Joe Biden is president-elect. To discuss, we SPOTLIGHT Na'ilah Amaru. Amaru has leveraged her nearly two decades serving as a public interest advocate and Democratic operative towards advancing progressive policies across five U.S. states and at every level of government. Starting her career as a grassroots organizer in Georgia, Amaru became a policy advisor to former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, legislative aide to U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and executive director of the New York City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus. Building Democratic governing power in a national capacity, Amaru now collaborates with state legislators and grassroots organizations across the country to advance progressive democracy reforms and fight voter suppression. Media includes: Forbes Magazine, NBC, NY1, WNYC.
Kamala Harris is the first Black and Asian woman to become vice president-elect of the United States. To discuss, we FEATURE Elizabeth Dawes Gay. Dawes Gay is the founder of Sisu Consulting, where she works with clients to advance social, racial, and reproductive justice for women of color. She is a strategist, advocate, communicator, and convener who turns research into social impact. She is passionate about solving social problems that specifically affect women of color. Dawes Gay’s lived experience as a Black woman in the United States drives her to fight injustice to create a more equitable world. Her life’s mission is to create a world where women of color have what they need to achieve their ideal well-being and leave their mark on the world. Media includes: The Nation, Rewire, The Root, EBONY.com, TIME Motto, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Mic, EBONY.com, The Nation, Vice.
Georgia still has not finished counting ballots in the 2020 election and the state's runoff election will decide who has control of the Senate. To discuss, we FEATURE Senator Nan Grogan Orrock. Orrock is the President of the Women Legislators’ Lobby, a national network of women state legislators launched by Women’s Action for New Directions in 1991. After ten terms in the Georgia State House of Representatives, serving as the first female House Majority Whip, she was elected in 2006 from Atlanta’s downtown neighborhoods to the State Senate. Senator Orrock serves on the Committee of Appropriations, Finance, Health and Human Services, Higher Education, and Urban Affairs. Media includes: The Nation, TIME Magazine, MSNBC, CBS, ABC.
Donald Trump is planning to make legal challenges to the election results. To discuss, we FEATURE Liz Kennedy. Kennedy is the Director of Democracy and Government Reform at the Center for American Progress. Previously, she served as counsel and campaign strategist at Demos, working on voting rights, money in politics, and corporate accountability. She worked to expand political participation by eliminating barriers to voting and empowering voters; to increase transparency and accountability for money in politics to fight corruption of democratic government; and to fulfill America’s promise of political equality. Media includes: The American Prospect, Salon, U.S. News & World Report, BillMoyers.com, The Huffington Post, MSNBC.
World leaders have responded to Joe Biden's presidential election win. To discuss, we FEATURE Former Ambassador Isobel Coleman. Ambassador Coleman was confirmed by the Senate as U.S. Representative to the United Nations for UN Management and Reform on December 16, 2014 and sworn in to her post on December 19, 2014. Ambassador Coleman brought strong management and reform experience to her position, having spent nearly a decade as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. Prior to joining the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Coleman was a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, where she directed CFR’s Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy program. Media includes: The Financial Times, USA Today, Foreign Affairs.
President-elect Joe Biden has proposed a plan for climate change that will include a shift towards clean energy and meeting climate change goals set in the Paris Agreement. To discuss, we FEATURE Barbara Buchner. Buchner is Global Managing Director of the widely renowned Climate Finance program at Climate Policy Initiative. She is the lead author on CPI's 'Global Landscape of Climate Finance' analyses, which has set the benchmark for climate finance tracking, and 'Climate Finance in 2013-14 and the USD 100 billion Goal' - a joint report with the OECD that played a seminal role in the lead up to the Paris Agreement. Media includes: Reuters, Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times.
President-elect Joe Biden has plans to tackle the coronavirus pandemic by putting together a pandemic advisory board as well as making COVID-19 testing more readily available, mandating masks nationwide, and possible lockdowns. To discuss, we FEATURE Lipi Roy, MD, MPH, DABAM. Roy is an internal medicine physician board certified in addiction medicine, as well as an MSNBC and NBC News Medical Contributor. As Medical Director at Housing Works, Dr. Roy oversees medical services at COVID isolation and quarantine sites in New York City. She also serves as clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health. As the former Chief of Addiction Medicine for New York City jails including Rikers Island, Dr. Roy oversaw substance use treatment and recovery services at the nation’s 2nd-largest jail complex. Media experience: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, NBC News, MSNBC.
Pfizer/BioNTech has said that their new coronavirus vaccine is 90% effective. To discuss, we FEATURE Amy Finan. Finan was appointed as the chief executive officer of the Sabin Vaccine Institute on April 18, 2016. In her time as CEO, Amy has led the development and implementation of a strategic plan focusing Sabin on a mission to make vaccines more accessible, enable innovation and expand immunization across the globe. Extensive media experience.
Stocks have gone up since the announcement of a potential coronavirus vaccine and news of Joe Biden being elected the next president of the United States. To discuss, we FEATURE Michele Schneider. Schenider was one of the first female floor traders on the New York Commodities Exchanges in the World Trade Center. Today she serves as Director of Trading Education at MarketGauge.com, a 20-year industry-leading financial publishing company. She runs a discretionary trading recommendation service called MMMAdvantage, for active investors. Media includes: TheStreet.com, US News & World Report, Millennial Money, Fox Business.
A potential civil war is looming in Ethiopia as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive on the Tigray region of the country, after accusing Tigrayan leaders of attacking a military base. To discuss, we FEATURE Solome Lemma. Lemma is the Executive Director of Thousand Currents, a grantmaker that supports grassroots movements focused on food, climate, and economic justice in the Global South and shifting philanthropy towards justice and equity. She is the co-founder of Africans in the Diaspora (AiD), an initiative she led for four years before its merger with Thousand Currents. Previously, she served as Global Fund for Children’s Senior Program Officer for Africa, managing a portfolio of over 100 grassroots organizations in about 25 countries. Solomé has also worked with the U.N. Development Programme in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch in New York City, and International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Media includes: The Washington Post, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR.
Wednesday is Veteran's Day. To commemorate, we FEATURE Asha Castleberry. Castleberry is a U.S. Army veteran that completed a 30month deployment in the Middle East. Since the 2014 ISIL incursion in Iraq, she served for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (AntiISIS Military Campaign) in Iraq and Kuwait. From December 2012 to June 2014, Asha served as the Kuwait Desk Officer for International Military Affairs, U.S. Army Central. Extensive media experience.
The Vatican's Theodore McCarrick was suspended in 2015 after allegations of sexually abusing altar boys. The Vatican has released a report on the scandal. To discuss, we FEATURE Angela Bonavoglia. Bonavoglia is an award-winning journalist and author who is nationally recognized for her writing about women and the Catholic Church. The National Catholic Reporter called her most recent book, Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church (Harper Collins),"Detailed and well-documented....Takes a fresh look at the post-sexual-scandal church and finds the landscape both familiar and surprising." The Dallas Morning News wrote that it is a “thoughtful, coherent and impassioned call for answers to some of the most pressing questions facing the Catholic Church today." Media includes: The Nation, The National Catholic Reporter, The Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The Miami Herald.
Liz Theran
