Excellence In Leadership Speaker Loretta Ross

Loretta Ross started her career in activism and social change in the 1970s. Her work emphasizes the intersectionality of social justice issues and how intersectionality can fuel transformation. Ms. Ross is the recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award and an associate professor at Smith College. Throughout her 50-year career, she has co-written three books on reproductive justice and worked with the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Black Women’s Health Project, the Center for Democratic Renewal (National Anti-Klan Network), and the National Center for Human Rights Education. In addition, Ms. Ross was a co-founder and the National Coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

In 2012, Ross retired as an organizer to teach and follow her passion for education. In 1996, she founded the first center in the U.S. to innovate creative human rights education for all students transforming social justice issues to be more collaborative and less divisive. In her work, “Calling In the Calling Out Culture,” she transforms how people can overcome political differences to use empathy and respect to guide difficult conversations.