YWCA Metro Vancouver Presents: The Future of Feminism

Two of North America’s leading feminist advocates and change makers, together in conversation.

Date: June 17, 2021
Time: 12:00PM (PT) / 3:00PM (ET)
Online Via Zoom

Join YWCA Metro Vancouver for this exclusive, one-hour panel discussion featuring YWCA Canada CEO, Maya Roy and YWCA USA Interim CEO, Elisha Rhodes.  

Looking back and looking forward. 

The Future of Feminism will explore legacies of the movement – those we should bring forward and those we must leave behind – in order to create a just, equitable and inclusive future. 

Maya and Elisha bring decades of advocacy, activism and change-making experience to this conversation.  

They will be joined by moderator Deb Bryant, YWCA Metro Vancouver CEO.

 

Speakers

Elisha Rhodes 
Interim CEO, YWCA USA 

Elisha Rhodes is a leader, movement builder, and change maker. Within her new role as YWCA USA’s Interim Chief Executive Officer and during this transition period, Elisha looks forward to leading this incredible storied movement in its work to realize YWCA’s audacious and necessary mission. For the past fifteen years, Elisha has guided the organization’s strategic and operational growth, to ensure that YWCA’s mandate to eliminate racism and empower women, never falters. As YWCA USA’s Chief Operating Officer, Elisha effectively stewards critical resources to support a federated network serving over 2.4 million women and girls each year. She serves as the operations, finance, strategic and people leader of YWCA USA and provides leadership to ensure key initiatives, culture transformation, program regulations, performance outcomes, and operations are managed appropriately. Elisha plays an instrumental role in streamlining operations, while playing a leadership role in strategic enterprise wide initiatives, such as the Strong Foundation Fearless Future Initiative, the Strategic Business Plan, and successful oversight of YWCA USA’s operating budget. She regularly plans regional, national and international events for the network and strategic partners. 

Elisha is often called upon to share her subject matter expertise in gender and racial justice, young women’s leadership, operations, people management, and federated networks, within national and international forums, and was recently invited joined the Forbes Nonprofit Council. Her leadership continues to garner recognition from national and international institutions: YWCA South Africa honored Elisha for her leadership during the 29th World Council in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Procter & Gamble invited Elisha to take part in The Georgetown University New Strategies Symposium. Elisha also serves as a Chief Diversity Leader for Leadership 18’s Executive Committee. 

An active community member, dedicated to centering the needs of women and girls in underserved and unprotected communities, Elisha continues to lead critical efforts to amplify YWCA USA’s mission within the network and beyond. She played a leadership role in the development of YWCA USA’s inaugural Indigenous and Women of Color Cohort, and guided strategic and operational oversight of the organization’s first North American and Caribbean Young Women’s Conference, hosted in her country of birth, Barbados. Committed to building the infrastructure and foundation necessary to guide YWCA USA’s deepened racial justice work, she co-leads the YWCA USA’s work to develop and implement an internal racial equity framework. Devoted to supporting the advocacy and leadership of young women, Elisha serves as board treasurer for the Black Swan Academy, a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia that concentrates its efforts on empowering Black youth through Civic Leadership and Engagement. 

 

Maya Roy 
Chief Executive Officer, YWCA Canada 

Maya Roy is a seasoned policy maker and trilingual non-profit leader with over 20 years of experience in a range of sectors including child care, employment and workforce development, health care, immigration and settlement and the women’s sector. Maya speaks English, French & Bengali.  

Maya is currently the CEO of YWCA Canada, the nation’s largest and oldest gender equity organization. Maya served as Strategic Co-Lead on ‘A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada: Making the Economy Work for Everyone’, the first nationally-focused plan of its kind in the world.  

Experienced in Canadian public policy development and global diplomacy, Maya has served on a range of committees and taskforces providing expert council to decision makers and elected officials.  Maya served on the 2018 Gender Equality Advisory Council during Canada’s G7 Presidency and was the Co-Chair of the Future of Jobs Working Group. In 2019, Maya was a member of Canada’s official delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Maya currently serves on the board of Women’s College Hospital and is a member of Canada’s Expert Data Panel on Early Learning and Child Care.  

Maya has also worked internationally in Brazil, India, Thailand and the UK in human rights and violence prevention.  

Her contributions have been recognized nationally and internationally. Maya was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and has been a recipient of many honours including being named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital People, and has received the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA)’s Gender Equity Advocate Award.  

Maya holds a Masters degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics, a Bachelors degree in Social Work from Ryerson University and has completed the 2019 European Union’s Cultural Diplomacy Leadership Program.