Women across the globe have banded together in a unified call for an end to sexual assault, harassment, and inequality in the workplace and beyond. Many see movements like #MeToo and Times Up as a watershed moment. Others point to the progress still needed. A panel of survivors, activists, and social entrepreneurs will assess the journey to this remarkable cultural moment, and discuss how we can maintain the momentum to end sexual assault, harassment, and inequality—not just in the US, but around the world.
An intrepid entrepreneur, Sohini has been dabbling in the development sector for more than 30 years, mostly on issues of women and girls. Currently, she is a senior advisor to the Accelerator for Shifting Gender Norms Through Education, building a collaborative of successful and evidence-based programs shifting gender norms through the school system across the globe. She, very recently, was the CEO of Breakthrough, an organisation focused on transforming gender norms and building the leadership of young people to prevent gender-based violence. Sohini has worked in Breakthrough for 14 years to build a wide portfolio of supporters and partners. She is also a founding member of the Coalition for Good Schools - Voices from the South, a coalition for and of the Global South, focused on preventing violence against children in schools.
Amanda is the CEO and founder of Rise, a national nonprofit working to implement a Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights. After Nguyen’s rape kit was on the verge of destruction after only six months of retention, she decided to create a Sexual Assault Bill of Rights, not just for her own circumstances, but for the over 25 million survivors across the country who face the daunting, confusing and broken justice system after an assault.
Rise, under Nguyen’s leadership, wrote and unanimously passed through the U.S. Congress–in only seven months–the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights, which was signed into law last October by President Obama. The Rise movement is now active in 38 states and four countries (the United States, Japan, Mexico, and Canada). In addition to the U.S. federal law, Rise has passed similar legislation in multiple states (Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington).
Amanda’s start in public service began at NASA headquarters in the Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, Communications and Chief Technologist teams where she worked on the last space shuttle launch, public-private partnerships, and the Asteroid Redirect Grand Challenge Mission.
Previously, Amanda held several roles during the Obama Administration including the was the Deputy White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of State. Before this role, she served in the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons as a speechwriter. She also held roles at the Obama White House in the Office of Public Engagement and the Chief of Staff’s office, at Morgan Stanley in public finance investment banking, and at the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysics Center as an Origins of Life fellow analyzing the Kepler exoplanet mission.
During college, Amanda created the first student-written course on modern slavery and co-founded Wema Children, an orphanage in Kenya. Amanda graduated from Harvard University in 2013.
Monica Ramírez is an award-winning activist, attorney, and founder of Justice for Migrant Women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of immigrant women through policy advocacy, education, and empowerment. As a leader in the movement for migrant worker rights, Ramírez has been instrumental in raising awareness of workplace abuses, including sexual harassment and exploitation. Her work has garnered global recognition for its impact in advancing human rights and social justice. She has received numerous honors, including the Harvard Kennedy School’s first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, the Smithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award, and the 2022 James Beard Leadership Award. She has also been named in Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list, TIME Magazine’s TIME100 Next list in 2021, Anthem Non-Profit Leader Award Gold Winner, ADCOLOR 2024 Catalyst Honoree and Quien 50 2024.
Lara Setrakian is the cofounder and CEO of News Deeply, a network of digital media platforms that convene stakeholders and passionate communities on the world’s biggest challenges. Each platform fuses original reporting, expert analysis and perspectives from key voices on the ground. Her team’s inaugural site, Syria Deeply, launched in 2012 and won the Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation.
They went on to launch Ebola Deeply, Water Deeply, Refugees Deeply, Oceans Deeply, Malnutrition Deeply and Women’s Advancement Deeply; the model is now expanding to cover an array of topics in public health, environmental science and social impact.
In 2017, in the midst of the #metoo movement, Lara took a public stand against sexual assault and abuse of women in journalism. Along with a group of passionate and talented women she cofounded Press Forward, an initiative to change the culture of newsrooms across the U.S., to be safe and fair for men and women.
For her work in building News Deeply, Fast Company named Lara as one of the “Most Creative People in Business,” while Inc. Magazine called her one of “8 Women Who Could Own the Future.” Before launching News Deeply Lara was correspondent for ABC News and Bloomberg Television, covering the Middle East. Lara is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She has been featured in Mashable, TechCrunch, TIME magazine, the Guardian, Marie Claire, the New York Times and on MSNBC, CNN and NPR.
