Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit

The Stanford Women’s Community Center hosts the annual Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit (formerly known as The Stanford Women’s Leadership Conference). The Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit is a day-long conference that celebrates gender marginalized leaders, activists, artists, and thinkers from around the world and provides Stanford students with actionable tools to enhance their leadership. Over the years, the summit has become an annual event to celebrate leaders who are raising awareness of issues related to equity in their fields and working to make change in their lives and communities.

Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit 2025: Embodying Healing, Hope, and Connection Toward Liberation

Saturday, April 19 from 11am-1pm

Black Community Services Center, Henry and Monique Brandon Family Community Room

10:45 am: Check-in and coffee bar with specialty drinks by Nirvana Soul

RSVP required: https://forms.gle/fZbEwz3HmZZ3ZL5c9

Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis.

Join us for:

Brunch catered by Coupa (featuring breakfast taco bar, avocado toast, salad, paninis, and wraps)

Specialty coffee bar by Nirvana Soul

Conversation with amazing community organizers and activists (including representatives from the Bay Area Doula Project, the Do No Harm Coalition, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Lavender Phoenix, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Urban Peace Movement, and more)

Inspiring keynote address with *Prentis Hemphill

Contact Lily Forman (lforman2@stanford.edu) with any questions.

*Prentis Hemphill is the bestselling author of What It Takes to Heal, a groundbreaking exploration of healing, justice, and transformation. A therapist, somatics teacher, facilitator, political organizers, and writer, Prentis is also the founder of The Embodiment Institute and a leading voice in embodied leadership and collective healing.

Before founding the Embodiment Institute, Prentis served as the Healing Justice Director at Black Lives Matter Global Network and was a lead somatics teacher with generative somatics and Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD). They hold an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and have provided therapeutic services in low-cost mental health clinics, centering marginalized communities.

Prentis has contributed to Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown, The Politics of Trauma (Staci K. Haines), You Are Your Best Thing (edited by Brené Brown & Tarana Burke), and Holding Change (adrienne maree brown). They are also the creator and host of the acclaimed podcasts Finding Our Way and Becoming the People, which have surpassed over a million downloads.

Enjoy brunch with local activists including:

Mirna Ruiz: Mental Health Program Manager at Mujeres Unidas y Activas, which supports Latina and indigenous immigrant women in developing strong strategies for social justice movements
Natalie Morris: Project Manager at ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health), working on studies related to alternative methods of medication abortion provision in the US
Briana Manning: Community Healing Program Coordinator at Urban Peace Movement; healer, poet, author, and community advocate committed to transforming pain into power
Paige Prater: Abortion doula with the Bay Area Doula Project, which offers a range of logistical and practical support for abortion seekers
Sarah Taborga: Queer Bolivian-American dancer, filmmaker, and cultural strategist whose work lives at the intersection of art and justice; founder of Dear Queer Dancer and co-founder of Femme Rage
Dr. Rupa Marya: Physician, activist, writer, mother, composer, and co-founder of the Do No Harm Coalition, a collective of healthcare workers who advance health equity through structural change
Katie Dixon: Community advocate; Campaign & Policy Coordinator at the California Coalition for Women Prisoners; member of All Of Us Or None, a grassroots civil and human rights project that focuses on elevating formerly incarcerated people into leadership roles
Ada Zhang: Healer, educator, writer, culture worker, and community organizer representing Lavender Phoenix, which is building transgender, non-binary, and queer API power

GEJS Summit Archives

Check out the videos below to view our 2021 Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit, featuring a conversation with Actress, Activist, Model, and star of FX TV show "Pose", Dominique Jackson and a panel of inspiring local activists to share their wisdom, stories, and journey to activism with the Stanford community and beyond.

Past Conferences (from SWLC to GEJS)

The Stanford Women’s Leadership Conference served as an incredible program for the WCC community for 13 wonderful years (for past websites, see below). This program invited students, faculty, staff and alumni of Stanford to come together to explore gender equity within a wide range of fields, industries. Based on student feedback and to broaden the conversations on gender inclusion and equity, the WCC announced in 2019 that the SWLC will be re-imagined as the Stanford Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit.

Speakers from past years have included

Teresa Siagatonu, (Poet, Educator, and Community leader)
Janetta Louise Johnson (CEO of TGIJP: the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project)
Cat Brooks (co-founder of the Anti-Police Terror Project, performer, and activist)
Dominique Jackson (actress, author, model, star of POSE on FX)
Ericka Huggins, author, poet, educator, Black Panther Party leader)
Favianna Rodriguez (transdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and activist)
Danica Roem (delegate for the 13th District of Virginia)
Dr. Lilly Lamboy (co-founder of the Stanford Diversity in Leadership Initiative)
Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye (28th chief justice of the State of California)
A-lan Holt (film director, author, Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford)
Debora L. Spar (president of Barnard College)
Ai-jen Poo (director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance)
Saima Hasan (Founder of Roshni)
Emily May (Co-Founder of Hollaback!, leader in anti-street harassment movement)
Leila Janah (Founder of Samasource)
Jessica Greer Morris (Girl Be Heard)
Debbie Sterling (Founder of Goldieblox)
Persis Drell (9th Dean of Stanford's School of Engineering)
Kavita Ramdas (former CEO, Global Fund for Women)
Kathy Levinson (former president, E*Trade)
Priya Haji (founder, World of Good)
Reem Rahim (founder, Numi Tea)
Whitney Smith (founder, Girls for a Change)
Peta Lindsay (2012 presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation)
Victoria Hale (founder, OneWorld Health)
Nancy Milliken, MD (associate dean of admissions at USCF Medical School, director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health)
April Chou (founder, New Schools Venture Fund)
Aimee Allison (Founder and President of She The People)
Telle Whitney (CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology)
and so many more!

Gender, Equity, and Justice Summit