Women's voices, then and now: Join leading authors for a National Press Club Journalism Institute program looking back & ahead

Elsie Robinson was America's most-read woman for decades, reaching 20 million people with her weekly "Listen, World!" newspaper column. And yet most of us have never heard of her. A new book about her work and impact inspired this program on women's voices, lost and found, then and now.

Register to join the National Press Club Journalism Institute on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 11:30 a.m. ET for a wide-ranging conversation about how women's voices have been silenced and spotlighted in newsrooms and in the public square, and how we can ensure that journalism raises up a diversity of women's perspectives in the future.

The conversation will feature:

• Soraya Chemaly, award-winning author of "Rage Becomes Her," co-founder of the Women's Media Center Speech Project
• Deborah Douglas, co-editor-in-chief of The Emancipator
• Allison Gilbert, journalist and co-author of "Listen, World!"
• Dana Rubin, author of "Speaking While Female "
• Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, novelist, professor

The conversation will be moderated by Julie Moos, the Institute's executive director, who can also answer any questions about this program at jmoos@press.org.

This program is made available at no cost thanks to a grant from the Gannett Foundation. The Institute depends on grants, foundation funds and contributions from individuals to serve thousands of people daily with our newsletter, online programming, writing group and other initiatives. Your donation matters. Any amount helps.

About the panelists:

Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning author and activist. She writes and speaks frequently on topics related to gender norms, inclusivity, social justice, free speech, sexualized violence and technology. The former executive director of The Representation Project and director and co-founder of the Women's Media Center Speech Project, she has long been committed to expanding women's civic and political participation. Chemaly is also the author of "Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger," which was recognized as a Best Book of 2018 by The Washington Post, Fast Company, Psychology Today and NPR and has been translated into multiple languages.

Deborah Douglas is co-editor in chief of The Emancipator, a collaboration between Boston University and The Boston Globe that centers critical voices, debates and evidence-based opinion to reframe the national conversation on racial equity and hasten racially just outcomes. She has served as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project, leading fellowships and programs that include the University of Texas at Austin, Dartmouth College, Columbia University, Urgent Action Fund in South Africa and Kenya, and Youth Narrating Our World (YNOW). While teaching at Northwestern University's Medill School, she created a graduate investigative journalism capstone on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, Douglas worked on her book, "U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places and Events That Made the Movement." (Moon Travel, 2021).

Allison Gilbert is co-author of "Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America's Most-Read Woman," the first biography of Robinson, once the most influential newspaper columnist in the United States. The book will be published by Seal Press, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Sept. 27. She is host of "Women Journalists of 9/11: Their Stories," a 20-part documentary series produced in collaboration with Wondrium and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. She is also co-executive producer of the companion two-hour film that featured, among many others, Tom Brokaw, Rehema Ellis, Ann Thompson, Scott Pelley, Byron Pitts, Ann Compton, and Cynthia McFadden. Gilbert is the official narrator of the 9/11 Memorial Museum's historical exhibition audio tour, the only female journalist to be so honored. She writes regularly for The New York Times and other publications.

Dana Rubin is a consultant and speaker committed to women's speech, voice and thought leadership. She created the Speaking While Female Speech Bank to set the record straight on who actually spoke in history, and because representation matters. Her consultancy is SPEECH STUDIO that helps organizations develop their diverse talent and underrepresented voices to become recognized experts, brand ambassadors, rainmakers and role models for others coming up the pipeline. Rubin is a judge for the annual Cicero Speechwriting Awards, which recognizes outstanding contemporary speeches and speechwriters from around the world.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for USA Today and author of the New York Times bestselling novel, "The Daughters of Erietown." She is also a Professional in Residence at Kent State University's School of Media & Journalism, where she teaches opinion writing, feature writing and ethics. Schultz was a reporter and columnist at The Plain Dealer for nearly 20 years, from 1993 to 2011, after working for a decade as a freelance writer. She was a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate from 2007 until 2021, when she joined USA Today.

About the Institute:

The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.