Women Making Waves: Women's Leadership Stories
Honoring Women Who Shaped Justice, Leadership, and Equality
Women Making Waves is a year-long advocacy and storytelling initiative highlighting women’s leadership stories that have shaped justice, equality, and opportunity for women and girls around the world.
Each week throughout 2026, we spotlight a woman whose courage, persistence, and principled action — whether bold or behind the scenes — moved movements forward, challenged systems of inequality, and opened doors for future generations.
This page serves as the living archive of those stories – complementing initiatives like the Advocate of the Year Award and Stephenie’s global advocacy events that continue advancing progress for women and girls.
Why Women's Leadership Stories Matter?
- Honor the women who paved the way
- Connect past advocacy to today’s movements
- Inspire continued action for women and girls
Why Women's Leadership Stories Matter?
- Honor the women who paved the way
- Connect past advocacy to today’s movements
- Inspire continued action for women and girls
Library of Women Making Waves
Courage, Education & the Foundations of Justice
January’s Women Making Waves highlights focus on the foundations of justice, education, and courageous leadership. The women featured this month demonstrate how individual bravery and collective action can transform societies and expand opportunities for future generations.
From civil rights pioneers and movement organizers to global advocates for girls’ education and reproductive justice, these leaders show how persistence, vision, and courage create lasting change. Their work reminds us that progress begins with individuals who are willing to challenge injustice and build pathways toward equality.
Aligned with moments such as MLK Day, the International Day of Education, and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January’s stories reflect how advocacy, education, and grassroots organizing have shaped the ongoing fight for rights and opportunity.
Leadership, Democracy & Expanding Access to Power
February’s Women Making Waves highlights explore the many ways women have expanded access to leadership, democracy, and justice. From historic legal breakthroughs to modern movements for political representation and technology accountability, the advocates featured this month demonstrate how women continue to reshape systems of power.
In recognition of Black History Month, we honor leaders who strengthened democratic participation and amplified the voices of communities too often excluded from decision-making. This month also highlights advocates confronting modern challenges — including algorithmic bias, information equity, and digital accountability — reminding us that justice must evolve alongside technology.
Aligned with moments such as National Freedom Day, the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, Safer Internet Day, and Presidents Day, February’s stories illustrate how courageous leadership, civic engagement, and persistent advocacy continue to open doors for future generations.
Women’s Leadership, Youth Voices & Economic Equity
March’s Women Making Waves highlights celebrate women’s leadership, economic empowerment, and the rising influence of youth advocates shaping the future. In recognition of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, this month’s stories spotlight leaders who challenged barriers in politics, policy, and the fight for gender equality.
The advocates featured this month also explore how education, economic opportunity, and care-centered policies strengthen communities and expand pathways to leadership. From pioneers in feminist political power to champions of workforce equity and the care economy, these women demonstrate how bold leadership can transform systems.
March also elevates the voices of young advocates leading environmental and water justice movements, reminding us that leadership is not defined by age but by courage and commitment. As the month culminates with World Water Day and Equal Pay Day, these stories highlight the ongoing work required to ensure fairness, opportunity, and equity for women and girls everywhere.
Systems Change, Innovation, & Equity in Action
April’s Women Making Waves highlights focus on how systems — from infrastructure and policy to technology and justice — shape opportunity, safety, and long-term equity. The women featured this month demonstrate how lasting change requires more than awareness; it requires intentional reform of the structures that influence daily life.
From environmental justice leaders addressing infrastructure disparities to advocates expanding access to technology and education, these voices highlight how innovation and equity must move forward together. This month also elevates survivor-informed reform and legal advocacy, underscoring the importance of building systems that prioritize dignity, accountability, and protection.
Aligned with moments such as Earth Month, Girls in ICT Day, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Denim Day, April’s stories reflect how policy, innovation, and advocacy intersect to create more equitable and responsive systems. Together, these leaders remind us that when systems evolve, opportunities expand — and communities are strengthened.
January Highlights
Miriam "Mims" Payne & Jess Rowe
Modern Courage & Women Taking up Space
Miriam “Mims” Payne and Jess Rowe are advocates whose work highlights the power of storytelling, community care, and lived experience in driving cultural change. Through their voices and leadership, they create space for honest conversations about mental health, identity, and the importance of collective support. Their work challenges stigma and elevates stories often left unheard, reminding us that advocacy is not only about policy change, but also about building connection, empathy, and understanding within communities.
