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.
Sohini has worked in the development sector for 30+ years with a focus on women and empowerment. She has been closely connected to the Women’s Movement in India and co-founded Sanhita Gender Resource Centre — the first of its kind in Eastern India in 1996. Before Breakthrough, she worked with Ashoka Innovators for the Public for 10 years to bring in more women entrepreneurs to the fellowship and on institution building for the organisation in South Asia. She also worked as the India strategy advisor for the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network from 2010-2013. Sohini is a founding member of the Coalition for Good Schools – Voices from the South, a collection of leading practitioners and influencers committed to delivering access to a safe learning environment for children across the Global South. Sohini also represents Breakthrough as the knowledge partner in a consortium to support the global programming of What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale Programme by FCDO, U.K.
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.
Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author, and activist fighting for the rights of farmworkers, migrant women workers, and the Latine(x) community. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas.
Mónica has received numerous awards, including 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 Hispanic Heritage Award. Mónica was named to Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list, TIME Magazine included her in its 2021 TIME100 Next list and People en Español recognized her as one of the 100 Most Powerful Latinos in 2021.
Mónica is also an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship. She is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, The Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law and Harvard Kennedy School.
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.
