Bold Movers Program Investing in women working toward gender equity

Michaela Ayers is a multi-disciplinary artist and Art Historian who blends creative practices into her diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism work. 
 
With over seven years of experience delivering events and experiences to diverse audiences, Ayers is a seasoned facilitator who offers a playful approach to learning that promotes creative thinking and behavior change. 
 
A spirited storyteller, Ayers is also the creator of the Black Her Stories project, a dynamic platform that celebrates the leadership and contributions of Black women throughout history and in modern times. 

Dr. Kealoha Fox is president of the Institute for Climate and Peace based in the islands of Hawai’i. She applies Indigenous innovation for collaborative solutions in business, science, and policy with actions that elevate healthy people, places, and futures. She is co-author of the books Mana Lāhui Kānaka: Mai nā kūpuna kahiko mai a hiki i kēia wā and Haumea: Transforming the Health of Native Hawaiian Women and Empowering Wāhine Well-Being focusing on Indigenous resilience through a Polynesia worldview. For the last five years, Fox has helped co-convene Nā Lau A Hina– a Native Hawaiian women’s collective aimed at healing, educating, elevating, and revitalizing our connections to the physical, spiritual and emotional piling with other celebrated wāhine in business. Each year, Fox mentors dozens of young women inside and outside the academy.  

Living her kuleana as a Kanaka Maoli, Fox has been trained in traditional practices and protocols such as ho’oponopono, hāhā, and lā’au lapa’au. The roles she is most proud of in her story thus far are as a mother and caregiver. A graduate of the University of Hawai’i’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, Fox is the recipient of more than 65 awards, including a 2024 Women Who Mean Business, 40 Under 40 Top Emerging Leader in 2024 by Modern Healthcare, Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Obama Leader Asia Pacific, and a candidate for the Pritzker Environmental Genius Award. Dr. Fox has published numerous articles and editorials designing social well-being strategies with measurable impact in the Pacific. 

Fereshteh Ganjavi is the Director of Elena’s Light. Elena’a Light supports women, particularly working mothers, and caregivers, by providing ESL classes tailored to the needs of refugee women, empowering them with language skills essential for workplace integration. Additionally, they offer health classes and advocacy work, addressing the unique challenges working mothers and caregivers face, promoting their well-being and equitable treatment in the workplace. 

Kioshana LaCount Burrell has over 12 years of experience in Leadership and Workforce Development, having held positions in the non-profit, corporate, and public sectors. Her primary areas of expertise include workforce development strategy and implementation, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and engaging instructional design. She is passionate about working with organizations and individuals to create accessible pathways to professional growth for working parents and caregivers, eliminating the need for parents to choose between being active and engaged parents and finding professional success. 
 
Burrell is also an internationally published, best-selling author. Her most recent work, “Building Beyond the 9 to 5,” is a collection of inspirational stories from Black women entrepreneurs worldwide. Her current role as Associate Director for Advancement Communications at Ohio State University allows her to use her stellar writing skills to create moving communications for this major university. Burrell has dedicated much of her career to uplifting Women and People of Color in the workplace and continues to do so through collaborations with organizations such as Repro Jobs, the Experience Management Institute, and Dynamic Educational Systems, Inc. She currently lives in central Ohio with her husband and three children. 

Liane Ma is currently Aspiranet’s Talent and Workforce Development Program Manager. Aspiranet received over 6 million dollars in funding from state-funded workforce development grant programs to execute initiatives around retention, recruiting, and organizational capacity building. Ma works with the leadership team to execute these strategies. Throughout Liane’s career, she delivered hands-on coaching to individuals, teams, and executives in all aspects of career and personal development. Ma has worked through various roles in marketing, corporate social responsibility, and counseling at non-profit, government, and for-profit settings like Luminous Computing, Safe Horizon, New York City Department for the Aging, Selina, and Sesame Workshop. Brought up as a third-culture kid, Ma prioritizes cultural humility and brings extensive language skills and a familiarity with Korea, China, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the U.S. to every project. 

Shivani Parikh is the Executive Director of the South Asian Legal Defense Fund. The South Asian Legal Defense Fund uses the power of law, narrative, and community to defend and advance the full dignity and civil rights of South Asian people in the United States of America. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organizing, we work with our communities nationwide to secure human rights for all and combat efforts to limit and marginalize our families. 

