Lisa VeneKlasen

Lisa VeneKlasen is the Co-Founder and Director of JASS (Just Associates), an international women's network led by grassroots women leaders and feminist activists in 22 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. A life-long social justice and feminist activist, she has focused on building bridges across divides and borders, on community organizing to drive global change, and on liberation education to dismantle the ways that oppression is internalized. Through her involvement in anti-imperialist, international solidarity and human rights, she has lived and worked in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Zimbabwe. She believes that change comes from the margins and dedicates her energy to upending inequality and increasingly, the planet. She was born and raised in New Mexico, the only daughter amidst four brothers and was the first woman in her family to graduate from college. She graduated from Smith College and has a Masters from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.