This talk is for you - for your body, your mind, your soul, your spirit, your past selves, and the you that is becoming. This talk is raw and real. It is about rejecting what no longer serves us, about the things we don't talk about because they are filled with pain, and yet create barriers to our healing and to our unbounded possibilities. This talk is a rejection of white supremacy, we are not doing anything that gets in the way of the liberation of our people and of everybody. This talk grapples with our leadership that comes from love and rage, the place of being with the complexities around us and within us - yet not to be consumed by them. This talk is deep belly laughter, joy, celebration. Come talk with us. See you soon!
Manasa Yeturu. Educator. Dancer. Poet. Designer. Diver. Those are just some of Manasa Yeturu’s life descriptors. She is currently a lecturer at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and co-lead of d.School’s renowned multi-disciplinary program Design For Extreme Affordability. Manasa has 15+ years of experience working the intersection of social justice + design, from being part of Teach for India’s team in their startup years to leading government innovation initiatives alongside Kamala Harris's team to building financially inclusive services for underserved women all around the world; she is no stranger to working on complex problems with the ethos of equity & collective care at the center of her design work. She believes in a world where we can all lift each other up and dance with community in the process.
Aisha Bain is a black feminist warrior, social justice activist, smasher of patriarchy, and uses her imposing height and incredible stank eye to silence mansplaining in an instant.
Aisha is an inspiring leader with over 15 years of experience in senior leadership, and has managed programs and partnered with community organizations responding to violence against women and girls in prevention, mitigation, service provision, advocacy, and policy change in more than a dozen countries. As a filmmaker, artist and author, Aisha has a particular passion for using creative tools and media to further social justice movements, and to raise the voice and visibility of women and girls within those movements.
She is the Co-Founder of Resistance Communications, a creative action agency that works with local power to elevate the voices and visibility of women, girls, and resistors fighting for social justice through radical storytelling, transformative programming, and art grounded in strategy for social change. She also co-founded Vision Not Victim, a global girl-driven program that provides creative platforms to unleash the power of adolescent girls, address the violence they face and work towards gender equality, supporting girls, parents, and communities to create safer and more supportive environments for girls.
In 2015, Aisha served as the Senior Program Advisor for the Women’s Protection and Empowerment Unit at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). In this capacity, Aisha led advocacy efforts, authored, and advised policy papers and events that directly resulted in policy change including the US government’s 2013 Safe from the Start Initiative; and the United Kingdom’s 2013 Call to Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls in Emergencies. Aisha also spearheaded research, gap analysis, and co-designed an innovative capacity building pilot program to address violence against women and girl refugees and immigrants in the US through a minimum package of response services, partnerships, and advocacy, with a focus on community based approaches and solutions.
Aisha has previously worked with IRC in a number of leadership roles, including as Deputy Country Director in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake, and has extensive experience leading emergency responses and responding to violence against women and girls in conflict and natural disaster zones including the DRC, Ethiopia, and the Philippines. Additionally, Aisha has worked on women's rights in India and the Maghreb, anti-discrimination in the Balkans, and environmental rights in Mongolia for Global Rights: Partners for Justice. She also co-directed a documentary she produced entitled Darfur Diaries: Message from Home, as well as a book she co-authored, Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. The proceeds from the documentary and book went toward building schools in North Darfur in partnership with the Darfur Peace and Development Organization.
Spanning five continents, Aisha has danced with almost every community she has worked with.
