2020 Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California™
100 Years: From Women Earning the Vote to Claiming Their Power
Join Mount Saint Mary’s Center for the Advancement of Women as we celebrate 100 years of women’s empowerment.
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote. Additionally, we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which is considered the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights. Despite the progress women have made over the last century and the pledges of countless organizations and institutions to level the playing field for women, we are still far from parity. Join us to discuss a path toward future equity.
Program
Join us in celebrating 100 years of women’s empowerment and discussing the path toward future equity
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Sponsorship OpportunitiesLocation, Time, and Venue
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Thursday, March 26, 2020
10:00 a.m. to Noon – Networking Breakfast and Program
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. – VIP Luncheon
Past Speakers
Kim Baldonado
Kim Baldonado
Kim Baldonado is a six-time Emmy Award-winning reporter for NBC4 Southern California. Baldonado is known for tackling complex issues in her news stories. Baldonado began her broadcast journalism career in San Francisco. She worked as an assignment editor before returning to Los Angeles to become a field producer for KTTV; during this period, she honed her reporting, writing and editing skills which led to her first job as an on-air reporter in Palm Springs with KESQ prior to joining NBC4. During her tenure at NBC4, Baldonado has received a myriad of professional awards. She won a prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award for her work on the half-hour special “LAUSD: Battle for Control,” and Los Angeles-area Emmy Awards for live news coverage, social issues and education. Her other honors include 5 Golden Mikes and an Associated Press Mark Twain Award.
Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Academy Award®-winner Geena Davis is one of Hollywood’s most respected actors, appearing in several roles that became cultural landmarks, including her portrayal of the first female president of the United States in ABC’s hit show “Commander in Chief.” She is the founder of the nonprofit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount Saint Mary’s University, which engages film and television creators to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters — and reduce gender stereotyping — in media made for children 11 and under. Davis was recently appointed Special Envoy for Women and Girls in Information and Communications Technology for the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union. She also serves on the board of the White House Project, and is the chair of the California Commission on the Status of Women. Davis holds honorary degrees from Boston University, Bates College and New England College.
Susan Love
Susan Love
Susan M. Love, MD, MBA, has dedicated her professional life to the eradication of breast cancer. As chief visionary officer of Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, she oversees an active research program centered on breast cancer cause and prevention. She is also a clinical professor of surgery at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Love received her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York. She trained at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital, was an early member of the Multidisciplinary Breast Center at Dana Farber Cancer Center, and founded the Faulkner Breast Center and the Revlon UCLA Breast Center. She has a business degree from the Executive MBA program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. In 1996 she retired from the active practice of surgery to dedicate her time to the urgent pursuit of finding the cause of breast cancer and determining how to prevent it. She has done this in the private and nonprofit arenas, including creating several medical device companies based on the intraductal approach to the breast.
Shereen Marisol Meraji
Shereen Marisol Meraji
Journalist Shereen Marisol Meraji co-hosts NPR’s Code Switch podcast exploring race and identity in America. Meraji has worked at NPR for over a decade. She started as a producer for national news magazines such as All Things Considered, and is now an award-winning, on-air correspondent. Since her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is an Iranian-Muslim immigrant, Meraji has long questioned where and how she fits into America’s complex racial puzzle. This curiosity has led directly to the most fulfilling work of her career with NPR’s Code Switch.
Holly Mitchell
Holly Mitchell
Sen. Holly J. Mitchell is the proud daughter of career public servants, and she continued her family legacy of “firsts” when she became the first African American to chair the powerful Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee in 2016. Less than two months later, a profile in The Los Angeles Times described Mitchell as the “Legislature’s moral compass.” She proved to be just that in 2017 and 2018 when she oversaw the adoption of consecutive state budgets of nearly $200 billion each and won wide praise for directing funds to elementary and college students, health-care systems and long-neglected programs to assist infants, the elderly, youth and working families.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Oscar®-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, whose 1998 turn in Shakespeare in Love garnered her Best Actress honors at the Golden Globes®, Screen Actors Guild Awards®, and Academy Awards®, is also a decorated author and singer. In 2011, she won an Emmy® for Guest Actress in a comedy series for playing substitute teacher Holly Holiday on Glee, and her song, "Coming Home," from the soundtrack for Country Strong, was nominated for an Oscar®. In 2008, Paltrow launched goop, a brand devoted to making every choice count, where food, shopping, and mindfulness collide. In particular, goop has gained acclaim for its focus on health, wellness, and clean eating, as well as its city guides, an insider’s perspective on the very best places to eat, shop, and stay in the world’s most compelling destinations.
Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver is a mother of four, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist and producer, a six-time New York Times best-selling author, an NBC News special anchor, and the founder of The Women's Alzheimer's Movement, a global alliance committed to finding out why Alzheimer's discriminates against women. She was California’s First Lady from 2003 to 2010 and, during that time, spearheaded what became the nation’s premier forum for women, The Women’s Conference. Shriver is also the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Shriver Media, a for-benefit enterprise that believes media can be used as a force for good in the world.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Jennifer Siebel Newsom is The First Partner of California and a filmmaker, advocate, and thought leader. After graduating from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, she wrote, directed, and produced the 2011 award-winning documentary Miss Representation. As a result of Miss Representation’s powerful impact, she launched The Representation Project, a nonprofit that uses film and media as a catalyst for cultural transformation. Her second film as a director, The Mask You Live In, premiered in 2015 and explores how America’s narrow definition of masculinity is harming boys, men, and society at large. Siebel Newsom is also an executive producer on two Emmy Award-Winning documentaries, The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground. Today, Siebel Newsom proudly serves as an appointed member of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission, and also serves on the advisory boards for The Imagine Bus Project, The Common Sense Media Gender Initiative, and Emerge America. Siebel Newsom resides in Sacramento with her husband, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and their four young children.
Erika Green Swafford
Erika Green Swafford
Erika Green Swafford began her career not in entertainment, but in hospitality after graduating from Cornell University’s Hotel School. She earned her MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Using graduate school to transition into entertainment, she rose through the ranks to become an executive at Oxygen Media. Swafford mad the official leap to the creative side after being accepted into the Warner Bros writing program in 2007. She was also part of the inaugural WGA Writer’s Access Project and has had material selected for inclusion in CBS’ Women Writer’s showcase. She writers and performs on stage and has performed selected works for 15 Minutes of Femme, I Love a Good Story, Write Club and the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival. Swafford staffed on the hit WBTV/CBS drama, The Mentalist, during it’s inaugural season and was on the show for six seasons. She has gone on to become a writer and co-executive producer on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder and is currently on NBC’s Reverie.
Sheryl WuDunn
Sheryl WuDunn
The first Asian-American reporter to win a Pulitzer Prize, Sheryl WuDunn has journeyed through several industries, from banking to journalism and book writing, pulling together critical insights to bear upon her work. Most recently, she has written a new book, A Path Appears, about spreading opportunity and making a difference in the world. WuDunn has used her immense talent as a writer, speaker and thought leader to advocate for those without the resources to advocate for themselves. Selected as one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Shake the World,” WuDunn has helped raise awareness about the challenges facing women, such as sex trafficking. A highly successful business executive and best-selling author, she currently works with entrepreneurs in new media, technology and social enterprise at Mid-Market Securities, a small investment banking boutique in NYC.