current affairs show “The Stream” for Al Jazeera English; is a correspondent for the Al Jazeera documentary series “Fault Lines”; and the social media contributor for NPR’s midday news program “Here and Now.”

Femi’s reporting has been recognized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Communications Agency and InterAction.  Since the 1980s, she has worked for BBC television and radio, Sky TV, all the U.K. terrestrial television networks, CNN and U.S. public radio. As a professional moderator Femi has presided over world class events including European Development Days for the European Commission, NBA Africa Celebratory Luncheon for the U.S. National Basketball Association, and the historic Barbershop Conference at the United Nations Headquarters. She relishes feedback while moderating live events, so if you tweet @FemiOke, be prepared to be part of the program.

Anne Philpott

Anne is a public health professional, pleasure propagandist and guerrilla girl of HIV prevention. She founded ’The Pleasure Project’ in 2004, in frustration of endless HIV meetings where no one talked about people’s motivations for having sex.

The Pleasure Project forges connections between the worlds of public health and pornography and is globally recognised as the agency that has championed putting pleasure into safer sex education and safer sex into porn. They have influenced many agencies to deliver more effective and relevant sex education and are now working with the World Association of Sexual Health to launch a declaration of pleasure. Anne is published widely in health journals and the media, promoting pleasure in sex education and as the ultimate indicator of female empowerment. The Pleasure Project was awarded the Phil Harvey ‘Prize for Passion in Reproductive Health’ in 2016.

Anne developed her passion for sexual and public health, through working on prevention of teenage pregnancy in the UK, domestic violence refuges in London and through increasing use of female condoms globally by 60%.

Alongside her work with The Pleasure Project Anne is a senior health advisor for the UK Government and headed the regional Ebola team. She is responsible for creating WISH, the UK Governments largest ever international sexual health programme and spearheaded their work on ensuring the health portfolio expanded to include nutrition. She is speaking in her personal capacity.

Joy Phumaphi

Ms. Joy Phumaphi, Co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent, is currently the Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, an alliance of 49 African Heads of State and Government. In this position, she has overseen the introduction of an accountability and action mechanism, for malaria, Women’s and child health across the African continent. She was a member of the UN High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crises; and has served as a member of the UN Reference Group on Economics and as a UN Commissioner on HIV/AIDS and Governance. She served the People of Botswana as Principal Local Government Auditor and subsequently as a Member of Parliament holding portfolio responsibility in the cabinet, first for Lands and Housing, where she introduced the country’s first housing policy requiring that local authorities house all destitute; and then for Health, where she introduced the first public sector universal ARV program in the developing world. She later joined the World Health Organization as the Assistant Director General for Family and Community Health and was responsible for the 2005 World Health Report, “Making Every Mother and Every Child Count”. She has also served as Vice President for Human Development at the World Bank where she oversaw a dramatic expansion of the network evaluation program.

Ms. Phumaphi sits on the Board of several international organizations, is an advisor to a number of global health initiatives as well as been a key player with pioneering health initiatives including IFFIM, AMC and the independent accountability group for EWEC.

Anoka Primrose

Anoka is the Asia-Pacific Representative to the UN Habitat YAB, a Women Deliver Young Leader, British Council International Climate Champion and Sri Lanka’s first female World Economic Forum New Champion. She started volunteering and activism for environmental protection and conservation at age 13 in 2004 after surviving the Tsunami in Sri Lanka. She is the co-founder of Growin’ Money replanting over 60000 Mangroves, and a social enterprise supporting communities providing skills training for better employability such as IT training, basic resume making, eco-tourism guide training, handicrafts making and organic produce making. An alumnus of the University of London, University of Colombo and Harvard University, Abeyrathne is a post-graduate student of the University of Cambridge -Judge Business School.

Gabriela Ramos

As Chief of Staff and OECD Sherpa to the G7 /G20, Gabriela Ramos supports the Secretary-General’s Strategic Agenda, and is responsible for the Organisation’s contributions to the global agenda, including G20, G7, APEC. She leads the Inclusive Growth and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges initiatives and oversees the OECD’s work on Employment and Social Affairs (including gender).

