The San Mateo County Commission on the Status of Women’s biannual Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC) brings together women and girls for a day focused on cultivating female leaders. After a sold-out inaugural event in 2018, we are launching our second conference on March 7, 2020 at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA.
This year’s theme, “RISE 2020,” invites our participants and sponsors to reimagine, inspire, support, and empower women leading the way for gender equity, inclusion, and access efforts at home and abroad. Our conference program takes inspiration from community conversations held around San Mateo County in 2018-2019 to ask what women here need.
Our speakers will represent diversity of thought and experience that is integral to expanding opportunities for women across social and cultural differences, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexuality, and disability.
At present, women make up more than half the US population and account for 47% of the U.S. labor force and 52.5% of the college-educated workforce. Yet they lag substantially behind in leadership positions. Even with significant gains in 2018 elections, women only represent 24% of members in Congress, 28% of seats in state legislatures, 18% of governors and women of color represent less than 9% of members of Congress. Overall, there is a gap between the small numbers of women at the top and the vast majority of women nationwide.* Located at the epicenter of progress and innovation, our conference aims to promote inclusive leadership and community-building by supporting current and future female change-makers.
*The Women’s Leadership Gap, Judith Warner, Nora Ellman, Diana Doesch, November 2018
*”Women and girls” refers to gender expansive adults and youth (cis, trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and gender queer).
Aimee Allison is the Founder and president of She the People, the national network elevating the political voice and power of women of color. By bringing together the nation’s top women of color candidates, strategists, and movement leaders, Ms. Allison is one of the primary architects for the electoral successes in 2018 that made it the “year of women of color in politics.”
In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, inspiring thousands of articles and news segments. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. In addition, she leverages media, research and analysis to expand the electorate and support leaders who advocate for racial, economic and gender justice.
A thought leader, a speaker, and a writer, Ms. Allison has been featured at NetRoots, Politicon, Radcliffe College, Stanford University and SXSW. She was featured in Politico’s 2019 Powerlist. In the early 1990’s, Ms. Allison was one of the first women of color to be honorably discharged from the U.S. Army as a conscientious objector and works today to support courageous, moral leadership.
Aimee Allison holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University. Author of Army of None, she has written for the New York Times, The Hill, and ESSENCE Magazine and has appeared in hundreds of outlets including MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, Associated Press and PBS
A lawyer by schooling and nonprofit executive by trade, Aila Malik has been a change-agent in her community and the nonprofit sector, at large, for over two decades. Aila earned her B.S. in Environmental Science from UC Santa Barbara, JD from Santa Clara Law School, and has received recognition for her leadership, activism, and tireless service. In 2015, Aila founded a unique management-consulting firm, Venture Leadership Consulting, which partners with not-for-profit organizations to drive performance and scale solutions the close systemic gaps of inequity. Aila’s greatest motivation for social change is her desire for her three kids live in a world where disparity does not limit access to opportunity, such that ALL people have a chance to live a healthy and fulfilling life.
Celine (Huijia) Wen, a current Junior at Aragon High School, immigrated from China in 2016 and lives in San Mateo. In 2017 she founded Women of the World Club in her school because of her interest and passion to help women, especially homeless women in the Bay Area.
Dr. Belinda Hernandez Arriaga is an Assistant Professor at the University of San Francisco and she is Founder/Chief Executive Director of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS www.alashmb.org), a Latino cultural arts, education, mental health and social justice program dedicated to working with rural youth and families living on coastside.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman is a Judge on the Federal Court in the Northern District of California, appointed by President Obama in 2014. Judge Freeman sits in the San Jose Division, hearing a broad array of cases including antitrust, civil rights, consumer class actions, commercial litigation and technology cases including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret cases.
Sarah Pistorino joined the San Mateo County Youth Commission in 2016 as a freshman at Sacred Heart Preparatory High School and currently serves as Chair. She is a founding member of the SafeSpace Youth Advisory Board, a resource that provides resources to youth around mental health, referral to services, on-site counseling and communities where youth can connect and share their stories.
3300 College Dr, San Bruno, CA 94066
3300 College Dr, San Bruno, CA 94066
We are pleased to present the following sponsorship opportunities to fit different budgets. Your support will help grown the Women’s Leadership Conference and provide access for any woman to attend, regardless of financial means. If you have any questions regarding sponsoring, donations, or sponsoring conference elements such as water bottles, laynards, the iRISE Reception, or a custom opportunity, please contact Tanya Beat at (650) 363-4467 or cswinfo@smcgov.org.
The Women’s Leadership Conference, RISE2020, brings together women and teens from all around San Mateo County. Help us fill 1/3 of our seats with those who cannot afford to attend otherwise. Just $100 sponsors a young woman and her chaperone.
We also accept donations for general tickets in Eventbrite.
*”Women and girls” refers to gender expansive adults and youth (cis, trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and gender queer).
