Women's Health Leadership Network
The Women’s Health Leadership Network is a diverse and dynamic group of 15 women from around the country who represent a new generation of leaders in the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements. Founded in May 2005 by the Center for American Progress, the Network is part of the Center’s efforts to cultivate and promote emerging progressive voices and visions. The Center relies on the Network members to inform the work of our Women’s Health and Rights Program and to reach new audiences and constituencies. Support for the Women's Health Leadership Network has been provided by the Alki Fund of the Tides Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Urooj Arshad
Urooj has had 13 years of experience organizing within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and intersex, or LGBTQI, communities of color especially addressing issues of Islamophobia, violence, sexism, transphobia, and ageism. Urooj has also been on the board of the Al-Fatiha Foundation, an organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or questioning; those exploring their sexual orientation or gender identity; and their allies, families, and friends.
In her full time work, Urooj is the associate director for racial/ethnic disparities and social justice at Advocates for Youth. Advocates for Youth champions efforts to help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Her work at Advocates for Youth is primarily on the national level providing capacity-building services to community-based organizations working with youth of color around reproductive and sexual health. Most recently, she has designed a project to work with Muslim youth. This project was inspired by her attendance a few years ago to a conference in Germany that sought to address the sexual and reproductive health needs of Muslim youth living in Europe. She wants to create strategic linkages between the domestic work she is doing on this project and the work with Muslim youth internationally. To find additional information about the Muslim Youth Project, please visit: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/muslimyouthproject.
Prior to joining Advocates, Urooj worked for the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, an organization that advocates for and with LGBTQ youth in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well-being.
Coya Artichoker
Coya Artichoker was born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota; she is a proud enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
Coya began her activist career and organizing at the age of 15 when she began a reproductive rights student group at her high school. At the age of 18, Coya became involved with District 202, a queer youth center in Minneapolis. She became their first youth outreach worker, and later the first youth to serve on the Board of Directors. Coya was also recognized by Ms. magazine as an up-and-coming young activist as a feature in the magazine.
Coya continued her activist work as a paid staff person and more often as a volunteer. She worked at the National Youth Advocacy Coalition. She also spent a lot of time working in electoral campaigns for statewide campaign offices and statewide campaign initiatives.
Coya attended the Democratic National Committee campaign training for Field Directors in 2000. She also spent time as a funding panel member for the Headwaters Fund in Minneapolis for four years. She also reviewed funding applications for Astraea, the national lesbian action fund.
More recently, Coya is a founding collective member of the 2-Spirit First Nations Collective. It is a collective that is working towards building a stronger political presence for 2-Spirit folks within the national dialogue of queer rights. The collective works with four other sister organizations to develop curriculum and training for the Racial and Economic Justice Institute day at the Creating Change Conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The collective is also a member of the Roots Coalition, which consists of 14 queer people of color or led by queer people of color organizations.
Coya also currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Host Home Program in Minneapolis. She is also a board member of the Indigenous Women’s Justice Institute.
Coya has recently been featured as one of the “40 under 40” leaders making change in The Advocate magazine. She was also named one of the “20 Most Powerful Lesbians in American Politics” by David Mixner. She has had her poetry published in Sharing Our Stories of Survival, edited by Sarah Deer. She has also appeared in the movie “After Stonewall.”
Moira Bowman
Moira Bowman lives in Portland, Oregon, and directs Expanding the Movement for Empowerment and Reproductive Justice, or EMERJ, the national movement-building initiative of Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, or ACRJ. She joined ACRJ in November 2007 after acting as a member of EMERJ's founding team while on staff at Western States Center. Moira has been a leader in the social justice movement in the Pacific Northwest for the last 20 years on issues of racial justice, LGBTQ liberation, and gender justice. She brings extensive experience in movement building, organizing, political education, and technical assistance. As the director of the Gender Justice Program at Western States Center, Moira worked to build regional capacity (in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming) to counter the right's agenda and to build progressive power for low-income families, communities of
color, and LGBTQ folks. She currently serves on the board of Basic Rights Oregon, the statewide political advocacy organization for queer and transgender justice in Oregon.