In recognition of her efforts on gender equality, Ms. Ramos was awarded the Forbes prize for Entrepreneurial Excellence in June 2017. She was decorated with the Ordre du Merit by the President of France in 2013. In May 2018, she was included in Apolitical’s Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People In Global Policy.

Previously, Ms. Ramos was Head of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America, prior to which she held positions in the Mexican Government, including Director of Economic Affairs (and OECD issues) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Technical Secretary at the Office of the Minister for the Budget. She held positions as Professor of International Economy at the Universidad Iberoamericana and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Ms. Ramos holds an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright and Ford MacArthur fellow.

Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Together with Hans Rosling and Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund founded Gapminder in 2005. Gapminder’s mission statement is to fight devastating ignorance with a fact-based world view everyone can understand.

She designed the user-interface of the famous animating bubble-chart tool called Trendalyzer, used by millions of students across the world, to understand global development trends. The tool was acquired by Google, and Anna worked at Google in Mountain View, CA as a Senior Usability Designer 2007 to 2010. At Google Anna improved search results for public data, developed data exploration tools for Public Data and made a bubble tool gadget (Motion chart) in Google Spreadsheets. In 2010 Anna came back to Gapminder to develop new free teaching material. Anna is now Vice President and Head of Design & User Experience at Gapminder. She also sits in the Gapminder Board. Anna holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography.

Anna founded Dollar Street, the biggest systematic image bank with representative home documentations based on data. At the moment we have almost 30 000 photos and 10 000 video clips, which are free to use under Creative Common license.

Together with Ola and Hans, Anna wrote the Factfulness book, launched in April 2018.

Osvaldo Rudloff

Osvaldo Rudloff is an attorney and a Master in Administration. He has served as a lawyer and auditor at the Chilean Public Sector. He has also worked in management control, internal audit and project management. He is currently the head of the international relations unit at the Supreme Audit Institution of Chile, in whose role he serves as Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution (OLACEFS).

Isha Sesay

Isha Sesay is a multiaward-winning CNN journalist, who has covered every major story of the past 10 years – with a particular focus on stories of social injustice and their impact on women and girls, as well as other marginalized communities. She is also the Founder and President of W.E. (Women Everywhere) Can Lead, a non-profit organization working in her native country of Sierra Leone, to nurture and empower teenage girls to become Africa’s next generation of dynamic female leaders. Sesay is currently putting the finishing touches on her first book, which details the mass abduction of the 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by the Boko Haram terror group in 2014. Their plight generated countless headlines around the world and the hashtag, #BringBackOurgirls. Harper Collins will publish the as-yet unnamed title, next year.

Mohamed Sidibay

Mohamed’s story is one of resilience. He has been orphaned, uneducated, homeless, and raped. He was born in Sierra Leone, and at age 5, he witnessed his entire family being murdered and was forced to become a child soldier. At the age of 10, he became homeless; he could neither read nor write.

In 2007, at the age of 14, he settled in the suburbs of New Jersey. At 25 years old, Mohamed has emerged as a leader in the human rights field. He now dedicates his life to ensuring educational access to all children regardless of where they were born. He currently helps run a program in his home country of Sierra Leone that is sending over 100 students to school. In his capacity as a Global Youth Ambassador, he helped propel the effort to secure 10 million signatures as part of the Up for School Campaign, calling on world leaders during the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to deliver on their promises of quality inclusive education for all. A 2015 graduate of The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, Mohamed speaks four languages and spends most of his time traveling and speaking on the importance of education and the danger of a mind kept in captivity. Most recently, he joined the Global Partnership for Education Youth Advocates Group to lend his voice and create awareness around GPE’s focus areas. In the fall of 2018, Mohamed will begin his first year of Law School at Fordham University School of Law in New York.

Shivani Siroya

Shivani Siroya is the founder and CEO of Tala, the leading mobile technology and data science company committed to expanding access to financial services for the emerging middle class globally. Over 3M of people have borrowed through Tala’s smartphone app, which provides instant credit to underserved customers in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Prior to founding Tala, Shivani held a variety of positions in global health, microfinance, and investment banking including with the United Nations Population Fund where she worked across West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and researched the issues of financial systems that Tala is trying to solve.

