Center for American Progress Action Fund Center for American Progress Action Fund

Deconstructing Feminism 2.0

A Debrief on the Feminism 2.0 Conference

February 19, 2009, 3:00pm – 5:00pm

About This Event

 

Feminism 2.0 (February 2, 2009) brings together the leadership of major women’s advocacy organizations and online women’s communities to further the connection between today’s issues and women’s voices. In order to help draw lessons from this gathering, CAPAF’s Internet Advocacy Roundtable has invited the organizers of the conference, along with Jessica Arons, director of the Center for American Progress’s Women’s Health and Rights Program, to share their thoughts on the conference and the future of advocating for women’s issues in the digital age.

Join us on Thursday, February 19 for what will be a fascinating discussion with some of the brightest minds in this field.

Speakers:

  • Latifa Lyles, Vice President, National Organization for Women
  • Shireen Mitchell, Vice Chairman, National Council of Women’s Organizations
  • Heather Holdridge, Director of Political Advocacy, Care2
  • Liza Sabater, Blogger and Founder, Culture Kitchen
  • Gloria Pan, VP, Internet Communications, Turner Strategies
  • Jessica Arons, Director of the Women's Health and Rights Program, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Latifa Lyles, a passionate young feminist activist, was elected Membership Vice President of the National Organization for Women in July 2005. Lyles took office at the age of 29, making her the group's youngest-ever national officer. In addition to overseeing NOW's membership and fundraising departments, Lyles serves as a national spokesperson for the group on issues ranging from reproductive rights to Social Security. Lyles attended her first NOW rally at age 16, when she and her classmates boarded a bus in New York City and headed to the 1992 March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. Since then, she has worked for women's rights as a community and political organizer, and holds a deep commitment to economic justice and mobilizing young feminists. Most recently, Lyles worked as a professional non-profit fundraiser, specializing in membership development. Lyles served on NOW's National Board of Directors and was the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director before taking national office. She has served on the board's Budget and Fundraising Committees, and was the board liaison to the National Young Feminist Task Force. Additionally, Lyles has been a local chapter activist and leader in Washington, D.C.

Shireen Mitchell is the founder and executive director of Digital Sisters/Sistas, Inc. a non-profit organization focused on using digital media and technology to access self-sufficiency tools for women and children who are traditionally underserved. Shireen has twenty years of technology, human services, and nonprofit experience. She has combined information and communication technologies with policy, advocacy, and education to support women, seniors, youth, and individuals with disabilities. Shireen leads the organization in providing community advocacy and education for schools, technology centers, and workforce development programs, as well as other ongoing digital media initiatives. Shireen is also president of the Board of Directors of Community Technology Centers' Network, a national affiliation of initiatives and organizations around the country which collectively promote effective technology integration for the social, civic, and economic security into the lives of low-income communities. She works to promote equity and access for women as the chair of the Media and Technology Taskforce of the National Council of Women's Organizations. She is also the vice chair and the youngest executive committee member in the history of the organization. She has served as the Younger Women's Taskforce Co-Chair. Addressing issues from Imus to Thomas, Shireen is a member of the Women's Coalition for Dignity and Diversity in the Media.

Heather Holdridge serves as the director of Political Advocacy for Care2 (Care2.com), the largest social network empowering civically active people to discover, share, and take action. She is working to connect Care2’s 7 million members to non-profits doing political work and campaigns in 2008, and to provide a forum for organizations to promote their message and mission. Care2’s members are interested in making a difference in the world, supporting progressive advocacy on issues as varied as women’s rights, environmental issues, human rights, animal rights, consumer issues, and progressive politics, among others. Prior to Care2, Heather was a partner and Online Organizing Director for the Carol/Trevelyan Strategy Group, working with clients across the progressive spectrum to develop online campaigns and communications strategies. She specialized in customizing content for the web, and working to develop viral interactive media. Her work included the development and growth of the Creative Multimedia department at CTSG, including executive producer and co-writer for media that have won several Pollie awards and the popular Republican Survivor series for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2004. Heather also served as the Director of Legislative Services for Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan voter information service, which included tracking and translating key congressional votes and aiding reporters with their research.

Liza Sabater is a netactivist, blog publisher, and new media consultant. She is the founder and lead writer of culturekitchen, one of the Top 100 progressive blogs (www.ndnpac.org) in the United States; and a Top 500 Feedster blog (www.top500.feedster.com). When Liza is not blogging, she works as a new media advisor and consultant with artists, creatives, and cultural institutions on how to use social networking technologies to develop their communications strategies. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies & International Politics and an A.B.D. in Spanish & Portuguese, both from New York University. For close to 10 years she worked as a Latin American Literature college instructor before joining the corporate world where she worked as a marketing communications consultant and technical writer. A lifelong wordsmith, her work as a writer, translator, and freelance journalist has appeared in academic journals, art reviews, newspapers, and magazines.

Gloria Pan, is vice president for Internet Communications at Turner Strategies. Gloria directed communications at The Media Center where, through the strategic use of Internet marketing and outreach, she helped transform a small, newspaper-industry-specific enterprise into an influential, widely recognized media thought leader. She was editor of The Media Center's morph blog and a driving force in its annual We Media conference, a must-attend event for the media vanguard. Before that, she managed communications for the American Press Institute. From 1991 to 2000, she resided in Tokyo, Japan. After completing a masters program in development economics at Sophia University, she became international editor and writer for The Nippon Foundation, the largest philanthropic organization in Japan. Gloria holds a B.A. in political economy from Barnard College and speaks Mandarin Chinese and some Japanese. 

Jessica Arons is the director of the Women's Health and Rights Program at American Progress. She also is a member of the Center's Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative. Jessica previously served as a staff attorney fellow with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. Prior to working at the ACLU, she practiced labor and employment law at James & Hoffman, P.C. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Elizabeth B. Lacy on the Supreme Court of Virginia. She also worked at the White House and on the 1996 Pennsylvania Democratic Coordinated Campaign prior to law school. Jessica is an honors graduate of Brown University and William and Mary School of Law. At William and Mary, Jessica was an associate editor of the William & Mary Law Review, managing editor of the William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, and a board member of the William & Mary Public Service Fund. She has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, ABC News, and Clear Channel radio.