Ruby Bridges
Education, Courage, and Civil Rights
Ruby Bridges is a civil rights icon whose courage helped transform education and advance racial equality in the United States. At just six years old, she became the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the South, walking past hostile crowds each day to attend class. Her quiet bravery became a powerful symbol of the fight for equal access to education and the resilience of children in the face of injustice.
Today, Ruby Bridges continues her advocacy through public speaking and education-focused work, reminding us that progress often begins with extraordinary courage at a very young age.
Marian Wright Edelman
Justice for Children & Families
Marian Wright Edelman is a lifelong civil rights advocate and the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. Her work has shaped national conversations on child welfare, education, poverty, and equity, grounded in the belief that every child deserves dignity, opportunity, and protection. Edelman’s leadership reflects a moral vision of justice rooted in care, responsibility, and collective action.
Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya
Education as Protection & Empowerment
Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is an education activist and global advocate for girls’ rights whose work demonstrates how education can protect, empower, and transform lives. After resisting early marriage and female genital mutilation in her community, she earned advanced degrees and returned to Kenya to found schools that provide girls with safe, high-quality education and leadership development. Her work emphasizes education as a powerful tool for ending harmful practices, expanding opportunity, and creating lasting social change. Through her leadership, Dr. Ntaiya continues to show how investing in girls strengthens entire communities.
Ella Baker & Diane Nash
Movement Builders & Collective Courage
Ella Baker was a foundational leader of the U.S. civil rights movement whose work reshaped how social change is built. Known for her belief in collective leadership rather than charismatic figureheads, she played a critical role in organizations such as the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baker championed grassroots organizing and youth leadership, insisting that ordinary people held extraordinary power to transform their communities. Her philosophy of participatory democracy continues to influence movements for justice today.
Diane Nash is a civil rights leader whose courage and strategic leadership helped shape the nonviolent movement of the 1960s. As a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), she played a central role in the Nashville sit-ins and later became a key organizer of the Freedom Rides. Nash’s leadership demonstrated the power of disciplined nonviolent action and youth-led organizing in dismantling segregation. Her work remains a lasting example of how moral clarity and persistence can drive systemic change.
Monica Simpson
Grassroots Reproductive Justice
Monica Simpson is a nationally recognized advocate for reproductive justice whose work centers the voices and leadership of Black women, LGBTQ+ people, and communities most impacted by reproductive oppression. As a movement leader and organizer, she focuses on building power at the grassroots level — where lived experience, community trust, and collective action drive meaningful change. Simpson’s advocacy expands the understanding of reproductive justice beyond policy alone, emphasizing dignity, bodily autonomy, and the right for all people to make decisions about their lives and families.
Malala Yousafzai
Girls Education & Global Advocacy - International Day of Education
Malala Yousafzai is a global advocate for girls’ education and one of the youngest recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. After surviving an attack for speaking out against the Taliban’s restrictions on girls’ schooling in Pakistan, she transformed personal courage into global action. Through advocacy, public speaking, and the Malala Fund, she continues to work toward a world where every girl has access to 12 years of free, safe, quality education. Malala’s leadership highlights education as both a human right and a foundation for equality.
Loretta J. Ross
Reproductive Justice Framework
February Highlights
Belva Lockwood
Legal Firsts & Women in Power
Belva Lockwood was a pioneering lawyer, women’s rights advocate, and political trailblazer who refused to accept the legal and political exclusion of women in the 19th century. After being denied entry to the legal profession because of her gender, she successfully fought for the right of women to practice law, becoming the first woman admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lockwood’s advocacy extended beyond the courtroom. She ran for President of the United States twice, challenged discriminatory laws, and argued that women’s full participation in democracy was essential to justice. Her courage and persistence expanded women’s access to law, leadership, and political power, leaving a lasting legacy in American democracy.
Fannie Lou Hamer
Black Women, Democracy & the Right to Be Heard
Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil rights leader, voting rights activist, and one of the most powerful voices for democracy in 20th-century America. Born into poverty in Mississippi, she experienced firsthand the violence and intimidation used to suppress Black political participation. Rather than being silenced, she became a fearless advocate for voting rights, co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and challenging exclusion at the national level.
