2026 Conference Speakers

Kim Villanueva, President of NOW

Kim Villanueva is the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), leading tens of thousands of feminist grassroots activists across the nation. She is a veteran political organizer with decades of leadership advancing equality, reproductive freedom, voting rights, and LGBTQIA+ freedoms. Her commitment to social justice is rooted in both her lived experience and family values, which center on service and political engagement. As a generational connector, Kim brings together mentors with emerging activists by leveraging the institutional knowledge she has gained from decades of advocacy. 

Before becoming president of NOW, Kim served multiple terms on the NOW and NOW PAC boards and chaired NOW’s election committee from 2017 to 2022. During that time, she modernized internal election systems, implemented hybrid voting, and increased member participation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her collaborative and thoughtful leadership style reflects the values of “we, not me.” She has served on six NOW board committees: Finance, Global Feminism, LGBTQIA, Membership, Reproductive Justice, and Structure and Process. She also co-founded NOW’s Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus and organized webinars on Asian-American identity. 

When Kim was president of the Illinois NOW chapter and one of the youngest state presidents elected, she grew her chapter’s membership and built bipartisan legislative coalitions, securing policy gains on sexual harassment and family/medical leave. As chair of the Illinois NOW PAC, Kim led voter registration drives and field operations that contributed to the election of Carol Moseley-Braun as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate. She organized efforts for the 2013 March on Springfield for Marriage Equality and the 2018 campaign that successfully ratified the ERA in Illinois, a decades-long fight she witnessed through to its historic final vote. In reproductive rights advocacy, Kim served on the Illinois NOW committee that drafted the Freedom of Choice Act, initially dismissed as “too radical,” that became the foundation of the 2019 Illinois Reproductive Health Act, cementing abortion rights protections in state law. 

As founding co-chair of the Central Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Kim provided longstanding leadership in LGBTQIA+ organizing, integrating queer visibility and inclusion throughout her political and community work. ​Professionally, Kim spent nearly 40 years as communications director for the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, advocating for the nation’s third-largest community college system. She has twice served as acting executive director and brings expertise in legislative advocacy, board governance, member relations, and fund development. Her additional community leadership includes serving as president of the YWCA of Springfield, president of the Springfield Area Arts Council, chair of the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation Committee, treasurer of the Illinois Women’s Political Caucus and two terms as president of the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation, where she led a successful capital campaign for a new sanctuary.​ 

At the national level, Kim has served multiple terms on the NOW and NOW PAC boards and chaired NOW’s election committee from 2017 to 2022. During that time, she modernized internal election systems, implemented hybrid voting, and increased member participation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her collaborative and thoughtful leadership style reflects the values of “we, not me.” She has served on six NOW Board committees: Finance, Global Feminism, LGBTQIA, Membership, Reproductive Justice, and Structure and Process. She also co-founded NOW’s Asian American Pacific Islander Caucus and organized webinars on Asian American identity. 

Kim’s career is marked by consistently turning grassroots organizing into durable policy outcomes and institutional changes through collaborative leadership that emphasizes collective action. Her strategic approach and unwavering commitment have been instrumental in driving meaningful progress for the feminist movement.  

Rose Brunache, Vice-President of NOW

Rose Brunache is a millennial leader bringing fresh energy and practical solutions to the National Organization for Women (NOW). Her commitment to justice stems from her own experiences with inequality, inspiring her to inspire grassroots activists to advocate for policy changes.  

Rose joined the DC NOW chapter through a book club; no prior political background was required, just a shared set of values and curiosity. From there, she rose to become the president of DC NOW’s chapter, modernizing the organization with podcasts, virtual networking with other chapters, and innovative outreach strategies. Her leadership style is collaborative, accessible, and action-oriented, focusing on ensuring that NOW translates advocacy into tangible results. With a degree in economics from Temple University and experience as a federal financial management analyst, Rose understands how policy budgets reflect national priorities. This expertise allows her to guide NOW toward durable policy outcomes.  

At the national level, Rose is laser-focused on growth and relevance. She’s working to expand membership, particularly among young women and women of color, because she knows that numbers equal leverage in policy fights. Rose is also pushing NOW’s policy agenda beyond single-issue politics. While reproductive rights remain crucial, she’s championing a broader feminist platform that includes combating violence against women, both offline and in toxic online spaces. She’s fighting for equal pay, reducing maternal mortality, and securing constitutional equality through the ERA. She’s clear that women deserve actual legislative protections, not just symbolic gestures.  

Rose is shaping NOW into an indispensable, visible, and enduring organization, ensuring that

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi:

Honoring the Past, Powering the Future: NOW PAC Event

Speaker Emerita Pelosi has stood at the forefront of progress, breaking barriers and advancing transformative policies that have strengthened our democracy and uplifted millions. Her leadership has been instrumental in expanding access to affordable health care, defending reproductive freedom, advancing pay equity, protecting families, and fighting for full equality and the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities. Her unwavering commitment to justice and equality has reshaped what is possible for women in public life.

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Melissa Manchester

Special surprise performance by Grammy Award–winning artist Melissa Manchester. Melissa is an American singer-songwriter and actress. During the 1970s and 1980s, her music found widespread success and popularity, particularly in the adult contemporary market.