Kobe Smith

Kobe Smith is a youth advocate from Guyana and a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018). He is pursuing a Bachelor of Laws at University of Guyana and working at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited.

Kobe is passionate about incorporating comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in school curricula to inform youth of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). As president of Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association’s Youth Advocacy Movement, Kobe has led and supported outreach activities, advocacy campaigns, and CSE for thousands of young people.

Kobe has participated and presented at international advocacy fora in the U.K., Peru, Rwanda, and U.S. In 2017, he participated in a hearing at the Organization of American States, where he highlighted SRHR issues affecting Guyanese youth. Kobe has also successfully advocated for the implementation of a national reintegration policy for adolescent mothers in Guyana.

Alongside his membership at United Nations Population Fund’s Youth Advisory Group, Kobe serves as Youth Director on the Regional Board of International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region and Alternate Youth Director on the Governing Council of IPPF. In 2017, Kobe received the National Youth Award for his dedicated service to promoting health education for adolescents in Guyana.

Ailbhe Smyth

Ailbhe Smyth is a long-time activist and campaigner on feminist, LGBTI+and socialist issues. She lectured at University College Dublin for many years, where she was the founding head of Women’s Studies, and has published widely on feminism, politics and culture in Ireland. Ailbhe left academia in the mid-2000s to focus on working with women’s community organisations and in social movement politics. She has been involved in many campaigns and was a strategic executive member of the victorious same-sex marriage campaign in 2015. She has been fighting for women’s right to choose for over 35 years, and was Co-Director of the Together for Yes national referendum campaign which removed the near-total ban on abortion from the Irish Constitution with a majority of 66% in 2018. She convenes the Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment, and is a regular contributor to media and national debate on a host of issues in Ireland. In April 2019, Ailbhe was included on the TIME 100 ‘Most Influential People’ list for her work with Repeal the 8th Amendment campaign, along with the other two campaign co-directors.

Theo Sowa

Theo Sowa is an independent advisor and consultant, specialising in international social development with a particular emphasis on children’s rights and protection issues. She is currently the CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund.

Born in Ghana, she has lived and worked in many countries in Africa, as well as the UK, Europe, and the USA. Her work includes advisory roles to African and other international women and children’s rights activists and leaders, plus policy development and advocacy with a variety of international agencies and organisations. She was Senior Programme Advisor on the UN Study on Children and Armed Conflict (the Machel Report) and led the five year review of the report.

Theo is a board member of various national and international civil society organisations and grant making foundations, including being a trustee of Comic Relief (a multimillion grant making foundation) and Chair of Comic Relief’s International Grants Committee; a member of the African Advisory Board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation; a Patron of Evidence for Development; a member of the UBS Optimus Foundation and a board member of the Graça Machel Trust.

She has authored many publications, including being a contributing editor to ‘The Impact of War on Children’; a contributing author and co editor of a Harvard Law School/UNICEF Innocenti publication on ‘Children and Transitional Justice’; and co author of ‘Groupwork and Intermediate Treatment’.

Theo was awarded a CBE in June 2010.

Judith Spitz, Ph.D.

Judith Spitz, Ph.D.is the Founding Program Director of the Initiative for Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY)at Cornell Tech; a partnership between Cornell Tech, the City University of New York and a growing list of corporate partners with a mission to significantly increase the participation of women in higher education in fields related to technology. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of ASAPP, an Artificial Intelligence company that drives digital transformation in customer care. Prior to this, she was a senior vice president and CIO at Verizon. The New York Business Journal listed her as one of its 2018 Women of Influence. In 2017, she received the Above & Beyond Award for Outstanding Women in Business from City & State New York. InfoWorld named her as a 2009 CTO 25 award winner and Computerworld magazine put her on its CIO 100 Honoree list in 2007. Her current passion is driving programs that will address the urgent need for more women in technology and topics related to gender-based algorithmic bias, the future of work, and the leadership skills needed in an AI-driven economy.