Patsy Takemoto Mink
Freedom Through Education & Law
Patsy Takemoto Mink was a trailblazing legislator and civil rights leader whose work transformed access to education and opportunity for women and girls. As a U.S. Congresswoman, she devoted her career to dismantling barriers rooted in gender, race, and class, consistently advocating for equality under the law.
Mink is best known as the primary author of Title IX, landmark legislation that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education. Her vision of freedom was grounded in access — to education, to public service, and to full participation in civic life. Through her leadership, generations of women and girls gained pathways to opportunity previously denied to them.
Joy Buolamwini
AI Bias & Technology Accountability
Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist and digital justice advocate whose research exposed racial and gender bias in artificial intelligence systems. Through her work, she revealed how widely used technologies can reinforce inequality when ethical considerations and diverse perspectives are absent from their design.
Buolamwini’s advocacy has prompted global conversations about accountability in technology, influencing policymakers, corporations, and the public to demand more equitable and transparent systems. Her leadership highlights the importance of embedding justice and human rights into innovation, ensuring technology serves people rather than marginalizing them.
Safiya Umoja Noble
Information Equity & Algorithmic Justice
Safiya Umoja Noble is a scholar, author, and advocate whose work examines how digital platforms and search technologies shape knowledge, bias, and power. Her research demonstrates how algorithms can reproduce systemic inequities, influencing what information people see — and whose voices are amplified or silenced.
Through her scholarship and public engagement, Noble calls for greater accountability, ethics, and equity in information systems. Her work challenges institutions to recognize technology as a social force and to build digital environments that reflect democratic values, fairness, and inclusion.
Leymah Gbowee
Women, Peace & Human Rights
Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate whose leadership helped bring an end to Liberia’s civil war. Mobilizing women across religious, ethnic, and political divides, she demonstrated the transformative power of collective, women-led action in the face of violence and instability.
Gbowee’s work reshaped global understanding of peacebuilding by centering women as essential agents of change. Her leadership continues to influence international efforts focused on women, peace, and security, reinforcing the principle that sustainable peace and human rights are inseparable from women’s participation and leadership.
Barbara A. Mikulski
Breaking Political Barriers
Barbara A. Mikulski is a former U.S. Senator whose career expanded women’s political representation at the highest levels of government. As the longest-serving woman in U.S. Senate history, she normalized women’s leadership in spaces where they had long been excluded.
Throughout her tenure, Mikulski championed policies that supported working families, healthcare access, and gender equity. Her leadership demonstrated that women belong in decision-making roles and that political institutions are strengthened when they reflect the diversity of the people they serve.
Alicia Johnson
Redefining Civic Power Through Public Service
Alicia Johnson is a public servant and advocate who made history as the first Black woman sworn in to serve on the Georgia Public Service Commission. The Commission plays a critical role in regulating utilities and energy services, shaping decisions that directly affect affordability, access, and quality of life for millions of Georgians.
Johnson’s leadership brings greater accountability, representation, and transparency to a powerful but often overlooked area of government. By stepping into this role, she expands who is seen — and heard — in decision-making spaces that shape essential public infrastructure, reinforcing the importance of inclusive leadership in democratic governance.
Mary Sheffield, Sharon Owens, and Dr. Dorcey Applyrs
Firsts in Local Leadership: Redefining Civic Power
Mary Sheffield, Sharon Owens, and Dr. Dorcey Applyrs represent a powerful shift in local leadership as the first Black women mayors of Detroit, Syracuse, and Albany. Their 2026 elections marked historic milestones in cities where Black women had long been underrepresented in executive leadership roles.
By leading at the local level, these women are redefining what civic power looks like in practice — shaping policy closest to the people it impacts. Their leadership underscores the importance of representation, accountability, and community-rooted governance, demonstrating how local office can be a critical site for advancing equity and inclusive democracy.
Gloria Steinem
Movement Building & Feminist Voice
Gloria Steinem is a writer, organizer, and feminist leader whose work transformed public conversations about gender, power, and equality. Through her writing and activism, she helped elevate women’s lived experiences as political issues, connecting personal stories to systemic change.
Steinem’s influence extends beyond any single movement or generation. By building platforms for feminist voices and supporting grassroots organizing, she helped shape modern feminism as an inclusive, evolving movement. Her work continues to inspire dialogue, activism, and leadership rooted in equity and shared humanity.
