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Speakers & Honorees
Marleine Bastien is founder and executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, Inc. (FANM, Haitian Women of Miami), an important group that provides desperately-needed services to Haitian women and their families. FANM's work includes programs to promote access to health care, breast cancer prevention and treatment, domestic violence intervention, computer and financial literacy, economic and small business development, after-school programs and more.
Bastien is considered a true leader in South Florida's Haitian community. She is the present chair of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and vice-chair of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition. A passionate and articulate spokesperson for Haitians, she formed the Justice Coalition for the Haitian Children of Guantánamo to advocate for children incarcerated there in the early 1990s, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show to lend her expertise to a discussion of the devastating effect that prolonged detention at Guantánamo had on Haitian children.
Recognized with numerous honors and awards, Bastien was named one of The Miami Herald's "Forty Special People To Watch in the Next Millennium." She has received accolades from Amnesty International, Ms. Magazine, the Ford Foundation, Essence Magazine, the Red Cross and the Gay and Lesbian Foundation of South Florida, among others.
A licensed clinical social worker and trained paralegal, Bastien has dedicated herself to the betterment and the benefit of others -- in health, education, economic survival and social justice.
Sam Bennett's career has many facets -- congressional candidate, businesswoman, community leader, and now president/CEO of the Women's Campaign Forum. At the helm of WCF, Bennett has fostered collaboration with many sister organizations, including NOW.
In November 2008, Bennett ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Pennsylvania's 15th district. A first-time congressional candidate, she garnered national attention with her fundraising skills and won the endorsements of more than 40 national organizations. Though ultimately losing her race to incumbent Charles Dent, she obtained more votes than any other Democratic candidate in the district's history and raised more money than any local Democrat had ever raised for that seat.
Bennett first ran for political office in 2001. In 2004, she took the position of Lehigh Valley Regional Field Director for America Coming Together (ACT), a non-partisan voter registration group, helping lead the effort that resulted in PA-15 being the top-performing swing region in the country. Her leadership was showcased in the award-winning documentary "Hollerback" and featured in the international press.
Following in the footsteps of her grandfather, the long-time national president of Cub Scouting and creator of Explorers, Bennett founded and has led for over 20 years Properties of Merit -- a non-profit organization that works to spur citizen involvement and "bottom-up" private and public investment in the critical work of revitalizing communities.
Melanie Campbell is the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and convener of the Black Women's Roundtable Intergenerational Public Policy Network. Campbell has served in the civil rights, social justice, youth and women's rights movements for more than 20 years. She is a nationally recognized expert in civic engagement, black voter participation, election reform, voting rights and the census. She is known for her ability to build diverse coalitions that bring people together for the common good.
One of Campbell's most rewarding accomplishments at the National Coalition was creating an innovative, youth-focused leadership development program, Black Youth Vote! Highly successful coalition projects enacted under Campbell's leadership include the Voices for the Electorate Election Reform Task Force and the ReBuild Hope NOW Coalition to assist survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2007, Campbell worked with NOW and other allies to form the Women's Coalition for Dignity and Diversity in the Media.
A native of Mims, Fla., Campbell served as the director of the Mayor's Offices of Youth Services for the late Maynard Jackson in Atlanta, Ga., in the 1990s. She is a member of the inaugural class of the Progressive Women's Voices at the Women's Media Center and was a resident fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics at Harvard University in 2003.
During her 27 years as a Tampa Police officer, Chief Jane Castor has built a reputation for working side by side with citizens, neighborhood leaders, activists and business owners to solve crime problems and improve the community. Those partnerships are now the foundation of the department's crime reduction strategy. Since its 2003 induction, Castor's Focus on Four crime reduction plan has been the driving force behind Tampa's 61.5 percent reduction in crime.
Castor was elected president of her police academy class and quickly moved through the ranks. She served in nearly every capacity within the department, including Patrol, Narcotics, Family Violence and Sex Crimes and Criminal Intelligence. Her dedication to the community reaches far beyond the Tampa Police Department. Castor serves on numerous boards in the community and continues to work with and mentor at-risk children.