Elhadj As Sy

Elhadj As Sy is the Secretary General of the IFRC. He began this leadership role on 1 August, 2014 and is based at the IFRC secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Sy has extensive experience in leadership roles in the humanitarian sector, having previously served at a senior level with UNICEF, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other agencies for more than 25 years.

Before joining the IFRC ‐ the world’s largest humanitarian network ‐ Mr. Sy was UNICEF’s Director of Partnerships and Resource Development in New York. He has also served as UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and Global Emergency Coordinator for the Horn of Africa.

From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Sy was Director, HIV/AIDS Practice with the United Nations Development Programme in New York. Before that, he worked with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as its Africa Regional Director and later as Director of Operational Partnerships and Country Support in Geneva. Mr. Sy has also held the position of UNAIDS Representative in New York and Director of the New York Liaison Office. From 1988 to 1997, he served as Director of Health and Development Programmes with Environment and Development Action in the Third World in Dakar, Senegal.

Mr. Sy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Human Sciences from the University of Dakar. He then pursued Master’s studies in Arts and Germanistik at the University of Graz, and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. He was also awarded a post graduate diploma in Education from the Ecole normale superieure in Dakar. He speaks English, French and German and is a national of Senegal.

Erica Armah-Bra Bulu Tandoh

Erica Armah-Bra Bulu Tandoh, who just turned 11, is also known as DJ Switch from Ghana. She has already made a name for herself after only spinning for two years. She is eloquent, vocal, and confident; putting attitude and indefinite energy into her work. She is an unstoppable powerhouse after interviews with the BBC, CNN, and France24. Erica at age 9 had no knowledge on the DJ set until she tried her hand, and mastered it within five days of training. She is the youngest person to ever to win an award at the Ghana DJ’s Awards, being named Discovery of the Year 2018, as well as winner of Tv3 Talented Kids 2017 and 2018, and Top 30 under 30 Future Of Ghana. She has two debut singles, “DECIEVER” and “PARDONNEZ” and has performed on popular shows such as Ghana meets Niger and All Africa Awards.

“I picked the name DJ Switch because I switch up people’s happiness,” she explains of her moniker with a smile. “I am not only a DJ but also a poet, dancer, an MC, motivational speaker, actress and many more.”

During the UN General Assembly 2018, she was the main DJ for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Summit and a warm-up for President Emmanuel Macron of France, mingling with powerful world leaders and top artists. Erica serves as Executive Director of DJ Switch Foundation and is an advocate education, health, and gender equality.

Erica, who is now in Junior High School, says, “There’s no conflict between my being a DJ and academic performance because I always have my actions planned.” She dreams of becoming a gynecologist to help women.

Tina Tchen

Tina Tchen shares hope, ideas and strategies that inspire others to recognize the power of diverse teams and keep equality on the forefront of the global agenda.

During her eight years at the White House, Tina served as chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, assistant to President Barack Obama, and executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, leading the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families and the first-ever United State of Women Summit.

A high-powered lawyer, Tina’s career accomplishments have established her as a powerful advocate for gender equality. Tina is actively involved with the Time’s Up initiative, where 300 prominent women in the entertainment world have banded together to create a legal defense fund which aims to support women dealing with sexual harassment across all industries. Ms. Tchen co-founded the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by the National Women’s Law Center, and has raised over $22 million to connect victims of workplace sexual harassment with lawyers. She is a partner at Buckley LLP, where she leads the firm’s Workplace Cultural Compliance practice.

A passionate champion for women’s and children’s issues, including women in positions of leadership, Tina shares her unique perspective and insights on workplace culture, breaking through male-dominated industries, and ending campus sexual assault. Energetic, authentic and engaging on stage, she empowers the next generation to raise their voices and take action now to secure a better tomorrow for women and minorities across the country and world.

Deneka Thomas

Deneka Thomas is a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018) who is an internationally recognized poet, writer, arts educator, and activist from Trinidad and Tobago. Deneka is also the Program Manager of Girl Be Heard Trinidad and Tobago. She is a committee member on the Caribbean Regional Youth Council and has been published in print and online publications, and is currently working on her first collection of poems.

