Thursday, March 28th
Rematriation centers Indigenous Women’s leadership for the restoration and regeneration of land and water. By revitalizing Indigenous knowledge, honoring traditions and renewing annual cycles of life, rematriation directly addresses harms caused by patriarchal extraction and violence. In this panel, three powerful Indigenous women share “real-life” examples of rematriation, the ripple effects of these practices, and ways that we can all get involved to Indigenize the future. Moderated by Cara Romero. Featuring Corrina Gould, Caleen Sisk and Jessica Hutchings.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn
Keynote
Corrina Gould
Co-Founder and Lead Organizer | Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
Corrina Gould, born and raised in the village of Huichin (now known as Oakland CA), is the Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and co-founded and is the Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native-run organization; as well as of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led organization within her ancestral territory. Through the practices of “rematriation,” cultural revitalization and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on Native and non-Native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization and genocide and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.
Jessica Hutchings
Founding Trustee | Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust
Jessica Hutchings, Ph.D., (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) is nationally (in New Zealand) and internationally recognised as a leader and researcher in Indigenous food systems and Māori food and soil sovereignty. A founding trustee of the Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust that works to uplift Māori food and soil sovereignty, she is herself a food grower and has been a member of Te Waka Kai Ora (the Māori Organics Authority) for 20+ years. A widely published author on food sovereignty issues, Jessica has been working at the crossroads of Indigenous knowledge, environmental wellbeing, and Indigenous social justice, organic farming and self-determination for 30+ years.
Chief Caleen Sisk
Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief | Winnemem Wintu Tribe
Chief Caleen Sisk, the Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe since 2000, is an internationally known speaker on traditional tribal and spiritual issues including topics such as water and global warming. In addition, Chief Sisk is the Spiritual and Environmental Commissioner for ENLACE Continental, an international network of Indigenous women. Throughout her career she has focused on maintaining the cultural and religious traditions of her tribe as well as advocating for California salmon restoration, conferring rights to rivers and the protection of Indigenous sacred sites.
Cara Romero
Indigeneity Program Director | Bioneers
Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Program Director of the Bioneers Indigeneity Program, previously served her Mojave-based tribe in several capacities, including as: first Executive Director at the Chemehuevi Cultural Center, a member of the tribal council, and Chair of the Chemehuevi Education Board and Chemeuevi Headstart Policy Council. Cara is also a highly accomplished photographer/artist.
This session will build off of conversations held at last year’s Bioneers Conference about the relationships between the Environmental Justice and Reproductive Justice movements. The war on Mother Earth is rooted in the war on the bodies of women and gender-non binary people’s bodily autonomy, which is accelerating as the dying patriarchal cultural system feels threatened and lashes out ever more desperately. But, as people rise up to defend abortion access, reproductive rights and justice, the deepening collaboration between the environmental justice and reproductive and birth justice communities is helping us unite to defend the rights to bodily autonomy and self-determination. Come hear from reproductive health justice leaders working to defend access to abortion and reproductive healthcare and to push back the overall attack on democracy we are facing. Hosted by: Taj James. Facilitated by Eveline Shen, former director of Forward Together and founder/President of Leading Courageously. With: Elisa Batista, Campaign Director, UltraViolet; Mariko Miki, Interim Executive Director at If/When/How; Cynthia Gutierrez, Program Manager for UCSF’s Hub of Positive Reproductive and Sexual Health (HIVE) and Team Lily programs.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater
Panelists
Elisa Batista
Campaign Director | UltraViolet
Elisa Batista, the Content Director and a Campaign Director with UltraViolet (an organization dedicated to ending violence against women, increasing their and their families’ economic security and ensuring they all have access to full, affordable healthcare), was previously Campaign Director for MomsRising.org, a million-volunteer grassroots organization, helping spearhead the organization’s immigration campaign and launching MamásConPoder.org, a community of civically engaged Spanish-speaking and bilingual mothers. Elisa is also a bilingual journalist and award-winning digital influencer who co-founded the popular parenting community, MotherTalkers.