March Highlights
Ginny Carroll
Education as Empowerment
Ginny Carroll has dedicated her leadership to expanding educational access and opportunity for women and girls around the world. Through her work in global philanthropy and collaborative partnerships, she has supported initiatives that remove barriers to schooling, strengthen leadership development, and elevate the role of women in community transformation.
Her advocacy recognizes that education is not merely a pathway to employment — it is a foundation for confidence, agency, and long-term systemic change. By investing in women’s education and supporting cross-sector collaboration, Carroll’s work contributes to ripple effects that extend far beyond individual classrooms, strengthening families and communities across generations.
She demonstrates that sustainable progress requires both resources and relationships — and that education equity is central to global gender justice.
Kate Lord
Girls’ Education & Global Gender Equity
Kate Lord is a global advocate for girls’ education and gender equity, widely recognized for her leadership at She’s the First — an international organization dedicated to ensuring girls everywhere can be educated, respected, and heard. During her tenure, she strengthened partnerships with community-based organizations across the Global South, prioritizing locally led solutions that address the structural barriers girls face.
Her work centers a critical truth: sustainable change begins within communities. By elevating the voices of girls and investing in grassroots leadership, she helped reshape how philanthropy supports education reform. Rather than imposing external models, her approach emphasized accountability, cultural relevance, and long-term collaboration.
Lord’s leadership underscores that advancing girls’ education requires more than access — it requires equity, partnership, and systemic commitment to opportunity.
Bella Abzug
Bold Women in Public Power
Bella Abzug was a lawyer, organizer, and trailblazing U.S. Congresswoman elected in 1970 during a time when few women held national office. A fierce advocate for women’s rights, civil liberties, and social justice, she brought unapologetic feminist leadership into the halls of federal power and challenged the political establishment to confront gender inequality directly.
Throughout her career, Abzug championed policies advancing reproductive rights, equal opportunity, and government accountability. She also co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, helping create a pipeline for women to enter public service and reshape institutions from within.
Her legacy demonstrates that representation is structural — when women lead, policy priorities shift. Abzug’s bold presence continues to inspire generations of women committed to public power and democratic change.
Ai-jen Poo
Care Economy & Economic Justice
Ai-jen Poo is a nationally recognized labor organizer and advocate for domestic workers and caregivers. As a leader of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, she has helped secure historic labor protections for workers long excluded from federal labor law, elevating dignity, safety, and economic security for millions of women — many of whom are immigrant women and women of color.
Her advocacy reframes care work as essential infrastructure, foundational to economic stability and social well-being. By bringing visibility to the undervaluation of caregiving labor, Poo has reshaped national conversations about wages, workplace protections, and the future of work.
Her leadership highlights a critical truth: economic justice requires recognizing and investing in the labor that sustains families and communities every day.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Global Economic Leadership & Structural Reform
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a globally respected economist and reform leader who made history in 2021 as the first woman and first African to serve as Director-General of the World Trade Organization. Her leadership at one of the world’s most influential economic institutions signals a shift in who shapes global trade policy and how inclusive growth is defined.
Previously serving twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, she led significant economic reforms, negotiated historic debt relief, and implemented transparency measures aimed at combating corruption and stabilizing public finances. Her work consistently bridges policy and people — recognizing that global economic decisions directly impact access to opportunity, healthcare, and long-term stability for women and families worldwide.
Throughout her career, Okonjo-Iweala has championed equitable development, vaccine access for low-income nations, and the inclusion of emerging economies in global decision-making. Her leadership demonstrates that economic systems are not neutral — they reflect priorities and power structures.
By stepping into spaces where women had never led before, she has not only broken barriers but helped redefine global governance to be more representative and responsive.
Nancy Flournoy
Women in STEM & Economic Equity
Nancy Flournoy is a pioneering statistician whose contributions to clinical trial design and biostatistics advanced both scientific innovation and gender equity in academia. Throughout her career, she challenged institutional barriers that limited women’s participation in STEM fields, advocating for greater representation and opportunity within research institutions.
Her work in developing adaptive clinical trial methodologies helped transform medical research practices, demonstrating how rigorous science and equitable inclusion can advance together. Beyond her technical achievements, she has served as a mentor and leader, supporting women navigating fields historically dominated by men.
Flournoy’s legacy reminds us that progress in science is strengthened — not weakened — by diversity. Her career illustrates how expanding opportunity in STEM contributes to both innovation and equity.