Jane attended the University of Tampa on an athletic scholarship in basketball and volleyball, where she earned a Bachelor's of Science in Criminology. In 2006, she was inducted into the University's Athletic Hall of Fame and in 2010 was the recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award. Castor also holds a Master's of Public Administration from Troy State University and is a graduate of the prestigious FBI National Academy. Most notably, Chief Castor was named Law Enforcement Executive of the Year by the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives.
Kate Dillon is known in the fashion industry as a groundbreaker and passionate advocate for humanitarian and environmental causes. For 20 years, she has leveraged her career in fashion to campaign for positive body images in the media, eating disorder awareness and global poverty reduction. Dillon's work has been widely featured in the media, including on CNN, Good Morning America, and the PBS NOVA series, as well as in Vogue, Glamour and People.
Dillon began modeling as a size six, but after overcoming anorexia, she relaunched her career as a plus-size model. She quickly rose to fame, appearing on magazine covers and in advertising campaigns for the top plus-size clothing retailers. She has appeared in Vogue magazine, been photographed by world-renowned photographers, worked for clients outside of the usual plus-size industry and was a featured guest on America's Next Top Model, talking to contestants about body image and self-esteem.
In order to be a more effective advocate, Dillon completed a Master's in Public Administration in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009, winning two academic awards. Now, Dillon continues to model full-time while serving as vice-president of the Komera Project, a fund that provides scholarships for secondary education to girls in Rwanda. Her experiences as a mother and wife further solidify her respect for women all over the world.
Lois Frankel is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in one of the most important congressional races in 2012 -- Florida's 22nd District. Her opponent, incumbent freshman Allen West, is a Tea Party favorite who has voted to destroy Medicare and let oil companies keep their deficit-busting tax loopholes, while cutting programs for young people to help them afford a college education, and who said that the women of Planned Parenthood and other liberal women have been "neutering American men."
A tireless, passionate and effective advocate for South Florida's families and seniors, Frankel was first elected mayor of West Palm Beach, Fla., in 2003, defeating incumbent Joel Daves. She was re-elected to a second and final term in 2007. As mayor, Frankel brought people together to get things done.
In 1986, Frankel was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, serving there for 14 years. She was the first Democratic woman to serve as Minority Leader in the Florida House. While in the legislature, Frankel championed efforts to help children, seniors and working families. She worked on measures to reduce family violence and fight the tobacco industry campaign to entice minors.
Born in New York, Frankel graduated from Boston College and earned her law degree from Georgetown University. In 1974, she moved to West Palm Beach, where she began her family and law practice.
Latanya Mapp Frett is vice president for Planned Parenthood Federation of America's International Division, which works to ensure that women, men and young people in some of the world's most neglected areas have access to the health care they need to control their bodies and their futures. She has a distinguished and extensive track record in international development work, including six years with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and eight years with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Most recently, Frett served as program director for USAID/Egypt, where she directed a $1.1 billion international aid portfolio in development areas -- including democracy and governance, environment, health, education, policy reform, private sector partnerships, agriculture and antiquities.
Frett has lived and worked in Iraq, Pakistan and eight African countries. Throughout her career, she has maintained a special commitment to health and rights for women and young people, first as a child rights officer for UNICEF and later as USAID program director in several countries where her portfolios included health, HIV/AIDS and education.
An attorney by training, Frett began her career at the NAACP Legal and Education Fund and maintains a deep commitment to civil and human rights. She holds a bachelor of arts in government and politics, a master's in public policy and a J.D. from the University of Maryland.
Sonia Pressman Fuentes was born in Germany and came to the U.S. with her family in 1934 to escape the Holocaust. She went on to serve as an attorney with the federal government for over 20 years and was an attorney and executive with corporations for more than 10 years.
A founder of NOW, Fuentes has been involved in women's rights since l963, when she testified in Congress in favor of the Equal Pay bill. In 1965, she joined the General Counsel's office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as its first woman attorney. Fuentes drafted the EEOC's first Guidelines on Pregnancy and Childbirth and its decision finding that airlines violated the law when they terminated or grounded stewardesses upon marriage or reaching the age of 32 or 35.