Eveline Shen
Leading Courageously | Founder and President
Eveline Shen is an award-winning leader and principal at Leading Courageously, where she supports BIPOC women, trans and non-binary leaders to step into their power. A key leader in the Reproductive Justice Movement for over two decades, she served as Executive of Forward Together for 22 years, but is now focused on teaching the Courageous Operating System, a framework she developed to help leaders of color face challenging situations with courage, confidence and strength. Eveline has created numerous experiential trainings that have engaged hundreds of mostly BIPOC leaders and activists, domestically and globally, and is the author of the forthcoming: Choosing to Lead Against the Current.
Mariko Miki
Interim Executive Director | If/When/How
Mariko Miki, an attorney, is the Interim Executive Director at If/When/How, a legal services and advocacy organization that seeks to help people in crisis, reshape the law, and build a national network of legal professionals working for reproductive justice. Mariko, who has been with If/When/How for 14 years, launched that organization’s Reproductive Justice Fellowship Program and established its Repro Legal Defense Fund.
Cynthia Gutierrez
Program Manager | UCSF's Hub of Positive Reproductive and Sexual Health (HIVE)
Cynthia Gutierrez, an Oakland-based, award winning first-generation Indigenous Nicaraguan/Salvadoran reproductive justice organizer, full spectrum doula, cultural strategist and writer is currently Program Manager for the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Hub of Positive Reproductive and Sexual Health (HIVE) and Team Lily programs, as well as an abortion storyteller with We Testify. Cynthia also serves on the boards for ACCESS Reproductive Justice, SisterSong, and Ineedana; and her work at the intersection of reproductive, disability and environmental justice has been featured in many leading media, including: The New York Times, The Lily, Elle Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Rewire News Group, etc.
Taj James
Full Spectrum Labs | Co-Founder and Curator
Taj James, co-founder and Curator at Full Spectrum Labs, a Principal with Full Spectrum Capital Partners, and co-founder and a Senior Advisor at Movement Strategy Center, is a father, poet, strategist, designer, and philanthropic and capital advisor. Taj seeks in his work to connect community stewards with capital stewards in order to bring financial value into alignment with sacred values in ways that build community wealth.
Friday, March 29th
3:00 pm: Women in Clean/Green Tech Shattering the Glass Ceiling
Hosted by Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
The urgent need for a shift to clean, sustainable technologies is the most important challenge of our time, probably the most crucial our species has ever faced. In this session some trailblazing women leaders in this domain will share their projects, their thoughts on where we stand in the race to a clean and equitable transition, and the challenges they face in what has for far too long been a male-populated sector. Hosted by Sara Fuentes, President of Smart Waste, and Chairwoman of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability. With: Emily Teitsworth, Executive Director of the Honnold Foundation; Charlotte Michaluk, 17, award-winning young scientist and engineer; Kellie Macpherson, Executive Vice President of Compliance & Risk at Radian Generation; Kirthika Padmanabhan, Co-Pilot at X, the moonshot factory.
March 29th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center
Panelists
Sara Fuentes
Chairwoman | Women in Cleantech and Sustainability
Sara Eve Fuentes, Chairwoman of Women in Clean Tech and Sustainability, is the founder and President of SmartWaste, a minority women-owned and operated start-up with a focus on Waste Technologies, Waste Systems and Vendor Management for Zero Waste programs with core values of “transparency, circularity, and people." With 10 years of experience in the waste and recycling industry, Sara has become a dynamic leader in abating commercial waste as well as a passionate advocate for women.
Emily Teitsworth
Executive Director | Honnold Foundation
Emily Teitsworth is the Executive Director of the Honnold Foundation, which provides grants to community-based organizations advancing solar energy access for marginalized communities all over the world. A passionate advocate for climate justice with over two decades’ experience leading organizations in the nonprofit and philanthropic fields, with a focus on sustainability, public health, and gender and race equity, Emily’s thought leadership on trust-based philanthropy and community development has been featured broadly at global convenings and in media outlets including Inside Philanthropy and The Guardian.
