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&Mother Advisory board

C. Nicole mason, phd - Institute for women’s policy research

Recently named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine, Dr. C. Nicole Mason is the president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). Having stepped into the role in November 2019, Dr. Mason is the youngest person currently leading one of the major inside-the-Beltway think tanks in Washington, D.C., and one of the few women of color to do so. She succeeded noted economist and MacArthur Fellow Heidi Hartmann, the Institute’s founding CEO.

As one of the nation’s foremost intersectional researchers and scholars, Dr. C. Nicole Mason brings a fresh perspective and a wealth of experience to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. For the past two decades, Dr. Mason has spearheaded research on issues relating to economic security, poverty, women’s issues, and entitlement reforms; policy formation and political participation among women, communities of color; and racial equity. Prior to IWPR, Dr. Mason was the executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, the nation’s only research and policy center focused on women of color at a nationally ranked school of public administration. She is also an inaugural Ascend Fellow at the Aspen Institute in Washington, D.C.

At the start of the pandemic, she coined the term she-cession to describe the disproportionate impact of the employment and income losses on women. Dr. Mason is the author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America (St. Martin’s Press) and has written hundreds of articles on women, poverty, and economic security. Her writing and commentary have been featured in the New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, the Washington Post, Marie Claire, the Progressive, ESSENCE, Bustle, BIG THINK, Miami Herald, Democracy Now, and numerous NPR affiliates, among others

JOAN WILLIAMS - CENTER FOR WORKLIFE LAW

Joan C. Williams is a Hastings Foundation Chair and Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She has authored 11 books and 115 academic articles and book chapters, and ranks among the top 10 scholars in her field. She lectures widely. Her work has been covered in outlets as diverse as the Harvard Business Review, Oprah Magazine, Human Resource Executive, Jezebel, and the Yale Law Journal. Williams holds an honorary PhD from Utrecht University in the Netherlands for her research on workplace bias, received the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology (2005), and a prestigious invitation to summarize her field in the Annual Review of Psychology (2016). For her contributions to women in engineering, she received the President's Award from the Society of Women Engineers in 2019.

Williams has played a central role in reshaping the debates over women, work, and unconscious bias over the past quarter-century. She is widely known for her “bias interrupters,”—an evidence-based metrics-driven approach to eradicating implicit bias introduced in Harvard Business Review in 2014.

Alison Désir - RUNNING INDUSTRY DIVERSITY COALITION, OISELLE

Named by Women's Running as one of the "Power Women of 2021,” Alison Mariella Désir is an endurance athlete, activist, and mental health advocate. Alison is the founder of Harlem Run, Run 4 All Women, and co-chair of Running Industry Diversity Coalition. In 2020, Alison launched the highly successful Meaning Thru Movement Tour, a series of 9 virtual fitness and mental health events that featured widely sought after experts and fitness professionals, such as Chris Mosier, Cliff Albright, Alysia Montaño and Stephanie Bruce.

Alison is currently working on a book, The Unbearable Whiteness of Running, out October 2022. She is also the Director of Sports Advocacy as well as an Athlete Advisor for Oiselle. Alison's nickname, “powdered feet,” comes from the Haitian Kreyol saying, which describes a person so active that you never see them, just the footprints of where they’ve been in powder. She holds her BA in History, MA in Latin American and Caribbean Regional Studies, and EdM in Counseling Psychology, all from Columbia University.

Anna katherine clemmons - University of virginia, department of media studies

Anna Katherine (Clemmons) Clay is a freelance writer and an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. She is a 16-year veteran writer, reporter and producer for ESPN, where she wrote everything from 5,000-word features for ESPN’s Outside the Lines to technical breakdowns for ESPN the Magazine. She has produced video features for ESPN's 'Monday Night Countdown,' 'SportsCenter,' ESPN the Magazine's 'Body Issue,' and more. Her reporting adventures have included riding on a combine harvester with former NFL wide receiver Jordy Nelson on his Kansas farm and watching a backyard game of H-O-R-S-E between former NBA great Dell Curry and his older son, two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry (she won’t reveal who won).

A 2001 graduate of Davidson College, Anna Katherine obtained her B.A. in English. She is an official member of the American Society of Journalists & Authors (ASJA) and the Association of Women in Sports Media (AWSM). An Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia, Anna Katherine has also enjoyed stints as a guest lecturer at several schools, including Davidson College, where she served as keynote speaker for the 2018 Women’s Leadership Conference and her graduate school alma mater, Boston University, where she obtained a Master’s in Journalism in 2005. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband, Matt, and their sons, Connor (8) and Sam (6).

ANNIE SARTOR

Annie is a seasoned non-profit leader and campaign director. Annie led the business partnerships team at PL+US Paid Leave for the US, winning new or expanded access to over 8 million working people, and leveraging private sector voices to support public policy solutions for paid family and medical leave. With over 15 years of experience in public advocacy campaigns, Annie is passionate about building nimble, effective campaigns to win concrete victories. In her time at PL+US, Annie led the production of PL+US’ recent report, Paid Leave and the Pandemic: Effective Workplace Policies and Practices For a Time of Crisis and Beyond, which considers the impact of paid family and medical leave policies on companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and launched an Open Letter from over 300 brands and business leaders calling on Congress to prioritize passage of a comprehensive and permanent federal paid family and medical leave policy.

Leslie forde - Mom’s hierarchy of needs

Leslie is the CEO and Founder of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs. She has used research to inform growth and innovation strategy for over 20 years. She’s held brand management, product marketing and business development roles in consumer technology, market research, media and publishing companies. And for the past decade, focused on children’s education, mental health, childcare and eldercare.

Over 2,500 parents have participated in her ongoing national research study on the pandemic’s impact on their lives and careers. She’s a frequent speaker, researcher, and consultant to organizations, such as HubSpot and 3M, on how to support parents in the workplace. 

Her writing about parenting, motherhood and equity has appeared in The Washington Post, Slate, Parents Magazine and her website, Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs among other publications. She’s been quoted in the New York Times, CNN,National Geographic, Fast Company, US News & World Report, and several other outlets.