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Monte Mader

Monte Mader is a culture critic, musician, podcaster, and fitness professional whose fearless voice has made her one of the most dynamic commentators on faith, politics, and cultural change. Raised in conservative Christian fundamentalism on a Wyoming cattle ranch, Monte transformed her life through critical reflection and bold truth-telling. She’s redefining how we talk about power, belief, and personal freedom.

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Rachel Feldman – Director/Writer/Producer

Rachel Feldmanis anL.A. based film and television director and screenwriter. Recent television credits include directing the pilot and first season of the award-winning Netflix series THE BAXTERS and multiple episodes of BLUE BLOODS, THE ROOKIE & CRIMINAL MINDS. Feldman wrote, directed and produced LILLY, an independent feature film starring Patricia Clarkson, John Benjamin Hickey and Thomas Sadoski, based on the remarkable life of Lilly Ledbetter, a poor, Alabama tire factory worker who became the voice of Fair Pay now streaming on Netflix.

A vocal activist for women behind the camera, Feldman has written numerous articles and has been an expert speaker for decades about gender discrimination in Hollywood. Former chair of the Director’s Guild of America Women’s Steering Committee, she holds an MFA from NYU in film directing, and has taught directing in the MFA program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

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Deborah J. Vagins, Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Programs, The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights


Deborah J. Vagins is the Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Programs at The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights. In this position, Deborah is the lead strategist for the organization’s programmatic civil rights work and heads up its congressional, executive branch, and state advocacy. Deborah brings decades of experience as a guiding voice in civil and women’s rights federal policy advocacy.

Prior to joining The Leadership Conference, Deborah was the National Campaign Director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) and the Director of Equal Pay Today coalition.  In this position, Deborah led campaign efforts on issues around pay equity, workplace harassment, occupational segregation, paid leave, and minimum wage. Recently, Deborah also led the coalition’s defensive federal agency advocacy work.

Prior to ERA, Deborah was the President and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), which represented the 56 state and territorial domestic violence coalitions and offered a range of programs and initiatives to address the complex causes and far-reaching consequences of domestic violence.

Before NNEDV, Deborah was the Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Research at the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and earlier, the Chief of Staff and Principal Attorney Advisor for Commissioner Charlotte A. Burrows at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Deborah served as an agency representative on the White House Council for Women and Girls and the White House Equal Pay Task Force.

Prior to joining the EEOC in 2015, Deborah was the Senior Legislative Counsel on civil rights issues for the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office. At the ACLU for a decade, Deborah was instrumental in advocating for enactment of major civil rights laws, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, the 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, and the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Act, among others.  Deborah successfully designed a strategy to secure the 2014 Executive Order on retaliation for wage disclosure in federal contracting and the 2014 DOJ and Department of Education guidance on racial disparities in school discipline.

Before joining the ACLU in 2005, Deborah served as the Acting Deputy General Counsel and Senior Attorney-Advisor at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), and as an associate in the employment discrimination and civil rights practice group at Cohen Milstein. While at Cohen Milstein, she litigated high-profile nationwide civil rights class actions, including the largest pay discrimination case in history, representing 1.5 million women employees against Walmart.

In 2019, Deborah was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts in England, for her contributions to gender and racial equity in the United States. Deborah and her work have appeared in the NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, C-SPAN, Washington Post, AP, CQ, NPR, The TODAY Show, USA Today, Time, and The New Republic, among others. She has drafted articles with, and for, civil rights icons, including Lilly Ledbetter and Rep. John Lewis, and was profiled in the 2016 film, Answering the Call, on work protecting the Voting Rights Act, and consulted on the film script for LILLY, the biopic on Lilly Ledbetter.

Jocelyn Samuels

Jocelyn Samuels is a former Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and served in those capacities from October 14, 2020 until January 28, 2025, when she was removed from her position by President Trump.

While serving on the EEOC, Commissioner Samuels helped to develop the regulations implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the Commission’s comprehensive guidance on preventing and responding to unlawful harassment, among other policy initiatives. Commissioner Samuels reviewed and voted on dozens of Commission litigation recommendations and federal sector draft decisions. She maintained an active speaking docket, making presentations to stakeholders across the country on topics including compliance with EEO laws; harassment; pregnancy discrimination; diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives; artificial intelligence; and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Immediately prior to joining the Commission, Commissioner Samuels served as the Executive Director and Roberta A. Conroy Scholar of Law at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. From August 2014 through January 2017, she was the Director of the Office for Civil

Rights at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, where she oversaw civil rights enforcement with respect to hospitals, healthcare providers, insurers, and human services agencies. In that role, she spearheaded development of regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act—the first broad-based federal law to prohibit sex discrimination in healthcare.

Earlier in the Obama Administration, Commissioner Samuels served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice and held other positions as a political appointee within the DOJ Civil Rights Division. There, she directly supervised enforcement of federal laws barring discrimination in employment and education and oversaw the Division’s broad portfolio, including voting rights, police department reform, housing discrimination, prosecution of hate crimes, and protections for individuals with disabilities.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Commissioner Samuels was the Vice President for Education & Employment at the National Women’s Law Center, where, among other accomplishments, she spearheaded the campaign that led to enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. She had previously served as Labor Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and as a senior attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel at the EEOC.

Commissioner Samuels earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Middlebury College. She is a graduate of Columbia University Law School where she was a Note Editor for The Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.