Mari Copeny
Youth Advocacy & Environmental Accountability
Mari Copeny emerged as a national advocate during the Flint water crisis, using her voice at a young age to demand accountability and action from public officials. After writing directly to President Barack Obama about the crisis, she helped bring national attention to environmental injustice affecting her community.
Her advocacy continues to center clean water access, public health, and youth leadership. Through fundraising initiatives and public engagement, Copeny has supported families impacted by systemic neglect while challenging institutions to prioritize environmental equity.
Mari’s leadership demonstrates that youth advocacy is not symbolic — it is transformative. She reminds us that young voices can influence national policy and that environmental justice is inseparable from racial and economic equity.
Autumn Peltier
Youth Leadership & Water Justice
Autumn Peltier is an Indigenous water protector and global advocate for clean water access. Beginning her activism as a child, she has addressed world leaders at international forums, calling attention to the human right to safe drinking water and the disproportionate impact of environmental degradation on Indigenous communities.
As Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation, she has elevated Indigenous knowledge and leadership in environmental policy discussions. Her advocacy connects water justice to sovereignty, cultural preservation, and intergenerational responsibility.
Peltier’s work demonstrates that environmental protection is inseparable from human rights. Her leadership reminds us that safeguarding natural resources requires listening to the communities most directly impacted.
A'ja Wilson
Equity Changes the Game: Pay Justice in Women's Sports
A’ja Wilson is an Olympic gold medalist, WNBA champion, and one of the most dominant athletes in professional basketball. But her leadership extends far beyond the court. As a vocal advocate for pay equity, racial justice, and representation in sports, Wilson has challenged the long-standing economic disparities facing women — particularly Black women — in professional athletics.
She has used her platform to speak openly about the pay gap between men’s and women’s sports, the underinvestment in women’s leagues, and the importance of building systems that value women’s labor fairly. Through her foundation and public advocacy, she also champions confidence, leadership development, and mental health support for young women and girls.
A’ja Wilson’s leadership reminds us that equity is not symbolic — it is economic. When women athletes are valued equitably, entire industries shift. Her work demonstrates that pay justice in sports is part of the broader movement for gender and racial equity.
Kanika Tolver
Closing the Gap: Building Economic Power for Women
Kanika Tolver is a workforce strategist, technologist, and advocate for women’s economic mobility. Through her work in career development, STEM pathways, and workforce inclusion, she focuses on equipping women — particularly women of color — with the tools and access needed to thrive in high-growth industries.
Her advocacy moves beyond awareness of the pay gap and into practical empowerment. By supporting upskilling, leadership development, and financial literacy, Tolver emphasizes long-term economic security and generational impact. She demonstrates that closing the pay gap requires not only policy reform, but preparation, representation, and sustained access to opportunity.
Kanika’s leadership reminds us that economic justice is built through access to skills, networks, and confidence — and that when women are equipped to lead, entire sectors evolve.
April Highlights
Catherine Coleman Flowers
Environmental Justice & Rural Equity
Catherine Coleman Flowers is an environmental justice leader whose work has brought national and global attention to the intersection of infrastructure, public health, and equity in underserved communities. As the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, she has been at the forefront of exposing how failing wastewater systems in rural areas — particularly in Lowndes County, Alabama — have created serious health risks, including the reemergence of diseases associated with inadequate sanitation. Her advocacy has elevated the visibility of infrastructure inequities that have long gone unaddressed, particularly in low-income and historically marginalized communities across the United States.
Flowers’ work has helped shift environmental justice conversations beyond conservation to include the basic systems that sustain daily life — water, sanitation, and safe living conditions. She has advised policymakers, testified before Congress, and collaborated with global organizations to highlight how infrastructure failures are both a public health crisis and a human rights issue. Her leadership underscores that environmental progress must include equitable investment in foundational systems, and that true sustainability cannot be achieved without addressing the disparities that impact the most vulnerable communities.
Leah Stokes
Climate Policy & Systems Change
Leah Stokes is a political scientist and climate policy expert whose work focuses on accelerating the transition to clean energy through effective public policy. As a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a leading voice in climate policy research, Stokes studies how political institutions, utility systems, and regulatory frameworks shape the adoption of renewable energy. She has contributed to the development of major climate legislation, including policy work that informed provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act, helping translate climate science into actionable strategies at both the state and national levels.
