Over the past five years I have positioned myself as a leader in the street harassment community. As the co-founder of HollabackNYC.com, I have spoken about street harassment on Good Morning America, MSNBC, the Today Show, Fox.com, and the Paula Zahn show, as well as in all local New York newspapers and five international press outlets. I have also written two op-eds, featured in the New York Daily News and Metro International, and I’ve given presentations about street harassment at New York University and the New School.
More important than any one credential is this: I care deeply about what I do. Street harassment is pervasive and has evoked a powerful international response; yet still, most women and LGBT individuals lack hope that an alternative exists. The ability to walk safely down the street is within our reach. I want to restore hope, one Hollaback! at a time.
Brooklyn, NY. It was love at first sight.
I want to see an end to street harassment worldwide, one Hollaback! at a time. Hollaback! targets harassment at its source, not with brawn but with brains: mobile technology will provide a safe way to report harassment and assault directly from cell phones. Experiences will be submitted through SMS texts and the Hollaback! mobile phone application. Crimes will be mapped, made publicly available, and analyzed in an annual "State of Our Streets" report. Through the simple push of a button, Hollaback! will revolutionize women and LGBT individuals’ ability to document these otherwise unreported crimes.
In addition to my work with HollabackNYC.com I've had a robust career in the nonprofit sector. I have helped attract more than $1 million to nonprofits, managed over ten staff members, and launched three start-up initiatives. Among those initiatives, I co-founded New Yorkers for Safe Transit (www.nyfst.org) in 2008, the only coalition dedicated to advocating for safer public transit in New York City. One of New Yorkers for Safe Transit’s most impressive accomplishments to date is getting the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to release the first anti-harassment ad campaign on New York City subways which has been displayed for the past two years. I also serve as co-chair of the board for Girls for Gender Equity (www.ggenyc.org), one of New York City’s most pre-eminent grassroots feminist organizations. I am a winner of the 2008 Stonewall Women's Award and was selected as a Progressive Women's Voices Fellow in 2009. I have a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University and a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics.