She is a founder of the Women's Equity Action League and Federally Employed Women, a charter member of Veteran Feminists of America, and was one of the longest-serving members of the Board of Trustees of the National Woman's Party. Fuentes has lectured extensively in this country and abroad on women's rights and has written numerous articles on the subject in law reviews and other publications.
Since her retirement, Fuentes has maintained her activism and is the author of a memoir, Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter.
NOW is pleased to acknowledge Girls Incorporated of Pinellas for their outstanding documentary Being Safe In Our World. Girls Inc. is a nonprofit organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold. Through a network of local affiliates, Girls Inc. empowers girls to reach their full potential and to understand, value and assert their rights. That's exactly what the Pinellas girls did.
For several years, these girls frequently passed by an enormous billboard for a "Gentleman's Club" that featured a provocatively-posed, nearly-naked woman -- and they would ask why the woman was "up there on the sign with her butt in the air" on such a busy thoroughfare. Unsatisfied with the answers they were getting, a group of 9-10-year-old girls decided to expand their inquiry to find out what people in the community thought about the billboard. As part of a summer camp media program, 40 girls produced an 18-minute video.
They educated themselves about the First Amendment and about the connections between exploitative images and violence against women; they interviewed each other, parents, Girls Inc. staff and community leaders; they asked for technical assistance from local female journalists. The reception to Being Safe In Our World has been overwhelmingly positive and has even elevated adult conversations about the subject. The girls are now eager to produce other videos and online resources.
After graduating college in 2008, Detroit native Gabi Gregg created the blog Young Fat & Fabulous. Gregg wanted to pursue fashion journalism but hadn't found a job she loved. The resulting blog has a message beyond fashion, about accepting yourself at any size and feeling stylish.
In the post Every Body is a Bikini Body, Gregg declared: "Newsflash: you don't have to lose weight to look good in a swimsuit. I hate the message that only certain bodies are allowed to wear bikinis or be on a beach." Gregg and her website have been featured by media outlets including The New York Times, ABC's Good Morning America, Seventeen Magazine, Glamour.com, The Daily Beast and The Guardian.
In the summer of 2010, Gregg hosted the first plus-size fashion blogger conference, bringing bloggers from around the world to New York City to meet with retailers, magazine editors and the public to discuss the future of plus-size fashion. She was on the cover of Black Enterprise Magazine's December issue, in which she shares social media advice for young entrepreneurs.
Last year, MTV recruited Gregg to compete in its Follow Me web-based contest in which 20 social-media-savvy would-be stars competed to be the cable network's first-ever Twitter-based correspondent, or "TJ." Gregg ultimately landed the year-long gig in a live televised finale, anointing her the social media face of MTV.
Nancy Hogshead-Makar is one of the foremost exponents of gender equity in education -- including sports participation, sexual harassment, employment, pregnancy and legal enforcement under Title IX. In 2009, she brought a successful legal challenge against the Florida High School Athletic Association, whose cuts to competitive seasons discriminated against female athletes. In the settlement, the competitive seasons were restored for all high school athletes throughout Florida.
A world-class swimmer for eight years, Hogshead-Makar won three Gold medals and one Silver at the 1984 Olympics. She has been inducted into 11 halls of fame for her swimming accomplishments, including the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.
During her 25-year history with the Women's Sports Foundation, Hogshead-Makar served as president from 1992-94, legal advisor from 2003-10, and is currently senior director of advocacy. She has testified in Congress on the topic of gender equity in athletics and serves as an expert witness in Title IX cases. Since 2003 she has been co-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on the Rights of Women. In 2007, Sports Illustrated Magazine listed her as one of the most influential people in the 35-year history of Title IX.
Hogshead-Makar currently teaches sports law courses at the Florida Coastal School of Law and co-authored, with Andrew Zimbalist, the acclaimed book Equal Play, Title IX and Social Change.