Deneka is the 2018 National Grand Slam Defending Champion and a resident poet and Teaching Artist at The 2 Cents Movement. She also mentors youth through various secondary school poetry clubs across Trinidad and Tobago. Deneka’s passion for empowering young people through art and poetry led her to create and assist in the creation of curriculums, programs, and youth outreach with various organizations.

As an advocate, Deneka is proud to lead one of the most upcoming female-led and serving organizations in her country. She has been the face of many campaigns and initiatives that promote equality and human rights. Her work is a mixture of advocating for women, LGBT rights, environmentalism, and exploring culture and diaspora. She has married her passion for championing women’s issues and love for the earth’s ecology to create her personal brand of eco-feminism.

Redi Tlhabi

Redi Tlhabi is an award winning author and journalist. She is the host of Africa’s premier current affairs television programme, The Big Debate and is a household name in South African broadcasting. She has 20 years’ experience, presenting prime time programs on radio and television. Her weekly column is read by millions of people, who want to understand the complexities of South African society. She has also contributed to the Washington Post, CNN and the BBC. She is a former host of popular international television program, South To North on Aljazeera, whose aim was to deepen conversations between the Global South and audiences from other parts of the world. Redi identifies as a fearless feminist writer and her award winning books, tell stories of strong women who have survived sexual violence and are often failed by society and the law. She is a sought after speaker and moderator, particularly on matters affecting women. Redi recently moderated the Discovery Leadership Summit, where she was in conversation with Olympic gold medalist, Caster Semenya, who is currently in a grueling fight for her identity and right to compete. Amongst others, she has moderated a discussion with former British Prime Minister David Cameron and Oprah Winfrey. Redi is passionate about matters of social justice and economic empowerment of women. When she is not writing or working, she enjoys punishing her body by running ultra-marathons.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He also serves as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Youth. Trudeau’s vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. His experiences as a teacher, father, leader, and advocate for youth have shaped his dedication to Canadians – and his commitment to make Canada a place where everyone has the opportunities they need to thrive.

Before entering politics, Trudeau spent several years teaching French, math, and other subjects in Vancouver. Teaching allowed him to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. He remains committed to hearing the voices of young Canadians, from the classroom to Parliament Hill.

Trudeau entered politics to make change that would better serve all Canadians. In 2007, he built a community-based, grassroots campaign to win the Liberal Party nomination in the Montréal riding of Papineau. He was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2015. Justin was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013. His leadership campaign focused on building a new, truly national movement of progressive Canadians, bringing hundreds of thousands of Canadians into politics, most for the first time. He worked closely with his team to build a plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the middle class. With Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberal plan emphasized fair economic opportunity for everyone, respect for and promotion of freedom and diversity, and a more democratic government that truly represents Canadians.

As Prime Minister, Trudeau leads a government that works hard every day to build an economy that works for the middle class and people working hard to join it. His team is focused on creating new jobs, fostering strength out of Canada’s rich diversity, fighting climate change, and achieving reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. A strong feminist, Trudeau appointed Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.

Trudeau is husband to Sophie Grégoire, a former Quebec TV and radio host. They married in 2005 and are the proud parents of Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is an engaged advocate for gender equality and a mother of three young children. Over the past 15 years, she has been involved with a variety of causes as a speaker and mentor, including causes for teenage self-esteem, women and girls’ rights and freedoms, eating disorders and mental health.

In 2013, Sophie received the UN Women National Committee Canada Recognition Award for her contribution to human rights. She received the 2018 Humanitarians Award from the United Nations Association of New York.

As part of her advocacy, she works as an official spokesperson for Plan Canada’s “Because I am a Girl” initiative and the FitSpirit Foundation. She was named influencer for the Deliver for Good campaign of Women Deliver. Sophie is always looking to deepen the conversation around mental and physical well-being and is now the National ambassador and ally to We Well-being to bring awareness on mental health.

As a mother, Sophie’s outdoorsy and energetic personality translates into regular active family time in nature and practicing a multitude of sports. She was honoured as the 100th member of Nature Canada’s Women for Nature initiative for her support of nature and the outdoors and continues to be committed to sharing her passion for nature with Canadians as Honourary Guide for Families for Parks Canada.

