Shine The Light: Celebrating Persistence

Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder – Stockholm, Sweden

Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder is a Swedish Internet expert.

She is the Chief Information Security Officer at IIS, The Internet Foundation In Sweden. She also serves on the boards of internet-related organisations including the Council of European National Top-Level Domain Registries (CENTR) and the Swedish Law and Informatics Research Institute.

She is ranked as one of Sweden’s leading experts on IT security. In 2013 Anne-Marie was the first Swede to become inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.

She is a frequently asked expert in public inquiries on matters relating to Internet and security, and answers on governmental referrals within the same area.

Japleen Pasricha – New Delhi, India

Japleen is the Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Feminism In India.com, a social movement dedicated to raising awareness about feminism in young people.

Japleen is a former M.Phil research scholar at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. While she studied German, she also focused on gender studies, politics, and social inequalities. She supports LGBTQI and believes in fighting back to achieve social change.

In addition to wanting to open a public library and bookshop cafe, she would also love to write feminist short stories for children.

Her research was featured in the 2016 Freedom on the Net Report by Freedom House.

Angélica Contreras – Aguascalientes, Mexico

Angélica Contreras is a young blogger, feminist, and Internet Activist. Based in Aguascalientes City, she is a founding member of the Internet Society’s Youth Observatory which fights to give youth more of a voice in the decisions that govern the Internet. It is supported by funding through Internet Society’s Beyond the Net Programme.

She says her blog is a way to challenge perceptions and give women and girls a platform to discuss what is sometimes considered the undiscussable.

Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale – Lagos, Nigeria

Olutosin Oladosu Adebowale is a woman’s rights activist and citizen journalist, working specifically on prevention of child sexual assault and providing skill acquisition training for women. She’s also the founder of the non-profit organization, Star of Hope Transformation Center in Lagos dedicated to ending child sexual abuse, heal survivors and train women for income generating projects.

Olutosin is researching methods for improving women and girls’ internet access in rural Nigeria. Her research was featured in the 2016 Freedom on the Net Report.

Heather Leson – Geneva, Switzerland

Heather Leson is dedicated to helping humanitarians and aid workers learn how tech can help solve some of the world’s most pressing issues. She builds partnerships, curates digital spaces, encourages volunteers and delivers training while inspiring systems for co-creation with maps, code and data.

At the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent, Heather coordinates global Data Literacy programs. She is a Board Member at the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team and an Advisor for MapSwipe – using gamification systems to crowdsource disaster-based satellite imagery.

Saadia Muzaffar – Toronto, Canada

Born and raised in Pakistan, Saadia is a leading force in Canada’s tech scene. In 2011, she founded TechGirls Canada, a community that promotes women’s leadership in technology. She also organizes Startup Weekends and is passionate about gender issues.