Patricia Ireland has been improving women's lives for most of her own. As the longest-serving president from 1991 to 2001, Ireland helped move NOW to the forefront of the political scene, build a strong, effective women's movement and establish herself as a groundbreaking activist.
With a deep understanding of the connections between women's rights and other human rights issues, Ireland forged bonds between NOW and allies in the anti-poverty, civil rights, disability rights and LGBT communities, strengthening and broadening NOW's commitment to justice for women in all of our multiple, often overlapping, communities.
Her activism ranged from serving on the board of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to getting arrested at the White House over the continued ban on lesbians and gays in the military. Ireland created NOW's Elect Women for a Change campaign, which played a pivotal role in making 1992 the "Year of the Woman." She led the 1992 Global Feminist Conference in the U.S. and represented NOW around the world.
Today Ireland continues fighting for social justice, in her professional work -- as a labor attorney in Miami, she represents unions and their members -- and in her volunteer activism. She co-chairs the National NOW Board Advisory Committee and is a key advisor to the NOW/PAC. In Florida, she is leading the women's community in support of NOW leader Lois Frankel's congressional campaign.
The NOW Foundation will present it's second annual Victoria J. Mastrobuono Women's Health Award to Nancy Klimas, M.D., at the 2011 National NOW Conference. A Professor of Medicine, Psychology, and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Dr. Klimas has worked on behalf of women and women's health care for more than a quarter of a century.
After years spent in HIV/AIDS research and clinical care, Dr. Klimas was drawn to care for patients with an often maligned and misunderstood illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). One female patient after another described to her the humiliating and demeaning interactions they experienced with doctors as they sought answers for this painful and debilitating condition.
Since she began treating these early patients, Dr. Klimas has worked tirelessly to advance the understanding of diseases predominately affecting women and to improve women's access to health care. A national and international leader in the treatment and research of CFS/ME, she heads a large interdisciplinary research program and has published over 150 scientific articles, 18 book chapters and three books on the disease. Dr. Klimas strives to educate the public by writing about CFS/ME for the lay media, including articles for Ms. Magazine and The New York Times health blog.
Dr. Klimas served two terms as president of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME and has been repeatedly honored for her work. Currently she serves as an advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and has influenced health care policy in Europe and Canada as well as the U.S. Through her work, she brings a feminist perspective to clinical access, to quality care and to a better understanding of women's health issues. Dr. Klimas has been an active member of NOW for 30 years, and has served NOW as an advisor on health care policy issues.
Celinda Lake is a prominent pollster and political strategist for Democrats and progressives. She currently serves as president of Lake Research Partners, which is known for its cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education.
Lake is one of the nation's foremost experts on electing women candidates and on framing issues to women voters. She is renowned for her groundbreaking research on single women voters and has helped elect numerous female candidates, including Nancy Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the House; Barbara Mikulski, the "dean" of women senators; former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano; Houston Mayor Annise Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city; Patricia Madrid, the first Hispanic woman attorney general in New Mexico, and Carol Moseley-Braun, in her historic victory to become the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
In 2008, Lake polled in California to beat parental notification initiatives three times in a row. In 2006, she helped with successful minimum wage campaigns in five states and was the pollster on the first successful effort to defeat an anti-gay marriage initiative in Arizona. Lake co-authored the 2005 book What Women Really Want, which examines the way women are changing the political landscape in America. Her earlier experience includes serving as Political Director of the Women's Campaign Fund.
Katie Makkai's first poetry reading was in a neighbor's basement at the age of seven, where she performed profoundly moving works about puppies and kittens for her Girl Scout troupe. Makkai is now a veteran slam poet who has garnered attention for her performance of "Pretty" at the 2002 National Poetry Slam. This work, as well as other pieces in her two books of collected poems, chronicle Makkai's own struggle for self-worth and identity in a culture that often seems enslaved to what she calls "the Aesthetic Beast."
Makkai co-founded the Denver poetry slam in 2000, the same year she graduated from the University of Colorado with a BA in Writing. She has performed in poetry venues throughout the U.S. and competed at the National Poetry Slam every year from 2000-2005; she was voted champion for the city of Denver in 2000 and Albuquerque, N.M., in 2002.
