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Speakers & Links to Talks if Available:

1. Hannah Wayment-Steele: tinyurl.com/hannahwaymentsteele
2. Jeff Myers: https://tinyurl.com/jeffmyers
3. Dawn Edwards: https://tinyurl.com/dawnedwardstedx
4. Nan Farley: https://tinyurl.com/nanfarley
5. Smriti Jha: https://tinyurl.com/smritijha
6. Leah Sheppard: https://tinyurl.com/leahsheppard
7. Maya Shrestha

Washington High School
38442 Fremont Blvd
Fremont, California, 94536
United States

Dawn Edwards

Vice President of the Oakland LGBTQ+ Community Center

Dawn (she/her) is the Vice President of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. She earned a BA in Political Science, a Master of Public Administration, completed three years of law school, and has recently graduated from the graduate program at Mills College. In her spare time, Dawn is a published author, and is a social and political activist who believes that she has the responsibility to use her words, whether they be written or verbal, to uplift, motivate and specifically address issues that affect her community.

Hannah Wayment-Steele

PhD Candidate in Chemistry

Hannah Wayment-Steele is a PhD candidate in Chemistry at Stanford University. After studying chemistry and applied mathematics at Pomona College, she attended Cambridge University as a Churchill scholar, receiving a Masters for work with Daan Frenkel on the statistical mechanics of DNA nanomaterial assembly. Her current doctoral research with Rhiju Das brings together statistical mechanics, machine learning, and high-throughput experimentation to create improved models for RNA structure, and since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the design of stabilized messenger RNA therapeutics.

Jeff Myers

Co-Founder of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center

Jeff (he/him) is co-founder of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center. Having been a resident of Oakland for 16 years, he's deeply dedicated to Oakland's LGBTQ community. He's volunteered for this community in multiple capacities: he was the volunteer coordinator for Oakland Pride, co-chair of community outreach, Pride Event Volunteer Coordinator, and has helped organize the Oakland Pride contingent for the SF Pride Parade working with the Office of the Oakland Mayor.

Leah Sheppard

Expert on Gender Stereotyping in the Workplace

Dr. Leah Sheppard is an Associate Professor of Management at Washington State University. She teaches classes on management, leadership, and negotiations, and conducts research on the topic of gender stereotyping in the workplace. Her research has been discussed in outlets such at The Atlantic, the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and several others. Outside of academia, Dr. Sheppard delivers presentations to organizations on the topics of gender stereotyping and workplace bias, and also provides performance coaching services.

Maya Shrestha

Student Activist

Maya Shrestha is a senior at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, California. She enjoys dancing, singing, hiking, and spending time with friends and family. Maya has been a member of Bay Area Student Activists (BAStA for short) since its founding in 2018, and currently serves as its Vice President and Director of Communications. Among other things, BAStA holds an annual lobby day where students meet with lawmakers and advocate for bills that benefit high-school students. After graduation, Maya plans to take a gap year and then attend Scripps College.

Nan Farley

Climate Activist

Nan Farley is a climate activist personally as a consumer and professionally as the Operations Director of 350 Bay Area, a grassroots environmental nonprofit working to eliminate carbon pollution. With the majority of her life to face the consequences of climate catastrophe, Nan is called to prevent the multiplicative compounding ramifications we will endure the longer we allow climate change to go unabated. Nan is passionate about addressing the climate crisis as an intersectional issue with social, racial and economic justice. She believes the current political context, whereby many societal maladies must be addressed simultaneously, is an unfortunate yet incredible chance for a great reimagining of our society. Nan has an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in Sociology, Psychology and Business along with professional experience in political organizing and nonprofit management. Nan has garnered distinctions for her writing, research, and public speaking.

Smriti Jha

Menstrual Equity Activist

Smriti is a junior at Washington High School. Some of her hobbies include baking, shopping, hanging out with friends, playing sports, and doing community service! One of her biggest passions is advocating for menstrual health awareness and period poverty. Over the past year, she has been working with her own nonprofit organization, Periods for Power, and other organizations such as PERIOD and Days for Girls to help distribute menstrual products and spread awareness on the issue itself. Until now, her organization has donated about 320 period packs and over 10,000 menstrual products to shelters around the Bay Area and don’t plan on stopping any time soon. Her dream is to pursue a career in the healthcare field, specifically either in cardiology or specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. Overall, she aims to continue empowering women, helping the underprivileged, and making a change in the world one day.