Stokes’ leadership highlights the critical role policy plays in shaping long-term environmental outcomes. By bridging academic research, legislative design, and public communication, she demonstrates that climate solutions must be embedded within systems that enable large-scale change. Her work underscores that addressing climate change is not only a technological challenge, but a governance challenge — one that requires intentional policy design to ensure equitable access, accountability, and sustained progress.
Reshma Saujani
Girls in Tech & Confidence in Innovation
Girls in ICD Day (April 23, 2026)
Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code, a global movement dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology and expanding opportunities for girls in computer science. Since launching the organization in 2012, she has helped reach hundreds of thousands of students through after-school programs, summer immersion initiatives, and partnerships with schools and major technology companies. Her work has played a significant role in increasing access to coding education and digital literacy for girls, particularly in communities where such opportunities have historically been limited.
Saujani’s leadership goes beyond access to address the cultural barriers that discourage girls from entering and staying in technical fields. She has become a leading voice in reframing the conversation around confidence, challenging perfectionism and encouraging girls to take risks, experiment, and persist in the face of failure. Her work demonstrates that closing the gender gap in technology requires both skill-building and cultural change, ensuring that the next generation of innovators reflects the diversity of the world they are building for.
Serena Wiebe
Survivor Leadership & Systems Reform
Serena Wiebe is a survivor advocate whose work focuses on strengthening institutional responses to human trafficking and exploitation. Drawing from lived experience, she collaborates with policymakers, law enforcement, and service organizations to promote trauma-informed approaches that center survivor dignity, safety, and long-term recovery. Her advocacy highlights the importance of integrating survivor perspectives into the development of policies and systems designed to prevent exploitation and support those affected by it.
Wiebe’s leadership underscores the need for systemic reform in how institutions respond to trafficking and exploitation. She works to ensure that responses extend beyond immediate intervention to include prevention, accountability, and sustained support for survivors navigating complex systems. Her work reflects a broader shift toward survivor-informed frameworks that prioritize long-term outcomes and structural change, reinforcing that effective solutions must be rooted in both lived experience and institutional responsibility.
Molly Blank
Girls' Education & Global Advocacy
Molly Blank has contributed to advancing educational opportunities for girls through philanthropic leadership and global partnerships that support community-based education initiatives. Her work has helped strengthen programs focused on expanding access to schooling, mentorship, and leadership development for young women, particularly in regions where educational barriers continue to limit opportunity. Through her involvement in initiatives supporting girls’ education, she has played a role in increasing awareness of the importance of investing in long-term, locally driven solutions.
Blank’s efforts reflect a broader understanding that education is a foundational driver of social and economic progress. By supporting programs that invest in girls’ learning and leadership, her work contributes to ripple effects that extend across families, communities, and future generations. Her leadership reinforces that expanding educational opportunity is not only about access, but about creating pathways for confidence, agency, and sustained community impact.
Kimberly Bryant
Black Girls in STEM & Digital Equity
Kimberly Bryant is the founder of Black Girls CODE, an organization created to increase the representation of girls of color in technology and computer science fields. Recognizing the significant lack of diversity in the tech industry, Bryant launched the organization in 2011 to provide coding education, mentorship, and hands-on learning opportunities for young women who have historically been excluded from these spaces.
Through immersive programs, workshops, and global partnerships, Black Girls CODE has introduced thousands of girls to programming, robotics, and digital innovation. Bryant’s leadership addresses systemic inequities in technology education by creating pathways for participation and leadership in STEM. Her work reinforces that the future of innovation must include diverse voices and perspectives.
Sarah Deer
Indigenous Women's Rights & Legal Reform
Sarah Deer is a legal scholar, advocate, and citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation whose work focuses on strengthening legal protections for Native women experiencing gender-based violence. As a professor of law and a leading expert on tribal sovereignty and Native women’s rights, Deer has played a key role in advancing legal reforms that address violence in Indigenous communities.
Her scholarship and advocacy contributed to landmark reforms within the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), helping restore tribal jurisdiction in certain domestic violence cases involving non-Native offenders. Deer’s work underscores the connection between sovereignty, legal reform, and justice for Indigenous women. By advancing survivor-centered legal frameworks, she continues to advocate for policies that strengthen tribal authority and improve protections for Native communities.