Dr. Leanne Levers is a strategic communications, advocacy, and policy consultant across areas of justice reform, gender equality, and racial justice. Leanne has a PhD in Politics and International Studies and has dedicated her time to supporting women and other marginalised groups, resulting in legislative reform around gender-based violence, SRHR, and the death penalty.  Currently, Leanne is the Director of Advocacy and Communications at both Global Office Consulting and White Ribbon Alliance, where she leads on various campaigns, including PUSH - a decade-long global movement for women and the midwives who protect and uphold their rights and bodily autonomy.  Leanne is the co-founder of Dope Black Women CIC, an award-winning organisation dedicated to the empowerment of Black women. Her first book, “Decolonising Restorative Justice: A Case for Policy Reform” is being released in 2023.

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, is the first Chief Midwife for the International Confederation of Midwives, based in The Hague. She was previously the first Chief Midwifery Officer for the NHS in England and National Maternity Safety Champion. Whilst holding senior positions, she also works clinically as a midwife and is a visiting Professor at Kings College London and London South Bank University. She is passionate about equitable maternity care and the equitable education of midwives. She chairs the Health/Race Observatory Maternity Advisory Group in England and is noted as one of the Health Service Journal’s most influential people in health.

Monde Christine Mukelabai Imasiku, a dynamic midwife with over 39 years’ experience and served as Provincial Principal Nursing Officer for Maternal Child Health for the Ministry of Health Zambia. Has wide expertise in nurse midwifery knowledge, skills and practice and passionately been empowering other midwives in strategies to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality. Monde is also one of the founders of Midwifery Association of Zambia (MAZ) where she was in the 1st steering committee for MAZ and 1st MAZ National Secretary after formation of the Association. She runs a charity organization and spearheads a SMILE campaign aimed at reducing maternal and infant deaths from changing midwifery attitudes. Monde has been a Team Lead for World Health Organisation (WHO) in supporting the Ministry of Health under Lusaka Province, six (6) Sub District facilities to spearhead the revamping of the breastfeeding initiative steps for newborn babies. In Addition, USAID JSH Zambia Accessable Marketing (ZAM) Health organisation offered her a short term Consutancy to set up their five (5) year FP / MNCH programming implemented from October 2021 to September 2026.

Juana Berinstein is the Director of Policy and Communications for the Association of Ontario Midwives, where she has campaigned to improve the lives of midwives, including through negotiated collective agreements, intersectional gender-based analysis and pay equity. Juana has a joint master’s degree in communication and culture with a focus on public policy from York and Toronto Metropolitan University and a degree in women and gender studies from University of Toronto. She was a Board Member at Health Nexus, a mentor with Rainbow Health Ontario’s policy institute, a representative on the Equal Pay Coalition and a community advisor to the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Juana immigrated to Canada from Argentina and lives in Toronto with her partner and two daughters.

Gordon Willcock is the Deputy Director of Emergency Response at Direct Relief, a U.S.-based non-profit that works in all 50 U.S. states and across 100 countries, with a mission to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies. Gordon has more than 15 years of experience coordinating and overseeing humanitarian emergency response operations across multiple countries, including working to support midwives and MCH services with medical material aid and grant funding. Gordon holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Argentinian Midwife, Specialist in Clinical Midwifery and Master in Public Health. Member of the Scientific Committee of the Journal “Obstetrix”, created by the the Committee for the Promotion of Research and Leadership of the College of Midwives of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina; and ICM Board Member. Florencia has been working in the humanitarian medical sector with three different NGOs since 2018, in eight countries, and has experience as  Midwife Activity Manager, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Consultant and Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics Training.

In a career spanning over three decades, Dr. Natalia Kanem has dedicated her life to improving the health and lives of women and children by championing their rights and choices. She leverages her combined expertise in science, public health and philanthropy to advance the reproductive health and rights of women and girls, and to uphold the human dignity of all. As United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, Dr. Kanem oversees its life-saving policy, development and humanitarian work in over 120 countries, with the aim of assuring that ‘every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.’

Haitian registered midwife since 2018. She worked as practitioner midwife in maternity ward for almost 5 years. Communication officer of the Association of Haitian Midwives. ICM’s YML from the 2021-2023 cohort. Member of the Americas Professional Committee as Emerging Leader and current Digital Communication Coordinator at ICM.

Sally is a global midwifery leader with a career of more than 40 years spanning all aspects of the profession, including leadership roles in the New Zealand College of Midwives, the Midwifery Council of New Zealand and in midwifery education. She holds a Doctorate in Midwifery and has  extensive publications including being co-editor of an Australasian Midwifery textbook now in its 6th edition. Sally is passionate about midwives and strong midwives’ associations as the solution for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity and improving the health of women and their families through quality midwifery care. In 2008, she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to midwifery and women’s health.