Charlotte Michaluk – Youth Keynote
Engineer, Scientist and Linguistics Researcher | Acnestis By Wind
Charlotte Lenore Michaluk, 17, is a brilliant young, award-winning, multi-disciplinary engineer, scientist and linguistics researcher, passionate about engineering sustainable solutions. Her development of technology for a hybrid wind and fossil fuel powered cargo ship has been widely recognized. Charlotte, who has been certified in freshwater bioassessment for over a decade (!), has been collecting and analyzing field data working with her state’s EPA to preserve ecologically critical wetlands and wildlife corridors in Central New Jersey. Through her organization, Acnestis By Wind, she has been researching using wind power to clean remote shorelines, developing curricula, and protecting wetlands.
Kellie Macpherson
Executive Vice President of Compliance & Risk | Radian Generation
Kellie Macpherson is the Executive Vice President of Compliance & Risk at Radian Generation (a firm offering professional asset management services to the renewable energy industry) overseeing Radian’s NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) compliance and managed security services. For over 15 years, she has been a leader in the renewable asset space and has implemented 200+ compliance programs and completed 40+ NERC audits.
Kirthika Padmanabhan
Co-Pilot | X, the moonshot factory
Kirthika Padmanabhan has had a diverse work experience spanning various roles and industries (finance, healthcare, technology) on three continents. She currently works at X, the moonshot factory (an Alphabet company) as a Co-pilot for an Early Pipeline Project focused on climate tech. Prior positions include (to name only a few): Lead for Customer Success at Tidal, Program Lead for Adwords Sales Strategy & Support at Google, Analytics Manager for Trust & Safety Operation at YouTube, Chief of Staff for India Operations at Google, etc. Her most recent projects have included an early-stage climate startup focused on circular economy principles, and prior to that on ocean supply chain sustainability. Kirthika is also part of several women@ groups and is involved in philanthropic work in her community.
4:45 pm: The Rojava Revolution: Women’s Liberation, Democracy and Ecology in North-East Syria
Hosted by the Emergency Committee for Rojava
Over the past decade, the most far-reaching social revolution of the 21st century has taken place in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Northeast, commonly referred to as “Rojava.” Though still largely unknown, today roughly a third of Syrian territory is governed not by a nation-state, but through a federation of participatory local councils known officially as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). Despite conditions of constant war and isolation, the people of Rojava are building and defending a society rooted in principles of direct-democracy, women’s autonomy, cultural diversity, cooperative economics, and social ecology. Join us for a conversation with two writers and activists who have recently returned from the region, as we discuss the revolution’s achievements, its challenges, and its enduring relevance for liberatory movements worldwide. With: Anna Rebrii, journalist, researcher; and Arthur Pye, writer and activist. Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater
Panelists
Anna Rebrii
Member | Emergency Committee for Rojava
Anna Rebrii is a New York–based researcher and journalist focusing on the Kurdish issue in Syria and Turkey and Indigenous movements in Mexico. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, Jacobin, Truthout, openDemocracy, and other outlets. She is a member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava in the U.S.
Arthur Pye
Member | Emergency Committee for Rojava
Arthur Pye is a writer and activist based in the Pacific Northwest. He previously spent one year living in North-East Syria and conducting research on the Rojava Revolution. He is a steering committee member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava.
J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer | Bioneers
J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.
Saturday, March 30th
Introduction by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer
A widely-traveled, brilliant conservation ecologist/wildlife biologist who has done cutting-edge work on apex predators in many remote and rugged locales around the world, Rae Wynn Grant is also one of the most captivating and inspiring science communicators of our time as well as a leading advocate for women and people of color in the sciences. In this talk, she will draw from her just about-to-be-released memoir, Wild Life, to share some of her experiences finding her way in a profession with very few scientists who looked like her as she embarked on a quest to study the ever-shifting relationship between humans, animals, and place and came to understand the vital roles we must each play not just as stewards for our land and water, but also for our communities, each other, and ourselves.