Micaela Cadena
Micaela Cadena is a hermana chicana from southern New Mexico, now blessed to be living and loving with the fabulous women of Young Women United. Being a revolutionary mama of Aymara Nayeli has made her who she is. From a family of smart, strong, and compassionate women, Micaela believes that her privileges come with a social responsibility to work for a more just and loving world. Micaela is a graduate student in community planning at the University of New Mexico and is writing a thesis on the access that low-income women of color have to homebirth in New Mexico.
Lorena Garcia
Lorena Garcia serves as the executive director for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. She transitioned to staff of COLOR after two years of service on the board of directors and from serving as the Colorado director for 9to5, National Association of Working Women where she successfully positioned 9to5 Colorado as one of the lead civic engagement and field groups in Colorado. She has a background in organizing for social justice in the areas of education, LGBTQI rights, and workers rights, as well as curriculum development and youth leadership development. Lorena has a passion for film and believes that it is the best medium to reach the masses for social justice. Lorena is a 2008 Progressive Leadership and Advocacy Network Fellow with the National Women’s Law Center. She serves on the National Advisory Council for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Rights, as co-chair for the Healthy Colorado Youth Alliance, serves on the steering committee for the Colorado Civic Engagement Round Table and serves as president of the Women's Lobby of Colorado.
Jessica Lee
Jessica Lee is the Racial Justice and Alliance Building program manager at Basic Rights Oregon and Basic Rights Education Fund. She was born and raised in Washington state and attended The Evergreen State College, where she was a campus organizer for the Women of Color Coalition. She then joined Planned Parenthood of Western Washington providing community education and clinical assistance for several years.
In 2006 Jessica relocated to Portland, Oregon, and joined Basic Rights’s field team as the Youth Organizer. She currently coordinates the Racial Justice and Alliance Building program and spends much of her time staffing the Standing Together leadership program for LGBT and allied people of color. Standing Together is currently launching a multiyear education campaign that raises the visibility and experiences of Oregon LGBT families of color within broader communities of color through four priority issue areas: immigrant rights, education equity, health equity, and economic justice.
Jessica is also an active member with the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, or APANO, and their Political Action and Civic Engagement Working Group.
Mary Mahoney
Mary Mahoney is a trained birth doula and co-founder and coordinator of The Doula Project. She has served hundreds of pregnant people across the spectrum of choice and trained activists, doulas, clinicians, and medical students on the abortion doula model of care. Mary started her career in economic justice as an AmeriCorps VISTA in the South Bronx and spent four years as development associate and assistant director of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project. She is currently pursuing her MSW at Hunter College in New York City and interning in adult inpatient psychiatry at Harlem Hospital. In order to maintain her expensive activist lifestyle, Mary spends her weekends waiting tables at a vegetarian diner.
La’Tasha D. Mayes
La’Tasha D. Mayes is the founder and executive director of New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice—the only human rights organization in Pittsburgh for women of color, led by women of color, and about women of color. Founded in 2004, NVP serves women of color primarily ages 12–35 in Pittsburgh through social change activism, civic engagement, and leadership development.
Through La'Tasha's leadership, NVP has developed the following programs, campaigns, and events: the SistahSpeak! Youth Project—a sexual and reproductive health, mentoring, and community organizing program for young women of color ages 12–18; the Environmental Justice Project that hosts the annual “Kinks, Locks & Twists: Environmental and Reproductive Justice Conference,” the FOCUS on Women Campaign to address human rights and reproductive justice issues in the Allegheny County Jail; the LGBTQ Women of Color Reproductive Justice Series that creates space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer women/people of color to be visible and empowered while developing leadership skills; andWomen of Color HERStory Month, a citywide month of celebration to honor the power, legacy, and achievements of women of color between February 15–March 15 between Black History and Women’s History Month.
La'Tasha earned a master of science in public policy and management in reproductive health and justice policy at Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University in 2005, and is an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh where she earned a bachelor of science in business administration in 2003. La’Tasha has served on the Management Circle of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective in Atlanta since 2006, was appointed to the newly formed Allegheny County Human Relations Commission in 2009, and now serves as vice chair and is the recent past president of the Urban League Young Professionals of Greater Pittsburgh (2007–2009). La’Tasha is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.—Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter and serves as the social action chair for Steel City Stonewall Democrats, YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, and Women for a Healthy Environment.
