Thank you to all who joined us for a night of inspiration and celebration at our eighth anniversary Gala, Justice Rising!
We had an amazing program this year—filled with inspirational stories from gender justice advocates and musical performances from special guests.
The program began with a beautiful performance of Flower Duet, from Léo Delibes’ Lakmé by Marcelle Dronkers, Meghan Dibble, and Bryan Baker accompanying on piano. Watch the full performance below.
Andrea Carlise, IANGEL’s Executive Director, welcomed everyone to the 8th Anniversary Gala, and shared some words about the night’s program. She then introduced Jennifer Martinez, Hanson Bridgett’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, who spoke about her firm’s commitment to gender justice. Listen to Jennifer’s comments below.
IANGEL Founder and Board President, Nancy Newman, also spoke and shared her vision of what “Justice Rising” means to her.
Echoing Nancy’s comments about continuing the fight for equality and dignity of all people, Andrea highlighted some of the work that IANGEL has done this year to advance gender justice.
IANGEL envisions a world where all people have the same rights to basic human dignity, fairness, and self-determination, regardless of gender, race, disability or other identity. Over the past year, we have deepened a partnership with the Berkeley Law Pro Bono Program through the Girls Rights Research Project, engaging more than 15 LL.M. students hailing from almost as many countries, in this project comparing international and domestic laws governing reproductive rights, child marriage and female genital mutilation in three regions of the world where girls’ right to self-determination is most limited by the prevalence of FGM and child marriage.
We are also in the final stages of creating a curriculum to teach California teens about their legal reproductive rights. The Teen Information Project will equip teens with the knowledge they need to understand their rights, and recognize the precarious nature of the reproductive freedoms we hold dear. IANGEL is also partnering with Girls Inc. of the Island City to pilot the project this fall.
IANGEL also continues to work alongside like-minded NGOs to support much-needed legislation aimed at ending gender-based violence, ensuring access to comprehensive reproductive health care services, and supporting women’s and girls’ rights to bodily autonomy, self-determination, and economic empowerment.
To stay up to date on all of IANGEL’s latest efforts and work, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and subscribe to our Advocacy Newsletter. We hope that you continue to join us in our fight for transformative gender justice.
The Amel Zenoune-Zouani Rights & Leadership Award was established in 2013 to honor exemplary leaders promoting women’s rights and gender equality. The Awards were presented to two trailblazing gender justice advocates: Irma Hererra & Julienne Lusenge.
Learn more about our Award recipients and watch the awards presentation in full:
In addition to showcasing the impact of our Rights and Leadership Award recipients’ work, the Gala program spotlighted our dedicated volunteers and interns— many of whom have contributed to research, advocacy and design projects to further our work for gender justice.
Missed out on this year’s Gala? Donate to IANGEL to support our work, and the work of our interns and volunteers.
The program ended with another beautiful musical performance by Marcelle Dronkers, Meghan Dibble, and Jennie and Mark Walstrom singing “Rise!” by Arianne Abela.
