Building a Conversation Across Generations of Progressive Women
Progressive women were the key to Barack Obama's victory in 2008, but not all progressive women saw eye to eye on the Democratic campaign. Some felt Hillary Clinton was not treated fairly in the campaign, yet others felt differently. Feelings still run deep over who was the better candidate for progressives. Now that the election’s over, how do progressive women come together to work toward common goals and issues? Women from their 20s to 60s will discuss differences of opinion and talk about how they find common ground moving forward to promote and preserve the progressive agenda.
Gloria Feldt is a leading activist and author who blogs about women’s lives, rights, and leadership from where the personal meets the political. Her newest book, No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power ~ Tools for Leading an Unlimited Life, will be published October, 2010. It reveals why women are stuck at 18% of top leadership roles and shows how we can redefine power and reach parity from the boardroom to the bedroom for good—our own and society’s.
Former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America whose journey to leadership began as a teen mom, Gloria was dubbed “the voice of experience” by People Magazine. She teaches “Women, Power, and Leadership” at Arizona State University. Previous books include New York Times best seller Send YOURSELF Roses co-written with actress Kathleen Turner, The War on Choice, and Behind Every Choice Is a Story. Her commentary has been featured in national publications such as the New York Times, the Daily Beast, and Salon; find her Heartfeldt blog at www.GloriaFeldt.com. Glamour honored her as Woman of the Year; Vanity Fair named her to its Top 200 Women Leaders, Legends, and Trailblazers; she is a Women’s e-News’ 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. She serves on the board of the Women’s Media Center. Connect with her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter where she hangs out far too much.
Emily McKhann is co-founder of the award-winning web community for mothers, TheMotherhood.com. Prior to discovering the power of mothers online, Emily McKhann ran a strategic communications firm in New York City, was Director of International Business and Acting Commissioner to the United Nations, Consular Corps & Protocol for the City of New York, and co-authored the book Living with the End in Mind that was featured numerous times on Oprah. She serves on the advisory board of the Women's Media Center and on the board of the Creative Visions Foundation. Follow Emily on Twitter at @EmilyMcKhann and @theMotherhood.
Joanne Bamberger is a political and media strategist/analyst, author, and recovering attorney better known around the blogosphere as PunditMom. Her newly released book — Mothers of Intention: How Women & Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America (Bright Sky Press) -- will be available at the Netroots conference book store. Mothers of Intention is the first book to take a serious look at the idiom of political motherhood and its confluence with social media, which started way before Sarah Palin and her "mama grizzlies." Her blog, PunditMom, was a finalist for best political blog in the 2011 Weblog "Bloggies" Awards and was named by BlogHer in 2010 as one of the "must read" political blogs by women.
A new media expert and authority on political involvement of women and mothers, Joanne was a regular contributor to AOL’s Politics Daily and contributes frequently to The Huffington Post, MomsRising and MOMocrats. Her political commentary has appeared on CNN, Fox News, Good Morning America, BBC Radio & XM Radio POTUS, among others. Joanne is part of the Netroots Nation Advisors Committee. She will shortly be launching a new site called The Broad Side, a collective site for women's commentary & opinion writing.
Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media (www.airamerica.com) and also serves as the Editor of the Women's Rights blog at Change.org (www.womensrights.change.org). In her free time, she volunteers for New Leaders Council, a progressive leadership training program. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly.
Tracy Viselli is a blogger, advocate, and the Community Manager for ACTion Alexandria, an online civic engagement project and Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge winner.
Known in blogging circles as "Myrna the Minx" for her Nevada-based blog, Reno and Its Discontents, Viselli has explored the possibilities for online advocacy and civic engagement though her blog and projects like TwitterVoteReport, TweetProgress,and the #p2 hashtag. As a blogger, she was the first person to get the Nevada State Democratic Party on the record regarding the eventually canceled Fox-sponsored Democratic presidential primary debate in March, 2007.
Viselli regularly provides social media consulting and training and frequently speaks about social media as an effective tool for community building, engagement, and advocacy and has been quoted in several national publications including; CNN.com, The Hill, National Journal, techPresident, PBS Media Shift, and the London Times.
Viselli is the co-founder of Nevada Interactive Media and writes about politics and feminism at her own blog and Care2.com. You can always find her on Twitter where she spends far too much time @MyrnaTheMinx