La'Tasha is not only a community organizer and activist but also a political strategist who has led, coordinated, or influenced electoral campaigns such as Vote or Die!, America Votes, and Young Professionals of Pittsburgh for Obama; local races for city council, school board, state representative, lieutenant governor, and governor; and coalitions such as the Human Rights Alliance of Pittsburgh, or HRAP.
La’Tasha is a 2009 Choice USA Excellence in Leadership Award recipient and is a 2010 honoree for the city of Pittsburgh’s inaugural exhibit, “History in the Making: Honoring Our Young African American Leaders of Today,” for her influence in politics. La’Tasha also received the honor of being one of the New Pittsburgh Courier’s 50 Women of Excellence in July 2010. La'Tasha was published in the 2007 Reproductive Justice edition of off our back: the feminist newsjournal with her article, “Reproductive Justice: The Ultimate Political Countermove for Black Women”; began the blog, The DuxFemFac Chronicles: HERStory in Real Time in 2008; and co-authored the 2009 article "Mission (Im)possible" in the national newspaper, Collective Voices. La’Tasha is a passionate reproductive justice activist and believes in the indefatigable spirit of women.
Dominique McKinney
Dominique McKinney is 23 years old and has been with Young Women’s Empowerment Project for six years. She is an African-American youth from the ghetto of Chicago. She got involved in YWEP through a workshop done in her group home when she was 14. For the last two and a half years, Dominique has been the social justice coordinator and is responsible for much of the leadership development at YWEP. What makes Dominique so unique is her resilient way of fighting for justice for youth rights and reproductive rights for women involved in the sex trade and street economy. Dominique has written YWEP’s political education curriculum and is now coordinating our first campaign.
Eesha Pandit
Eesha Pandit is the women’s rights manager at Breakthrough, a global human rights organization. Prior to joining Breakthrough, Eesha served as director of advocacy of the MergerWatch Project where she worked on the Raising Women's Voices project. Previously, Eesha served as associate director of programs at the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program at Hampshire College. She has formerly been a weekly staff writer for RH Reality Check and has also worked with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University and Amnesty International USA's Women's Rights Program. She currently serves on the board of the New York Abortion Access Fund and is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the University of Chicago.
Guadalupe (Lupe) M. Rodríguez
Lupe is currently the public affairs director at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. Prior to joining Planned Parenthood, Lupe served as the program and public policy director at ACCESS Womens’ Health Justice, a reproductive justice organization focused on breaking down barriers to reproductive health care for California women and girls and building their power to demand health, justice, and dignity. She oversaw ACCESS's direct services, including the Reproductive Healthline and Community Action program, and develops and executes ACCESS's policy advocacy campaigns. She joined ACCESS in July 2006, and has served in the organization as the Healthline manager, program manager, and interim executive director in addition to her current role as the program and policy director. Before that Lupe was a research fellow for Salud Integral Para la Mujer, SIPAM, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to promoting and defending women's sexual and reproductive rights in Mexico City. At SIPAM, she researched 2005 health data on women's maternal mortality and reproductive health from the Mexican Department of Public Health in Mexico City. Lupe is a graduate of the Latinas Empowered for Action, LEA, advocacy leadership training, through California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, CLRJ, and is now a member of the CLRJ Young Latina Leadership Network and a part of the LEA advisory committee. She is also a graduate of the Women's Policy Institute (2007-2008), a policy advocacy training fellowship program sponsored by the Women's Foundation of California, and she is a policy mentor for the Advocating Change Together, ACT, program for Girls Inc. of Alameda County. Lupe serves on the board of directors of the California Family Health Council, CFHC, and serves as a commissioner on the Human Rights Commission in her hometown of San Jose, California. Lupe was recently honored with the 2010 Generation Award for an Emerging Leader from the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. She has a B.A. in biology from Harvard University.
Aparna Shah
Aparna Shah has worked for social change, reproductive justice, youth development, and expanded democracy with immigrant communities and communities of color for over 15 years. She is the coordinating director of the Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) California Collaborative, a statewide, multi-ethnic coalition of grassroots organizations that builds the power and capacity of immigrant communities through electoral engagement. She brings her electoral background in field tactics, popular education, media, and fundraising to MIV’s work. Before coming to MIV, Aparna worked at AsianCommunities for Reproductive Justice for six years to advance the self-determination of women, people of color, and queer communities. Prior to that, she spent several years at a Beacon Center in San Francisco's Mission District, building community and working to transform a public middle school into a vibrant youth and family center.
