Here is more information about our panelists.
Aimee Allison '91 is founder and president of She the People, a national network elevating the voice and power of women of color. She brings together voters, organizers, and elected leaders in a movement grounded in values of love, justice, belonging, and democracy. In 2018, Ms. Allison was one of the primary architects of the “year of women of color in politics.” In April 2019, she convened the first presidential forum for women of color, reaching a quarter of the American population. A democratic innovator and visionary, Ms. Allison leads national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions led by women of color. She leverages media, research and analysis to increase voter engagement and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Hill, Essence, Teen Vogue and Newsweek. In the early 1990’s, Ms. Allison earned a rare honorable discharge from the U.S. Army as a conscientious objector and works today to support courageous, moral leadership. Aimee Allison holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University. Author of Army of None, she has appeared in hundreds of outlets including MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, Associated Press and NPR. She is building a political home for a million women of color, nationally and in battleground states. She was featured in Politico’s 2019 Powerlist.
Dr. Lisa García Bedolla is the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Berkeley. In this role, she oversees almost 12,000 graduate students, and is the chief advocate for graduate education and research at Berkeley. She is a member of academic and administrative leadership groups convened by the Chancellor and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. She works with the Graduate Council of the Academic Senate on policies that sustain the world-renowned excellence of more than 100 graduate programs. Dr. García Bedolla obtained her BA in Latin American Studies and Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and her PhD in political science from Yale University. She is a Professor in the Graduate School of Education and previously, she served as Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. Dr. Garcia Bedolla’s body of research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of political and educational inequalities in the United States, using multi-disciplinary approaches to examine disparities that cut across the lines of ethnicity, race, gender, class, and more.
Jennifer Helton '93 is a historian who teaches in the California Community College system. She teaches the histories of California, the United States, Europe, and U.S. women. She writes on the history of women's suffrage and women's rights, particularly in the nineteenth century American West. Her work has been published by High Country News, WyoFile and the National Park Service. Her essay "So Great An Innovation: Woman Suffrage in Wyoming," appears in Equality at the Ballot Box, published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press in 2019. She graduated from Stanford University with Bachelor's Degrees in History (with Honors) and Classics, and a Master's in Humanities.
Jacqueline Yau ’91 is a donor relations officer for Stanford Medical Center Development where she provides engagement strategies and stewardship for major donors. She is the founder and principal of ZiZo Consulting, a boutique marketing, communications, and brand management firm. For the National Association of Women Business Owners, she developed and facilitated a peer-to-peer women’s advisory group composed of women who owned businesses with over $2 million annual gross revenue. Yau has worked for the Center for Asian American Media, Parents’ Choice Foundation, RealNames, and Nestlé USA. While at TiVo, she launched TiVo KidZone, which helped parents choose programs for their kids and was endorsed by Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton. Yau also hosted a cable access TV program for ACLU of Hawaii, reported for Hawaii Public Radio, and served as hotline counselor for The Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women. Yau obtained a BA in Human Biology at Stanford University. She was a 1997 CORO Fellow and earned her MBA from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. While an undergraduate at Stanford, Yau was co-class president with Cory Booker.