In addition to poetry, Makkai also writes humorous short stories about her experiences as a woman navigating the social and political terrain of civil service. This includes a 10-year career as an EMT and paramedic, as well as her more recent appointment as a deputy medical examiner in Oregon. However, Makkai asserts that no competition or professional work compares with helping to teach poetry to juvenile criminal offenders through "Art from Ashes" from 2000-2004.
In 2010, Sara Manzano-Díaz was unanimously confirmed by the Senate as director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor. Created in 1920, the Women's Bureau is the only federal agency exclusively mandated to serve and promote the interests of working women.
As director, Manzano-Díaz' vision is to empower working women nationwide to achieve economic security by focusing the agency's efforts on four priority areas: equal pay, workplace flexibility, higher-paying jobs for women and support for homeless women veterans.
Manzano-Díaz has spent her career in public service advocating on behalf of working class families, women and girls. She has more than 25 years of federal, state and judicial experience. Previously, Manzano-Díaz was appointed by Governor Edward G. Rendell as deputy secretary of State for Regulatory Programs at the Pennsylvania Department of State. She was also a member of Rendell's STEM Initiative Team, supporting the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, and workforce development programs.
From 1995 to 2002, Manzano-Díaz worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development as deputy general counsel for Civil Rights and Litigation. Previously, she served as an assistant attorney general in New York. Manzano-Díaz also served as co-chair of The Forum of Executive Women's Mentoring Committee, which mentors young professional women, and participated in Madrinas, a program that provides mentors for at-risk Latina girls.
Sheila Overton, M.D., a board certified OB/GYN, co-founded a teen pregnancy and STD prevention program in Los Angeles in 1997 and served as its chairperson for over a decade. Her new book, Before It's Too Late: What Parents Need to Know About Teen Pregnancy and STD Prevention, has been hailed by experts from leading national organizations, including The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, Healthy Teen Network, and Girls Incorporated.
Through her seminars and in her practice, Dr. Overton has worked with hundreds of teens and their parents to transform the way they think and talk about sex, and about the consequences of unintended teen pregnancy and STDs. She has also reached diverse audiences throughout the country through her lectures, articles, and radio and television appearances.
Dr. Overton has a passionate commitment to stemming the tide of teen pregnancy and STDs. She continues to work tirelessly to reach out to parents, educators, health care professionals and community leaders to inform and motivate them about their role in helping to decrease teen pregnancy and STDs in the U.S., particularly in minority communities, which are impacted at significantly higher rates and experience lingering public health and socioeconomic problems as a result.
A graduate of UCLA Medical School, Dr. Overton received The Los Angeles Commendation for Excellence in Women's Health in Los Angeles County in 2000.
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore is president and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, a social change strategy firm based in Washington, D.C. Rockeymoore previously served as vice president of research and programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, senior resident scholar for health and income security at the National Urban League, and chief of staff to Representative Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), among other positions.
Rockeymoore's areas of expertise include health, social insurance, income security, education, women's issues and youth civic participation. She is the author of The Political Action Handbook: A How to Guide for the Hip-Hop Generation and co-editor of Strengthening Community: Social Insurance in a Diverse America, among other publications. Rockeymoore serves on the board of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; she is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, and the Insight Experts of Color Network. The recipient of many honors, she was named an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow in 2004 and is the recipient of Running Start's 2007 Young Women to Watch Award.
A regular guest on radio and television, Rockeymoore has appeared on NPR, CNN, BET, ABC World News Tonight and C-SPAN. Her opinions have been quoted by the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, Black America Web, and other prominent news sources.
A Harvard Law graduate and glass ceiling breaker, Pat Schroeder decided to run for Congress from Denver, Colo., in 1972, when she was the mother of two young children. After winning her election, Schroeder requested a seat on the all-male Armed Services Committee. Despite the upheaval this created in the House, Schroeder went on to serve 24 years on the committee.
In 1984 and 1988, she co-chaired Gary Hart's campaigns for president. When Hart left the race in 1988, Schroeder explored running herself and discovered the country wasn't yet ready for a woman president. Back in Congress, she was a co-founder of the Congressional Women's Caucus; chair of the Children, Youth and Families Committee; a whip and a member on the Judiciary Committee.
Retiring in 1997 after 12 terms, Schroeder taught at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She then became president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, representing the U.S. book publishing industry for more than 12 years.
Currently Schroeder chairs the English-Speaking Union -- both it's U.S. and international entities. She is the vice chair of the Marguerite Casey Foundation and on the boards of Common Cause and the Communications Consortium. Schroeder is the author of two books, "Champion of the Great American Family" and "Twenty Four years of Housework and the Place is Still a Mess."
Pam Spaulding is the editor and publisher of Pam's House Blend, honored as "Best LGBT Blog" in the 2005 and 2006 Weblog Awards. The Blend -- which ranks in the top 50 progressive political blogs -- was launched in July 2004 as a personal response to the anti-gay state of the political landscape.
A regular contributor to the progressive blog Pandagon.net, Spaulding has also guest posted/contributed to Americablog, Firedoglake, The Rude Pundit, Glenn Greenwald's Unclaimed Territory on Salon, and written for The Independent Weekly.
With roots in North Carolina and New York City, Spaulding considers herself to have "dual citizenship" status as a Southerner and a Yankee -- and brings that perspective and voice to her blog, which focuses on current political events, LGBT and women's rights, the influence of the far right and race relations.
Spaulding provided commentary on CNN during the 2008 presidential election cycle and performed the first-ever live-blogging events for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's annual dinner in May 2006 and the National Black Justice Coalition's Second Annual Black Church Summit in March 2007.
Spaulding has a B.A. in Media Studies from Fordham University and serves as Information Technology Manager at Duke University Press. She is a board member of The Institute of Southern Studies, which publishes the award-winning investigative journalism publication Southern Exposure, and the blog Facing South.
Founder and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), Eleanor Smeal has been on the frontlines fighting for women's equality for 40 years.
She has been at the forefront of almost every major women's rights victory -- from the integration of Little League, newspaper help-wanted ads and police departments, to the passage of landmark legislation, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Equal Credit Act, Violence Against Women Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
During her three terms as NOW president, Smeal led the drive to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. She was the first to identify the "gender gap" -- the difference in the way women and men vote -- and popularized its usage in election and polling analyses to enhance women’s voting clout. Smeal has pushed to make Social Security and pensions more equitable for women, and to realign federal priorities by developing a feminist budget. She has campaigned to close the wage gap and achieve pay equity for the vast majority of women who are segregated in low-paying jobs.
Smeal and FMF were the first to draw world attention to the Taliban's brutal treatment of women in Afghanistan. In the 1990s, Smeal led the campaign to win FDA approval of mifepristone (the early option abortion medication). Currently FMF conducts the nation's largest clinic defense program. In 2001, her organization became the sole publisher of Ms. magazine.
An outspoken leader in the feminist movement for decades, Olga Vives served as NOW's executive vice president from 2005-2009 and action vice president from 2001-2005. During her tenure at the National NOW Action Center, Vives took the lead on major events and issues, such as the 2004 March for Women's Lives, naming Wal-Mart a Merchant of Shame, advocating for equal marriage and promoting justice for immigrant women.
Originally from Cuba, Vives joined NOW in the early 1980s to participate in the drive to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and went on to serve in chapter, state and regional positions in Illinois. Vives worked on campaigns to elect women's rights supporters to all levels of government, including the campaign that elected Carol Moseley-Braun as the first African-American woman in the Senate. She also participated in efforts to block the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Vives is a coalition builder, dedicated to expanding NOW's reach to more women of color, lesbians and young feminists.
For 30 years, Vives worked in training, management and marketing, successfully managing a large sales organization. Before her election to national NOW, Vives served as vice president of an Internet company that connected large corporations with smaller minority- and women-owned businesses. Vives is a mother of three and now resides in Arizona, where she continues her activism at the grassroots level.
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