Aparna previously chaired the Leadership Council of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, and served on the board of directors of Youth Together as well as the Pro-Choice Public Education Project. She is a 2002 Fellow of the Asian Pacific American Women's Leadership Institute and holds a master's degree in mental health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She was born in Manila, lived in Mumbai, and found home in the San Francisco Bay Area at age six. Most importantly, she is the proud mother of a three year old budding organizer, feminist, and baseball star!
Joy Welan
Joy received her B.A. in women’s studies with minors in political science and Spanish, summa cum laude, from The George Washington University (GW) in 2005. While at GW, Joy served as the president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and organized a delegation to the March for Women’s Lives. She also interned at the Women’s Campaign Forum, Feminist Majority Foundation, Women’s Human Rights Project of Amnesty International USA, and National Women’s Law Center. Joy was one of eight incoming Georgetown Law students selected to be a Public Interest Law Scholar. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 2008. While at Georgetown, Joy represented survivors of domestic violence seeking protection orders, participated in a civil rights litigation clinic, led an unfunded chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ), spearheaded a campaign to secure funding for students working in pro-choice public interest summer internships, worked to ensure that students had access to information about insurance coverage for contraception, co-founded an organization to support law students pursuing careers in public interest law, co-taught a legal research and writing class, and served as an editor on the Georgetown Law Journal. During law school, Joy interned in the legal and policy research department of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Disability Rights Project of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. Upon graduation, Joy received the National Association of Women Lawyers Award for her contributions to the advancement of women in society. She served on the national board of directors of LSRJ, sat on LSRJ’s Alumni Network Committee, and received LSRJ’s inaugural Cari Sietstra Award for Excellence in Organizing in recognition of her reproductive justice advocacy. After Joy graduated from law school, she clerked for Judge Judith Bartnoff on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. She currently works as a trial attorney in the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, but she is participating in the network on her own behalf.
Heidi Williamson
Heidi Williamson formerly served as the national advocacy coordinator for SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. SisterSong is a reproductive justice organization that believes every woman has the right to have a child, not have a child, and parent the children we have with the social supports necessary. She was responsible for educating the public and legislators at the federal level on reproductive health issues as they relate to women of color and our communities. Prior to her position with SisterSong, she was a political organizer in the labor movement organizing public sector workers with Services Employee International Union, or SEIU. While president of NARAL GA Education Foundation, she developed programming for women of color and teens.
Former Members
Jill E. Abrams, Esq., Executive Director of Law Students for Reproductive Justice
Kiran Ahuja, former Executive Director of National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
Aspen Baker, Founder and Executive Director of Exhale
Courtney Bell, former Executive Director of All Women's Health Clinic, Bottomless Closet, and the Chicago Women's Health Center
Shana Griffin, Interim Executive Director of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic; Project Coordinator of the Sexual Health and Reproductive Advocacy Project; co-founder of the New Orleans Women's Health & Justice Initiative
Leila Hessini, Senior Policy Advisor at Ipas
Silvia Henriquez, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
Sujatha Jesudason, Ph.D., Executive Director, Generations Ahead
Keirra Johnson, Executive Director of Choice USA
Eily Marlow, former Executive Director of the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Mia Mingus, Former Co-Executive Director of SPARK Reproductive Justice Now
Kate Ott, Associate Director, Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing
Diana Philip, Former Interim Executive Director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers
Lourdes Rivera, former Project Director at the National Health Law Project and currently a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation
Giovanna Rossi, Women's Health Policy Advisor for the State of New Mexico
Malika Saada Saar, Founder and Executive Director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights
Cherisse Scott, former health educator/campaigns coordinator of Black Women for Reproductive Justice
Eveline Shen, MPH, Executive Director for Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
Lisa Stone, Executive Director of the Northwest Women's Law Center
Aimée Thorne-Thomsen, Former Executive Director of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project
Errin Vuley, former Executive Director of Georgians for Choice
Rhonda Waller, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Break the Cycle
Mirian Yeung, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum