Meet Our Speakers: ERA Gala 2020

Featured speakers:

• Megan Rapinoe
• Mayor London Breed
• Renel Brooks Moon
• Anita Hill
• Dolores Huerta
• Rep. Barbara Lee
• Rep. Lauren Underwood
• Musical Guest: Siana Altiise

WATCH LIVE!  Friday Nov. 13, 4:00 pm Pacific

Megan Rapinoe

Two-time World Cup Champion and co-captain of the U.S. Women’s National Team, Megan Rapinoe is a fan favorite and one of the team’s most technical players. A vocal leader on and off the pitch, Megan helped lead the USWNT to the 2019 Women’s World Cup Championship scoring some of the biggest goals of the tournament. Megan took home the tournament’s two top honors – the Golden Boot for top scorer, and the Golden Ball for the best player in the tournament. Megan is an advocate for equality for all, and has been able to intersect her passion for humanity  and authenticity. Megan and her teammates will get ready to go again as they prepare for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics next summer.

Mayor London Breed

London N. Breed is the 45th Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. Mayor Breed is a native San Franciscan, raised by her grandmother in Plaza East Public Housing in the Western Addition neighborhood. In June 2018, Mayor Breed was elected to be the first African American woman and second woman in San Francisco history to serve as Mayor. She was re-elected for her first full four-year term in November 2019. She led San Francisco’s emergency response to COVID-19 and is currently guiding the City’s phased reopening and economic recovery. Recently, Mayor Breed announced her vision to fundamentally change the nature of policing in San Francisco and issued a set of policies to address structural inequities. Since becoming Mayor, she has focused on helping the City’s homeless population into care and shelter; adding more housing for residents of all income levels; helping those suffering from mental health and substance use disorder on San Francisco’s streets; ensuring that all San Franciscans have access to a thriving economy; making San Francisco a cleaner and safer city; and furthering San Francisco’s leadership in combating climate change.Prior to public service, Mayor Breed served as Executive Director of the African American Art & Culture Complex in the Western Addition for over a decade. She also served as a San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Commissioner and in 2010 was appointed by then-Mayor Gavin Newsom to be a San Francisco Fire Commissioner, where she served until her election to the Board of Supervisors.

In 2013, Mayor Breed was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing District 5 for six years, including three years as President of the Board.

Emcee: Dr. Renel Brooks-Moon

Renel is a Bay Area native, entering her 21st season as P.A. Announcer. She is a graduate of Woodside High School, and received a B.A. in English Literature from Mills College. She spent 35 years as a local radio and television broadcaster, including stints at 106 KMEL, 98.1 KISS-FM, 102.9 and CBS-5, among others. Renel has been recognized by the Baseball Hall of Fame as the first woman to Public Address Announce a world championship game in any professional sport, following Game 3 of the 2002 World Series. Renel has received numerous awards, including honors from American Women in Radio and Television, Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame, 100 Black Women, Bay Area Black Journalists Association and Girls, Inc. Renel was a founding member of Friends of Faith, a non-profit that served low-income Bay Area breast cancer patients. March 18, 2005 was proclaimed “Renel Brooks-Moon Day” in San Francisco by Mayor Gavin Newsom, honoring her broadcasting career and community activism. Renel was profiled in O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, as “The Woman Who’s Changing Baseball”. In 2008, Renel received an honorary doctorate from her Alma Mater, Mills College, and in 2018 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco and delivered the commencement address. In 2017, Renel was honored to MC the historic inauguration of San Francisco’s first African-American Female Mayor, London Breed. Renel is an Emmy Award winner as host of the television series “Forever Giants”, is a member of the San Francisco Historical Society Advisory Board, and is featured on a limited edition 2020 TOPPS baseball card.

Anita Hill

Anita F. Hill received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1980 and began her career in private practice in Washington, D.C., where she also worked at the U. S. Education Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In 1989, she became the first African American to be tenured at the University of Oklahoma, College of Law. Currently, as a Professor of Law at Brandeis University, she teaches courses on gender, race, social policy and legal history. As counsel to Cohen, Milstein, Sellers and Toll, she advises on class action workplace discrimination cases.

In December of 2017, Professor Hill became the Chair of the Hollywood entertainment industry’s Commission to Eliminate Sexual Harassment and Advance Equality in the Workplace. She is currently engaging prominent academics and business professionals all over the country to spearhead “The Gender/Race Imperative” a project to revive awareness of the broad capacity of Title IX, the crucial law mandating equal education opportunities for women. From 2017-2018, Professor Hill served as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Fellow at MIT.

Her latest book, Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race and Finding Home (Beacon Press, 2011), is an analysis of the housing market collapse of 2008 and its impact on gender and racial equality. Hill adds this work to numerous other publications including books and articles appearing in National Academies of Sciences, Time, Inc., Newsweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Ms. Magazine.

Professor Hill’s professional and civic contributions include chairing the Human Rights Law Committee of the International Bar Association, and membership on the Board of Directors of the National Women’s Law Center and the Boston Area Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta is the Founder & President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, a civil rights activist, and community organizer. She has worked for labor rights and social justice for over 50 years. In 1962, she and Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers union. She served as Vice President and played a critical role in many of the union’s accomplishments for four decades. In 2002, she received the Puffin/Nation $100,000 prize for Creative Citizenship which she used to establish the Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF). DHF is connecting groundbreaking community-based organizing to state and national movements to register and educate voters; advocate for education reform; bring about infrastructure improvements in low-income communities; advocate for greater equality for the LGBT community; and create strong leadership development. She has received numerous awards: among them The Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998. In 2012 President Obama bestowed Dolores with The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) is the U.S. Representative for California’s 13th congressional district. Now in her 12th congressional term, Lee has served since 1998. Lee is a former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (2009–2011) and the current whip and former co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (2005–2009). She is the Vice Chair and a founding member of the LGBT Equality Caucus. Lee has played a major role in the antiwar movement, notable for her vocal criticism of the Iraq War and for being the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force following the September 11 attacks.

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District and was sworn into the 116th U.S. Congress on January 3, 2019. Congresswoman Underwood is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress. She is also the youngest African American woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives.

Congresswoman Underwood serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor, the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, and the House Committee on Homeland Security. She also serves on the House Democratic Steering and Policy  Committee. Rep. Underwood is a member of the Future Forum, a group of young Democratic Members of Congress committed to listening to and standing up for the next generation of Americans, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the LGBT Equality Caucus. As a strong supporter of addressing the gun violence epidemic, Congresswoman Underwood is a member of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Taskforce.

Prior to her election to Congress, Congresswoman Underwood worked with a Medicaid plan in Chicago to ensure that it provided high-quality, cost-efficient care. She served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS), helping communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats and public health emergencies. As a career public servant at HHS, she helped implement the Affordable Care Act —  broadening access for those on Medicare, improving health care quality, and reforming private insurance. Congresswoman Underwood also taught future nurse practitioners through Georgetown University’s online master’s program.  Congresswoman Underwood is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University. She graduated from Neuqua Valley High School and is a lifelong Girl Scout. She resides in Naperville, Illinois.

Musical Guest: Siana Altiise

Siana designs sensory experiences, leads sensory awareness workshops, and creates soundscapes for stress-management. Her work The Art of Slowing Down was featured at TEDxAtlanta and TEDxCentennialParkWomen.