The Planned Parenthood
Hudson Peconic
Empower Gala
Featured Keynote Speaker
Jessica Valenti
Called "one of the most successful and visible feminists of her generation" by The Washington Post, Jessica Valenti has been leading the conversation on modern feminism since 2004. The award-winning columnist is the author of seven books, including the New York Times best-seller, Sex Object. Her ground-breaking anthology, Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, paved the way for legislation of the same name and set what’s now considered the gold standard for sexual consent.
She has been a columnist for The Guardian and The Nation, and her writing has been published in places from The New York Times and The Atlantic, to Bitch magazine and The Toast.
Jessica has hosted a miniseries for Eater, created a documentary about purity culture, and is a widely sought-after speaker and media commentator.
She has also been credited with sparking feminism's online wave through her blog Feministing.com, which Columbia Journalism Review called "head and shoulders above almost any writing on women’s issues in mainstream media."
Jessica now publishes the newsletter Abortion, Every Day, an urgent synthesis of the political and real-life consequences of abortion bans.
Jessica has a Master’s degree in Women’s & Gender Studies and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Andrew Golis, and their daughter Layla.