As an organizational wellbeing and strategy consultant, Dr. Makenzie Peterson provides subject-matter expertise on preventative, systems-based wellbeing initiatives that positively impact people’s lives. She helps organizations address the root causes of distress to improve overall well-being through evidence-based practices and strategic organizational change initiatives. 
 
In her previous roles, she led efforts to improve the professional well-being of students, staff, and faculty and conducted national research on mental health, wellbeing, and organizational culture, providing data-driven organizational recommendations for program development and implementation. Peterson speaks on a variety of wellbeing-related topics to drive positive change. 
 
Her previous roles include being a health specialist for a joint MIT/Harvard-sponsored start-up at Harvard Business School’s Innovation Lab, at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine as their first Wellbeing Program Director, Wellbeing Committee member for the New York State Veterinary Medical Society, and later as the first Director for Wellbeing at the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. Dr. Peterson also founded the Wellbeing Coalition within the Federation of the Allied Schools of the Health Professions to encourage cross-disciplinary efforts and resource sharing across health professions. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative and is a member of several working groups at the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being. 
 
Born and raised in Alaska, Dr. Peterson completed her master’s degree from the University of Utah in Health Promotion & Education and her Doctorate of Social Work from the University of Southern California. 

March for Moms partners with national and grassroots organizations to urge American leaders and policymakers to help ensure moms, birthing people, and families get the support and care they deserve through advocacy, technical assistance, and capacity-building. March for Moms aligns the diverse voices of families, healthcare providers, policymakers, and partners to advocate for the health, care, and well-being of moms and their families. 
  
As a non-partisan, solution-oriented, multi-stakeholder 501(c)3, March for Moms leads and elevates the lived experience of maternal health and outcomes as advocates, surviving birthing people and family members, healthcare providers, thought leaders, and policymakers. 
 
Laneceya Russ is the Executive Director of March for Moms. Russ is currently the Vice-Chair of Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response, a board member of Louisiana Crime Victim Reparations, and on the development committee for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. She is also Co-Vice President of Philanthropy for the Greater Baton Rouge chapter of the Associates of Fundraising Professionals. 

Janitza Vasquez is the Director of One Happy Mama. One Happy Mama is dedicated to empowering and uplifting young mothers through their journey of motherhood, self-fulfillment, and self-discovery while pursuing their happiest lives. One Happy Mama aims to foster a program that supports young mothers in their journey to become career-driven, financially independent, happy, healthy mothers. 
 
Vasquez is an esteemed educator with nearly a decade of experience, transitioning into the role of program manager. She has dedicated herself to empowering others through education and leadership. As the founder and executive director of One Happy Mama, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and vision in addressing the needs of young mothers. Vasquez’s commitment to personal and professional growth is evident through her completion of various leadership development programs, including Loyola’s Women Leadership Academy and the She Leads fellowship. Her journey exemplifies a relentless dedication to creating positive change and fostering inclusive communities. 

Eli Virkina is a passionate audiovisual storyteller, advocate for Indigenous Rights/Climate Justice, and community organizer from the Venecia Derecha Kichwa Community on the Napo River in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Through the Iyarina Center for Learning, her family-led initiative, she dedicates herself to preserving Indigenous languages and culture while exploring equitable and sustainable solutions for the future of the Amazon Rainforest. Along with her family, she safeguards key forests of bio-cultural significance with a focus on fostering “sumak kawsay,” the Kichwa philosophy of “living well” where families and forests are taken care of and take care of each other—key to this are women, caretakers, and givers of life. 
 
As an Impact Storyteller at If Not Us The Who? and co-founder of the Youth Collective in Defense of the Amazon Rainforest, she envisions a harmonious and sustainable future rooted in the understanding that we are all interconnected with nature and recognizes the shared responsibility to care for each other. Her work is a testimony to the future in which she envisions humanity is intricately connected with nature, fostering harmony and sustainability. Inspired by the land and people who shaped her, she uses the power of storytelling and relationship-building to bridge the world of Indigenous knowledge and technology with Western Science to amplify and implement community and nature-based solutions aiming to shape a world guided by resilient storytelling and positive transformation.