Marianne Schnall Keynote Speaker

Marianne Schnall is a writer and interviewer who has appeared in a variety of media outlets including O, The Oprah Magazine, TIME.com, In Style, CNN.com, EW.com, Refinery29, Forbes, and the Women’s Media Center. Marianne is a featured blogger at The Huffington Post and a contributor to the nationally syndicated NPR radio show, 51 Percent: The Women’s Perspective. She is the founder and Executive Director of Feminist.com, a leading women’s website and nonprofit organization. For over 20 years, Feminist.com has been fostering awareness, education, and activism for people all across the world. She is also the founder of What Will It Take movements, a new evolving platform that inspires, connects, and engages women everywhere to rise up in all levels of leadership. She is also the cofounder of EcoMall.com, one of the oldest environmental websites promoting earth-friendly living.

Marianne Schnall graduated from Cornell University in 1989 with a BA in English, and she is also a graduate of the Women’s Media Center’s Progressive Women’s Voices media and leadership training program. She is the author of Daring to Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness and Finding Your Own Voice. She was also a contributor to Robin Morgan’s anthology, Sisterhood is Forever: The Women’s Anthology for a New Millennium.

Marianne’s latest book is What Will It Take to Make A Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power, featuring interviews with politicians, public officials, thought leaders, writers, artists, and activists in an attempt to discover the obstacles that have held women back and what needs to change in order to elect a woman into the White House. With insights and personal anecdotes from Sheryl Sandberg, Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Nancy Pelosi, Nicholas Kristof, Melissa Etheridge, Olympia Snowe, and many more, this book addresses timely, provocative issues involving women, politics, and power. With a broader goal of encouraging women and girls to be leaders in their lives, their communities, and the larger world, Schnall and her interviewees explore the changing paradigms occurring in politics and in our culture with the hope of moving toward meaningful and effective solutions—and a world where a woman can be president.

Through her writings, interviews, and websites, Marianne strives to raise awareness and inspire activism around important issues and causes.