Linda A. Seabrook is General Counsel at Futures Without Violence, where she leads a number of programs aimed at reducing violence against women and children. Formerly, she was at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, a national top-tier labor and employment law firm where she focused on employment discrimination and sexual harassment cases, and occupational safety and health law. Media includes: Post & Courier, USA Today.
Maria Garay-Serratos, M.S.W., Ph.D., is CEO of Sojourner Center, one of the nation’s largest domestic violence shelters, serving nearly 9,000 women and children each year with programs to achieve a world free of domestic violence. Dr. Garay-Serratos was appointed to lead the Phoenix-based organization in 2013. Under Dr. Garay’s leadership, Sojourner Center has launched a five-year strategic plan to extend its services deeper into Arizona’s diverse communities with education and prevention efforts aimed at ending the cycle of domestic violence. Media includes: Los Angeles Times, Arizona Republic, The Huffington Post.
Emily F. Rothman is a Professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is also a visiting scientist at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC). Dr. Rothman is a researcher and conducts studies on dating violence, sexual violence, pornography, and human trafficking. She authored a report on programs for perpetrators of intimate partner violence published by the World Health Organization and has collaborated with colleagues in violence prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Media includes: New York Times magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Teen Vogue, CNN, NBC, NPR.
Angela Esquivel Hawkins is an Associate Director of Educational Programs in the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education at Stanford University. She is also Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the As One Project, a national 501(c)(3) organization that supports friends and family of survivors of sexual assault. The As One Project is the first national non-profit to provide resources and support exclusively for friends and family members of survivors of sexual violence. Media includes: SELF Magazine, Huffington Post.
Dr. Carolyn M. West is Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences and affiliate Professor in the Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. She is a nationally recognized Black feminist scholar who investigates gender-based violence in the lives of African American women, with a focus on domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Essence Magazine, NPR, NBC News.
L.Y. Marlow’s story involves four generations of mothers and daughters who survived more than 60 years of domestic violence. When Marlow discovered that her 22-year-old daughter and granddaughter, a little girl named Promise, now the fifth generation, were trapped in an abusive relationship, she founded Saving Promise with the intention of saving Promise which blossomed into a vision for the nation. Media includes: MSNBC, CNN, Huffington Post Live, Fox News, NPR.
Jane Manning is a former prosecutor who now serves as Director of Advocacy of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, focusing on their new initiative to combat drug-facilitated sexual assault. She began her career as a prosecutor, specializing in cases of domestic violence, child abuse, and sex crimes. In private practice, she provided pro bono representation to a coalition of battered women’s organizations. Media includes: The New York Times, WNYC News, NPR.
Zahara Green is the Founder and Executive Director of TRANScending Barriers, a trans-led group whose mission is to empower the transgender and gender non- conforming community in Georgia through community organizing with leadership building, advocacy, and direct services. Green is the Deputy Director of Witness to Mass Incarceration, where she works to improve the PREA auditing process to eliminate sexual abuse in confinement. Media includes: Rolling Stone, Buzzfeed, INTO, AJC.
Kristen Houser is a leading expert on sexual violence. With decades of experience in the field, Houser is a go-to source for context and expert opinion to national, regional, and international media on sexual assault issues and cases. Houser is currently a lead spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and Raliance, a national partnership working to end sexual violence in one generation. She provides expert opinion, context and facts about sexual assault to media covering high-profile cases, including those of Bill Cosby and Jerry Sandusky. Media includes: New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Forbes, CNN.
Lisalyn R. Jacobs is the CEO of Just Solutions: Bringing in justice to counteract injustice, and the former V.P. of Government Relations for Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund). She has fought for and secured needed protections for poor women and survivors of violence in a number of key federal laws including two reauthorizations of the Violence Against Women Act (2005 and 2013), the 2006 reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and the 2009 amendments to the Stimulus law. Media includes: New York Times, NPR, MSNBC, CNN, Fox.
Emily Gemar is the Campus Advocacy Coordinator at The Ohio State University with the Sexual Assault Response Network of Ohio (SARNCO), where she provides confidential advocacy services to students, faculty, staff and visitors who have experienced sexual violence and intimate partner violence. Through this work she has gained expert knowledge and experience in Title IX, program development, and college campus-based violence response and education programming. Media includes: The Lantern, OhioHealth, The Columbus Dispatch, ABC.
Lourdes Guadalupe Martinez is the Political Director of Mujeres Unidas y Activas, or MUA, a grassroots organization of Latina immigrant women in the San Francisco Bay Area with a double mission of promoting personal transformation and building community power for social and economic justice. MUA’s focus issue areas are Immigrant Rights; Domestic Worker Rights; and Violence Against Women. Media includes: Univision, Telemundo, NBC Bay Area, KQED News.
