LEADERS

Leaders are women who serve as role models in the program. Leaders represent excellence in service, activism, and creativity, and are exceptional in both voice and action.  They are appointed for their commitment to making change, forging new paths, and redefining leadership.  SNLP students use their interaction with the Leaders to examine the way in which different types of leadership can be cooperative, accountable, ethical, and effective.

Dorothy Akenova (2008): Sexual health and rights advocate from Nigeria, Director for International Centre for Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights (INCRESE).

Ana Maria Archila (2008): Immigrant organizer, co-Executive Director Make the Road NY.

Jane Sung E Bai (2006): A founding Director of CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, one of the first organizations in the U.S. to mobilize Asian communities to counter anti-Asian violence.

Majora Carter (2005): Founder and executive director of Sustainable South Bronx (SSB), a community organization informed by the needs of the community and the values of environmental justice. Named a 2005 MacArthur Fellow.

Honorable Doris Ling-Cohan (2005): Elected to New York State Supreme Court in 2002, first Asian American woman to serve on that bench.  Sitting judge on Hernandez v. Robles, stating that denying marriage rights to 5 same sex couples violated State constitution.

Dr. Shamita Das Dasgupta (2005): Assistant Professor in Psychology at Rutgers University.  Co-founded MANAVI, the first organization to focus on violence against South Asian women in the U.S., in 1985. 

Bhairavi Desai (2004): Co-Founder and Director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.  Named one of top 10 female role models by Ms. when she was 21. Led strike of over 25,000 NYC taxi drivers, the largest and most effective to date. 

Dr. Angela Diaz (2007): Medical doctor, Executive Director, Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center.

Deadria Farmer-Paellman (2005): Lawyer, law professor and researcher, as well as founder of Organization of Tribal Unity which seeks reparations from corporations which historically benefited from pre-Civil War slavery.

Eileen Fisher (2009): Founder of Eileen Fisher Inc. a clothing company that serves as an example of how corporations can do business differently. Eileen Fisher does this through their social consciousness department which looks at issues of sustainability, community involvement and the support of women.

Leymah Gbowee (2008): Liberian peace activist, focus of award winning documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

Dr. Rebecca Gomperts (2002): Dutch OB/GYN who founded Women on Waves, a boat which  provides contraception, abortion services, and reproductive counseling in international waters near countries with highly restrictive reproductive rights.   

*Vanita Gupta (2007): Civil rights attorney who lead now famous Tulia TX case in which 38 wrongly convicted African-Americans were exonerated. Winner of the 2004 Reebock Human Rights Award. Now criminal justice attorney at ACLU.

Suheir Hammad (2006): Poet and spoken word artist.  Born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents, Suheir performs her work, much of which explores her identity as a Palestinian-American woman, nationally and internationally.

Cheri Honkala (2005): Anti-poverty activist, founder and Executive Director of Kensington Welfare Rights Union, leading role in Economic Human Rights Campaign, the March of the Americas, multiple housing takeovers, and first-ever summit of 100 anti-poverty organizations.

Felicia Berland Hyatt (2006): Holocaust survivor  born in Chelm, Poland in 1920.  Her book, Close Calls, chronicles her experience as a prisoner and her escape from Auschwitz, and her imprisonment in a Czech labor camp.   

**Sarah Jones (2002): Obie and Tony Award winning poet/performer who has created and performed Surface Transit, Women Can’t Wait, Your Revolution and recently, Bridge and Tunnel. Sued FCC successfully in anti-censorship case.

Nsenga Knight (2008): Visual artist (photographer) exploring oral histories of the Black Muslim movement.

Karyn Kusama(2002): A filmmaker who wrote and directed Girlfight, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival.

Winona LaDuke (2004): Longtime environmentalist and indigenous rights activist.  Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project.  Green Party Vice Presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (2003): Represents the 9th District in California (Oakland and parts of Berkeley). She was chosen as Leader for her solitary and courageous stand against broad use of force in a vote just days after 9/11.

Chisun Lee (2003): A reporter who covers issues of race, poverty, social justice, and politics as a staff writer for the Village Voice and contributor to such publications as ColorLines and Vibe.
 
Lee Che Leong (2004): Pro-choice activist since she was 11 years old, and now, at age 27, is Director of the Teen Health Initiative at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Loira Limbal, aka DJ Laylo (2009): is a DJ, filmmaker, activist and founder and Director of The Reel X Project, a social justice and creative filmmaking space for young women of color in the Southwest Bronx.