March 30th | 9:47 am to 10:09 am | Zellerbach Hall
Introduced by
J. P. Harpignies
Senior Producer | Bioneers
J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.
Keynote
Rae Wynn-Grant
Wildlife Ecologist and Conservation Biologist | University of California at Santa Barbara + Host of Wild Kingdom
Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D., a wildlife ecologist and conservation biologist who researches how human activity influences carnivore behavior and ecology and is passionate about science communication, is the creator of the award-winning podcast "Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant" (produced by PBS’ Nature) and has recently become the co-host of the just resuscitated revered TV show, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Currently a Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, she maintains a Research Fellow position with the National Geographic Society in partnership with the American Prairie Reserve and a Visiting Scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Grant, who also serves on the Board of Directors for NatureBridge, is a leading advocate for women and people of color in the sciences and is the author of many scientific papers, as well as her upcoming memoir, Wild Life.
Join us to surface the schisms and false associations about the archetypes of “yin” and “yang,” or ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ that have dominated our civilization’s worldview for far too long. What’s led our societies to behave in ways that have perpetuated this imbalance and led us to this point of emergency on all fronts? What does authentic yin-led leadership look like? We’ll surface new visions for being human, no longer reliant on archaic binaries. Hosted by Nina Simons, author of Nature, Culture & the Sacred and Bioneers’ co-founder. With Taj James, co-founder of Full-Spectrum Capital and Beloved Communities Network; Pat McCabe/Woman Stands Shining (Diné), Co-Creator at Stand In the Light Studio, Co-Founder of Joy House: The School for UnLearning; Aya de Leon, climate author/[CUT publisher], lecturer at UC Berkeley and Berkeley’s new Poet Laureate; Shayna Cureton, founder of Abundant Beginnings.
March 30th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Taj James
Full Spectrum Labs | Co-Founder and Curator
Taj James, co-founder and Curator at Full Spectrum Labs, a Principal with Full Spectrum Capital Partners, and co-founder and a Senior Advisor at Movement Strategy Center, is a father, poet, strategist, designer, and philanthropic and capital advisor. Taj seeks in his work to connect community stewards with capital stewards in order to bring financial value into alignment with sacred values in ways that build community wealth.
Aya de Leon
Author and Activist
Aya de León, Berkeley’s current Poet Laureate, who has published ten novels and teaches creative writing UC Berkeley, co-founded Fighting Chance Books to provide a forum for writers who want to tell the story of how we can still save our planet. Aya and her work have been featured in a wide range of prominent publications, including The NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Ebony, and Def Poetry. Her social justice activism has spanned four decades, including working on climate, race, gender, harm reduction, and anti-nuclear issues. In 2022, she organized a groundbreaking online conference: “Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency.”.
Pat McCabe
Woman Stands Shining
Pat McCabe, (aka “Woman Stands Shining”), of Diné ancestry, was adopted into the Lakota spiritual way of life. She is currently beginning the stewardship of a piece of land at one of the four sacred mountains of her people, as part of the “Rematriation Movement.” McCabe, a proud grandmother, has long spoken and taught widely, nationally and internationally, sharing cultural and spiritual insights.
Shayna Cureton
Abundant Beginnings | Founder
Shayna Cureton is the co-founder of Abundant Beginnings, a project that centers Black children and families and seeks to create liberated learning and activist communities as direct antidotes to the “school-to-prison pipeline.” Shayna, who has led the creation of hundreds of radical child-centered spaces as Director of Abundant Beginnings’ Forest Freedom School and camp programs, is a recipient of the Community Partner Award from Our Family Coalition, and a YBCA 100 honoree.
Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist | Bioneers
Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and its Chief Relationship Strategist is also co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change. She co-edited the anthology book, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and most recently wrote Nature, Culture & The Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Nina teaches and speaks internationally, and previously served as President of Seeds of Change and Director of Strategic Marketing for Odwalla.