Dr. Amber J. Keyser has a PhD from the University of Georgia and is the author of fifteen books for tweens and teens. She has significant expertise in sex-positive and consent-focused sex education, rape culture and the #MeToo movement, and the commodification of the female body in history, fashion, and media. Dr. Keyser is author of No More Excuses: Dismantling Rape Culture (Twenty-First Century Books, 2019), a deep dive into the #MeToo movement, dissects the beliefs, behaviors, and cultural norms that excuse and normalize male sexual aggression and violence. Media includes: Oregon Public Broadcasting, KPOV Radio, KBOO Portland Radio.
Rebecca Nagle is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and a two spirit (queer) woman. Nagle is a community organizer and writer currently living in Tahlequah, OK and studying the Cherokee language. As the co-founder and former co-Director of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture and The Monument Quilt, Nagle organized national art and advocacy projects to create a culture of support for survivors. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, NPR, NBC, CNN.
Juhu Thukral is Vice President of Programs at the International Women's Health Coalition. She is a human rights lawyer, social impact leader, and founder of numerous ventures focused on the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ people. She works in the global context, addressing the many dimensions of sexual health and rights, gender-based violence, and women’s leadership. Media includes: New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, WNYC.
Charon Asetoyer (Comanche), a Native American women's health activist. She is the CEO and Founder of the Native American Community Board (1985) and the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (1988) on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The Resource Center addresses issues of reproductive justice, violence against women, and environmental justice. In addition to the Resource Center the organization has a shelter for women fleeing from sexual assault and domestic violence. Media includes: The New York Times, Jezebel, Colorlines, CNN, NPR.
Jocelyn C. Anderson is a nurse researcher and forensic nurse. She has spent her career working to improve the lives of individuals who have experienced violence - focusing on sexual and intimate partner violence. She has both a Master's degree and PhD from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. As a researcher, she has examined both health outcomes of violence - such as HIV, strangulation, and traumatic brain injury, and how health care providers can respond to violence - including interventions to assess for and prevent sexual violence among college students. Media includes: Pennsylvania Capital Star, Popular Science.
Jennifer Pierce-Weeks, RN, is Chief Executive Officer for the International Association of Forensic Nurses, where she implemented the adult/adolescent online SANE training and learning management system. She presents nationally on a variety of forensic nursing-related topics, including sexual assault and abuse, intimate partner violence, strangulation, child maltreatment and program sustainability. Media includes: Health, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue.
Born in Puerto Rico, Ada Alvarez Conde has been working 14 years doing an international campaign of awareness of dating violence. She’s the author of the novel, Lo que no dije, which she wrote when she was 15 years old, becoming Puerto Rico youngest novelist. With this book she started giving conferences about dating violence and advocating for prevention of domestic violence. She works in the Senate of Puerto Rico as Director of the Women Commission for her multiple bill proposals and work in public policy. Media includes: Al Jazeera, Univision, CNN.
Grace Huang, J.D., is the Policy Director at the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. For 25 years, she has advocated on behalf of domestic and sexual violence survivors and immigrants. Previously, Ms. Huang led the policy program at a statewide domestic violence organization, coordinating the organization’s advocacy on state & federal legislation & court policies. Media includes: The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, The Hill, Refinery29, Mother Jones.
Nicole Bedera is a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan in the Sociology Department. Her research focuses on college sexual violence with specific focus on how university organizations shape the experience of sexual violence victimization and perpetration, as well as the role of masculinity and sexual identity in sexual assault. Media includes: The New York Times, Time Magazine, Slate, Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, NPR, BBC.
Sheerine Alemzadeh is an attorney and the co-founder and co-director of Healing to Action, a non-profit organization building a worker-led movement to end gender violence. A legal expert on workplace sexual violence, Sheerine has forged strategic partnerships across the nation to develop community-based, survivor-centered responses to gender-based violence against low-wage workers. Media includes: U.S. World & News Report, The Washington Post, Vox, The Huffington Post.
A recognized leader in both the feminist and disability movements, Bonnie Brayton has been the National Executive Director of the DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWN) Canada since May 2007. In this role, she has proven herself as a formidable advocate for women with disabilities here in Canada and internationally. During her tenure with DAWN Canada, Ms. Brayton has worked diligently to highlight key issues that impact the lives of women with disabilities in regards to health equity, housing, employment and violence. Media includes: Huffington Post, Telegram, Canada Living.
Emily May is an international leader in the anti-street-harassment movement. In 2005, at the age of 24, she co-founded Hollaback! (iHollaback.org) in New York City, and in 2010 she became the first full-time executive director. Hollaback!’s mission is to give women and LGBTQ folks an empowered response to street harassment, and ultimately, to end it. Media includes: Good Morning America, The Today Show, MSNBC, CNN, ABC.