Fully bilingual, Sophie studied Commerce at McGill University, and finished her B.A. in Communications at the Université de Montréal. She completed another degree at the École de radio et de télévision Promédia in Montreal. After her studies, she worked in sales and advertising before becoming a television and radio reporter.

Her intrinsic curiosity and her willingness to explore spirituality motivated Sophie to study hatha yoga and attain her certification. She has also completed her “Radiant Child” kundalini yoga teacher training, a practice specifically for children, and has taught classes on a volunteer basis at a public school close to her home.

Jona Claire Turalde

Being the youngest and first youth champion of the SheDecides movement and member of the Guiding group for 2 years now, Jona has been constantly finding herself in the extremes of situations: from staying in communities where a teenage mother she interviewed wasn’t aware that she was actually raped, and even going to schools despite gov’t agencies’ efforts, students still believe they lack the knowledge and access to contraceptives and other SRHR services; to lobbying, securing and persuading international stakeholders commitment in ensuring that she decides without question!

She became a Girl Advisor for an international research titled “Girls to the Front: a snapshot of girls’ organising” commissioned by IworldsGlobal, Frida Young Feminist Fund and Mama Cash. In her free time, she organizes a youth organization that advocates for reproductive health and rights. Despite all of these, she’s a full time Anthropology student.

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.

Manasa Priya Vasudevan

Manasa Priya Vasudevan works at the Delhi-based The YP Foundation, where she manages Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights interventions in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR. In her role, Manasa works closely with diverse groups of adolescents, youth and their gatekeepers from across urban, rural, institutional and informal settings. Manasa also facilitates young people’s direct engagement on policy by strengthening youth capacities, and connecting them with technical agencies and policymakers so that they can meaningfully inform large scale policies and programs on health. As a member of the FP2020 global reference group, Manasa also ensures that young people’s diverse realities and needs are highlighted at national, regional and global platforms. In the past, as a NIXI fellow and Research Associate at IT for Change, she has undertaken research and advocacy on issues at the intersections of information communication technologies and social justice. Manasa holds a Master’s degree in Gender, Media and Culture from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.

Gerda Verburg

As part of the SUN Movement’s stewardship arrangements, in March 2016, United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Gerda Verburg from The Netherlands, as Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and Assistant Secretary-General.

Ms. Verburg brings extensive and broad experience from politics and international cooperation. In 2008, following her appointment the year before as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, she was elected as Chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 17). From 2011, she served as Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the UN United Nations Rome-based agencies: FAO, WFP and IFAD. In 2013, she was elected as Chair of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and in 2014 she was appointed as Chair of the Agenda Council for Food and Nutrition of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

As part of her role, SUN Movement serves as a member of the SUN Movement Lead Group and an ex officio member of the SUN Movement Executive Committee.

In accordance with the SUN Movement Ethical Framework, click here to view the signed SUN Movement Coordinator Code of Conduct and here to see the SUN Movement Coordinator Terms of Reference.

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.

Marie Villeneuve

Originally from Chicoutimi, Quebec, Marie Villeneuve joined Radio-Canada’s British-Columbia/Yukon radio team in February 2010 to cover the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Marie has a diverse background both behind the scenes and on-air. Before becoming the host of the late afternoon show, Boulevard du Pacifique on ICI Radio-Canada Premiere, Marie was a columnist and an Associate Director of various radio and television shows. Since June 2013, the public has tuned in hear Marie at the helm of Phare Ouest, a daily show from 6 am to 9 am (97.7 FM in Vancouver).

Maria Toorpakai Wazir

Jayathma Wickramanayake

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. In this role, Jayathma works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General. 

Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country. 

Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day. 

Lareina Yee

Lareina is the chief diversity and inclusion officer for McKinsey and a member of the global partnership service team, the firm’s 16-person leadership team. She is also the global leader of McKinsey’s technology hardware and services work. As a thought leader at McKinsey, she is a sought-after speaker and frequent author on digital disruption, sales growth, and technological transformations.