Rachael Lloyd (2004): Founder of GEMS (Girls Education and Mentoring Service) an organization for young girls and women who are affected and exploited by the sex industry. Reebock Human Rights Award recipient 2005.

Wilma Mankiller (2003): An author, activist and the former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She represented the second largest tribe in the United States and was the first female in modern history to lead a major Indian tribe.

Heather McCartney (2002): An entrepreneur who received a micro-loan in order to start her company Ethnic Edibles, which makes cookies and cookie cutters shaped like traditional Cuban, Puerto Rican and African shapes and symbols.

Alexis McGill (2008, Newark): Works to increase youth engagement in politics, voter registration organizer.

Iris Morales (2007): Executive Director, Union Square Awards, community activist, documentary filmmaker, attorney, and former member Young Lords Party.

Wangechi Mutu (2009):  Kenyan born artist who currently creates art and lives in Brooklyn. She uses mixed medias (painting, sculpture, collages) to explores themes of race and gender through depictions of the female body in exaggerated states.

Zena Nelson(2009): Founder and Executive Director of the South Bronx Food Foundation & Cooperative.

Trang Thy Nguyen (2008): labor organizer in the Bay Area – organizes Vietnamese nail salon worker.

Cara Page (2009): Cultural worker, organizer, healing arts practitioner and founding member of the Kindred southern healing justice collective.  She has organized in the l/b/g/t/i/q, environmental and reproductive justice, anti-violence and youth movements. 

Ishle Yi Park (2007): Performer and poet, former Poet Laureate of Queens and touring cast member of Tony-award winning Def Poetry Jam.

Muriel Petioni, M.D. (2002): Worked for over 70 years to support the health of her Harlem community, founded the Smith McKenney Steward Medical Society, black women’s physician’s association and Women of the National Medical Assoc.  
Lisa Price (2007): Entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of Carol’s Daughter, skin care company with the mission of “providing exceptional products inspired by nature with a love for family to enhance one’s sense of well being.”

Kate Rhee (2002): Founder and the Director of the Prison Moratorium Project; and a widely known and respected prison abolitionist and activist. Union Square Award winner in 2001.

*Cecile Richards (2007): President of Planned Parenthood Federation of American, former labor organizer, reproductive rights activist, and, like her mother Ann Richards, worked in the political sphere as deputy chief of staff for Nancy Pelosi.

Brenda Robichaux (2009): Principal Chief of the Houma Nation, a 17,000 member nation in Southern Louisiana. She leads support efforts for tribe members displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Ike as well as petitioning to have the Houma Nation seen as a federally recognized tribe.

Robyn Rodgers, aka DJ Reborn (2008, Newark): Renowned DJ and educator.

Martina Robinson (2005): is an artist, academic and activist researching the intersection between disability rights and global justice. She is currently running for a seat on the Board of Selectmen in Belchertown, Massachusetts.

Susan Rodriguez and Petra Berrios (2003): The co-founders of Sisterhood Mobilized for AIDS/HIV Research and Treatment (SMART), which was launched in 1997 to bring treatment information to women impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Rossana Rosado (2004):  Journalist. Publisher and CEO of  el diario/LA PRENSA, the oldest Spanish newspaper in the country and the largest Spanish language daily in the northeast.

Loretta Ross (2007): Women’s health activist and spokesperson, and founder of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective in Atlanta, GA.

Arundhati Roy (2003): The author of The God of Small Things, which won the 1997 Booker Prize. Roy is also an environmental, anti-war and social justice activist in India and around the world.

Dr. Marta Moreno Vega (2006): Founder of Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and former director of El Museo del Barrio, director and co-producer of the documentary When the Spirits Dance Mambo.

Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (2002): is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the US House of Representatives (first elected in 1992). She represents the 12th District of New York, parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

*Yomara Velez (2007): Grassroots activist who founded Sistas on the Rise in 2002. A former teen mother, Yomara fights for the rights of young women of color to improve services for young mothers and encourage them to fight for their rights.

*Alice Walker (2007): Author and activist who coined the term “womanist” which she defines as one who “appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility…women’s strength”

*Carrie Mae Weems (2007): Visual artist (photography) whose work focuses on race, gender and class.

Deborah C. Wright (2003): President and CEO of Carver Bancorp, Inc., a federally chartered savings bank and the nation's largest and oldest African- and Caribbean-American operated bank.

Sheena Wright (2006): Born and raised in the South Bronx, she currently serves as the President and CEO of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, one of the most successful community development organizations in the nation.

* Featured Leader for our 5th Anniversary Celebration event, Rise Up (!) and Shine.