Ana Barreto is an expert in the intersections of race, gender, global health, and the arts. She has more than fifteen years of experience working with international organizations and social movements in several counties.  Currently, she is the director of the National Birth Equity Collaborative in the U.S., leading their global advocacy work. She is a 2021 Soros Equality fellow and a senior fellow of the United Nations Fellowship Program for People of African descent.  Ana is also the founder of Black Women Policy Lab, a new initiative that strengthens the political leadership capacity of Black women human rights defenders to become public officials.  Ana sits on the board of the white Ribbon Alliance, and it is considered by the United Nations one of the Most Influential People of African descent in the world.

Dr Banerjee is Director for the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. He previously served as Director Global Coordination in the Office of the Assistant Director General for Family Women’s and Children’s Health, WHO Geneva, Dr Banerjee’s 30+ years in public health includes working as WHO representative in several countries. Dr Banerjee holds a PhD in tuberculosis control from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, a Master’s in Public Health for Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, and a medical degree from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Dr Banerjee has 30+ years in public health and has worked in a variety of capacities with civil society, bilateral agencies, and funding agencies.

Dr. Kaveri Mayra is an Indian midwifery, nursing and global health researcher and activist. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia. She focuses on midwifery workforce governance research, sexual, reproductive, maternal health and rights especially obstetric violence and respectful maternity care.

Every Mother Counts (EMC) founder and President Christy Turlington Burns’ work in maternal health began after experiencing a childbirth related complication in 2003—an experience that would later inspire her to direct and produce the documentary feature film, No Woman, No Cry, about the challenges women face throughout pregnancy and childbirth around the world. Under Christy’s leadership, Every Mother Counts has invested more than $25 million in programs in Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the United States focused on making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. Before founding EMC, Christy received international acclaim as a model representing the world’s biggest fashion and beauty brands which she leveraged to become a health and wellness advocate. She has authored a book about yoga, Living Yoga: Creating A Life Practice (Hyperion 2002), and has been featured on thousands of magazine covers. Turlington Burns has been one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People and one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year. Christy graduated Cum Laude from NYU’s Gallatin School of Independent Studies and studied Public Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She has completed 10 Marathons on behalf of Team EMC and lives in New York City with her husband, filmmaker Edward Burns, and their two children.

Filipina~American~Micronesian grandmother midwife and doula, in 2006 Lim Received the Alexander Langer Foundation Peace Prize, 2011 became CNN Hero of the Year, 2012 APPPAH Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology & Health, gave Lim the Jeannine Parvati BirthKeeper award. 2021 Lim joined Ashoka Indonesia.

1999 Ibu Robin founded Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation) in Indonesia, and Bumi Philippines. They have built medical relief/ childbirth clinics in Bali, Aceh, Lombok, Papua. In Philippines they sustain childbirth clinics in Dulag and Palawan. Lim authored 17 books in 8 languages.

Her passion is cultural safety, respect, human rights in childbirth. Ibu Robin’s circle of support: Bumi Sehat team midwives, husband, Wil, eight inspiring grown children, six grandchildren, born gently into her hands.  

Neha Mankani is a global health practitioner and a midwife based in Pakistan; with extensive experience in SRHR and maternal and neonatal health clinical practice, programming and advocacy both at the local and global levels. Neha has been involved in advocacy for midwifery and SRHR through her work as Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator for the PUSH campaign; and her role as strategic advisor at AmplifyChange. She is the founder and director of the Mama Baby Fund; a financial emergency fund for maternal and neonatal healthcare in Pakistan. Her midwifery practice focuses on crisis situations, emergency response and climate affected communities. In 2021 she was awarded the Heroines of Health Award by Women in Global Health for her work on gender and health equity, and the Woman of Courage Award by the US Embassy in 2023 for her emergency response midwifery work in Pakistan.

Dr. Nikia Grayson, DNP, MSN, MPH, MA, CNM, FNP-C (she/her) is a Reproductive Justice informed public health activist, anthropologist, and midwife who has devoted her life to serving and empowering people in underserved communities. Nikia is the Chief Clinical Officer at CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health, a non-profit comprehensive reproductive health care center and birth center in Memphis. She is passionate about being a disruptor to the current healthcare system and creating new models of care that integrate midwifery and center Black and brown communities. Nikia has more than 15 years of experience working in public health and nursing, with her more recent work focusing on reproductive rights and justice, birth justice, and midwifery. She works daily to ensure all persons have the rights and means to make decisions regarding their sexual and reproductive health.