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SPEAKERS

REAL LIFE #GIRLBOSS(ES)

Keynote Speaker

In Memoriam 

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY 25)

Louise McIntosh Slaughter was one of the most powerful women in Congress, a leading progressive voice in the House of Representatives, and a stalwart advocate for her neighbors in Rochester. The daughter of a blacksmith in a Kentucky coal mine, Congresswoman Slaughter illustrated the power of the American spirit and dedicated her life to building a “more perfect union” where everyone has a chance to live the American dream.

As one of the longest-serving female leaders of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Slaughter was a prominent voice for women and diversity. Early in her congressional career, she successfully fought for the passage of legislation that guaranteed women and minorities are included in all federal health trials, established the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and allocated the first $500 million in federal funding for breast cancer research at the NIH. Ten years after the creation of the ORWH, the NIH awarded her the “Visionary for Women's Health Research” award. 

Congresswoman Slaughter took on the scourge of domestic violence and sexual assault. She co-authored the landmark Violence Against Women Act, which has reduced cases of domestic violence by 67 percent since 1994.

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Before serving in Congress, Congresswoman Slaughter served in the New York State Assembly from 1982 to 1986 and the Monroe County Legislature between 1976 and 1979. While holding elected office, she was the regional coordinator to Mario Cuomo from 1976 to 1978 while he served as secretary of state and from 1979 to 1982 while he served as lieutenant governor.
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Congresswoman Slaughter was born in Harlan County, Kentucky and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and a Master of Science degree in Public Health. After graduate school, she and her husband, Bob Slaughter, moved to the village of Fairport, where Louise still calls home. She and Bob were married for 57 years. Together the couple had three daughters and seven grandchildren.

We are dedicating our 2018 Upstate New York Girl Up Leadership Summit to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, who had previously agreed to be our keynote speaker. Thank you, Congresswoman, for everything you've done for Rochester and for women everywhere. 

Mayor Lovely Warren

City of Rochester

Lovely Ann Warren was sworn in as Mayor of Rochester, New York on January 1, 2014, making her the city’s first female and youngest mayor in modern times. In 2017, she was re-elected to a second, four-year term. Mayor Warren’s administrative agenda is centered on job creation, safer/more vibrant neighborhoods and better educational opportunities for Rochester’s residents. She has demonstrated her ability to foster partnerships among the public, private, non-profit, academic, citizen and neighborhood sectors. The daughter of an immigrant and granddaughter of a sharecropper, Mayor Warren proudly carries on Rochester’s legacy as a leader in human and civil rights, from reaffirming Rochester’s status as a Sanctuary City to supporting living wages. Mayor Warren was a Rochester City Councilmember from 2007 to 2013 and was elected as President in 2010—making her the youngest President in the City Council history.

She has a bachelor’s degree from John Jay College and Juris Doctor from Albany Law School. She is a proud member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, Rochester Alumnae Chapter and the Westside Church of Christ. In addition, she is a member of the African American Mayors Association board of trustees. Mayor Warren enjoys spending time with her husband Timothy and her daughter, Taylor.

Kayleen Schaefer

Author of "Text Me When You Get Home: The Evolution and Triumph of Modern Female Friendship"

Kayleen is a  journalist and author. She is the of the bestselling Kindle Single memoir Fade Out. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and many other publications. Text Me When You Get Home is her first book.

Throughout the book Kayleen Schaefer the reader sees the transformation she experiences from being "one of the guys" to a female friendship evangelist. NPR writes, "Text Me has the thrills and laughs of a romantic comedy, but with an inverted message: "There just isn't only one love story in our lives," Schaefer writes. If you're lucky, friends will be the protagonists in these multiple love stories. It's high time that we start seeing it that way."

President Heidi Macpherson

The College at Brockport

Dr. Heidi Macpherson is the 7th President of The College at Brockport. She was previously the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (2012-15). Prior to this, she spent 22 years in the United Kingdom. Originally from Minnesota, she emigrated to the United Kingdom in the summer of 1990 and became a US-UK dual national in 2003. She began her academic career at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston, England (1995 to 2007).

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While there, she took on the roles of program leader, head of the division of English, and head of the Department of Humanities. She was promoted to full professor in 2006. In 2007 she was appointed Dean of Humanities at De Montfort University (Leicester, England) and subsequently held two different Pro Vice-Chancellor positions there. As PVC for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience, she wrote and implemented the university’s Teaching, Learning and Assessment Strategy, and as PVC for Research and Innovation, she wrote and implemented the Research Strategy. Prior to taking on administrative positions, Dr. Macpherson was a full time faculty member for 12 years in the Department of English.

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Dr. Macpherson received her B.A. (Summa Cum Laude) in English and Creative Writing from St. Cloud State University (1990) and her PhD in American Literature from the University of Newcastle (1996). Her research is in contemporary North American women’s literature and transatlantic literature. She is the author of Women’s Movement (2000), Courting Failure (2007), Transatlantic Women’s Literature (2008), and The Cambridge Introduction to Margaret Atwood (2010). She has also co-edited two collections of essays and a 3-volume encyclopedia set.

She is married to Dr. Allan Macpherson. In her spare time, she enjoys theatre, going to the cinema, hiking, creative writing, and walking her Springer Spaniel, Tilly. Her most unusual talent is being able to ride a unicycle.

#GIRLBOSS PANEL

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