Determined to win the war for talent and gender parity, Lareina leads Women in the Workplace, a research partnership with LeanIn.org and the Wall Street Journal. She also frequently speaks about women in business, including at Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit, the Makers Conference, Techonomy, the Professional Business Women of California Conference, and the Women’s Forum in France.

Outside of McKinsey, Lareina is on the board of Safe & Sound, a not for profit focused on child-abuse prevention.

Ziauddin Yousafzai

Ziauddin Yousafzai is a co-founder of Malala Fund and Malala’s father. For many years, Ziauddin served as a teacher and school administrator in his home country of Pakistan. When the Taliban invaded their home in Swat Valley, Ziauddin peacefully resisted their efforts to limit personal freedoms. Speaking out put Ziauddin at risk, but he feared remaining silent would be far worse. Inspired by her father’s example, Malala began publicly campaigning for girls’ education. Due to her increased prominence, Malala was attacked by the Taliban two years later. Malala survived and was transported to the U.K. for treatment. Ziauddin, his wife, Toor Pekai and their two sons joined Malala in Birmingham. Determined to continue their campaign, Ziauddin and Malala founded Malala Fund in 2013. Together they champion every girl’s right to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. His first book “Let Her Fly” is on parenthood and fighting for equality.

Saadia Zahidi

Saadia Zahidi is the Head of Education, Gender and Work, and a member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum (WEF). She co-authors the Forum’s Future of Jobs, Global Gender Gap, and Global Human Capital Reports. Zahidi won the Financial Times and McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize for young business authors in 2014 for her book proposal, Womenomics in the Muslim World. She is also the author of Fifty Million Rising, which was published last year. In 2013 and 2014, she was honored in BBC’s 100 women.

Zahidi grew up in Pakistan. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Smith College, a master’s in international economics from Graduate Institute Geneva, and an MPA from Harvard University.

Ntokozo Zakwe

Ntokozo Zakwe is a 27 year old South African woman. She is an advocate for HIV prevention and women’s sexual health and reproductive rights. Her passion for advocacy has been intensified by her personal experiences as a young woman in South Africa. All her life, she has struggled to stay HIV Negative, withstanding challenges and factors that leave women vulnerable to HIV, and is determined to do something about it.

As a DREAMS Ambassador, she works in her region to ensure that the voices of adolescent girls and young women are heard, especially when decisions are being made about their health, rights, and lives. She is currently a 2019 AVAC Fellow working on an advocacy initiative that will ensure women’s access to comprehensive sexual health services that integrate gender based violence education in their primary health care centres.

Maysoon Zayid

Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian, writer and disability advocate. She is a graduate of, and a Guest Comedian in Residence, at Arizona State University. Maysoon is the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. She was a full-time On Air Contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann and a columnist for The Daily Beast. She has most recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey Network’s In Deep Shift, 60 Minutes, and ABC News. Maysoon had the number one TED Talk of 2014 and was named 1 of 100 Women of 2015 by BBC.

As a professional comedian, Maysoon has performed in top New York clubs and has toured extensively at home and abroad. She was a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour. Maysoon appeared alongside Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess with the the Zohan and has written for VICE. She walked in New York Fashion Week and is proud to be an ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Maysoon is currently developing a comedy series with TNT called Sanctuary.

Sahle-Work Zewde

Sahle-Work Zewde was elected as the fourth and first woman President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on 25 October 2018.

She spent her first professional years in the Ministry of Education. She later joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988 and started her long diplomatic carrier as ambassador to Senegal with accreditation to Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and the Gambia. She served in Djibouti and IGAD- Inter Governmental Authority on Development for 10 years before moving as ambassador of Ethiopia to France, Tunisia and Morocco and Permanent Representative to UNESCO. After her return to Ethiopia she was appointed Permanent Representative to the African Union and Director-General for African Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.

President Sahle-Work Zewde joined the United Nations in 2009 and served as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General/SRSG/ and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) thus becoming the first African woman to become an SRSG.

In 2011, she was appointed as the first dedicated Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) at the level of Under-Secretary-General. In June 2018, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ms. Zewde as his Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU. She was the first woman to hold these three positions at the United Nations.

Ms Zewde is a mother of two boys. She speaks Amharic, French and English fluently.