For Speaking Inquiries

Email Charles Yao at The Lavin Agency CYao@thelavinagency.com

About

Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning author and activist. As a cultural critic, she writes and speaks frequently about gender norms, social justice, free speech, sexualized violence, politics, 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.

Soraya is also the author of The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth after Trauma, a thought-provoking exploration that challenges our most dearly held, common myths of resilience and urges us to shift our perspective from prioritizing individualized traits and skills to uplifting collective care and open-ended connections with our communities.

Her first book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, 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. She is a contributor to several anthologies, most recently Free Speech in the Digital Age and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change The World.  Soraya is also a co-producer of a WMC #NameItChangeIt PSA highlighting the effects of online harassment on women in politics in America.  Her work is featured widely in media, documentaries, books, and academic research. 

As an activist, Ms. Chemaly also spearheaded several successful global campaigns challenging corporations to address online hate and harassment, restrictive content moderation and censorship, and institutional biases that undermine equity and negatively affect free speech.

Prior to 2010, Ms. Chemaly spent more than fifteen years as an executive and consultant in the media and data technology industries.

  • In 2013, Soraya won the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC)'s Award for Feminist Advocacy and the Secular Woman Activism Award. In 2014, she was named one of Elle Magazine's 25 Inspiring Women to Follow in social media, and, in 2016, the recipient of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press’s Women and Media Award. In 2017, she was the co-recipient of the Newhouse Mirror Award for Best Single Feature of 2016 for an in-depth investigative report on free speech and social media, and a Wikipedia Distinguished Service Award for exemplary contributions to the advancement of public knowledge and educational content. In 2019, she was awarded the Feminist Press’ Feminist Power Award.• The Passionista Award (2022)

  • Women's Media Center, National Board Member

    EducateUS, Founding Board Member

    She Persisted, Advisory Board Member

    Trajectory Women, Board Member

    The Azadi Project, Advisory Board Member

    Coalition for Women in Journalism, Advisory Board Member

    Emerge America, Former National Board Member

    Common Sense Media, former Washington DC Advisory Council Member

    Center for Democracy and Technology, Former Advisory Board Member

    No Bully, Former Advisory Board Member​

    DC Volunteer Lawyers Project, Former Board Member

    In This Together Media, Former Advisory Board Member

    FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, Former Advisory Board Member​

    Secular Woman, Former Advisory Board Member

    ​Women, Action and The Media, Board Members

  • Books

    Speaking of Feminism: Today's Activists on the Past, Present, and Future of the U.S. Women's Movement by Rebecca Seidman's

    Targeted and Trolled: The Reality of Being a Woman Online by Rossalyn Warren

    The fourth wave of feminism: meet the rebel women by Kira Cochran

    Gender Trolling: Understanding Online Misogyny by Kate Mantilla

    Unscrewed: Women, Sex, Power & How to Stop Letting the System Screw Us All by Jaclyn Friedman

    Digital Suffragists: Women, the Web, and the Future of Democracy by Maria Tessier

    American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales

    All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator by Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy

    Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood by Minna Rubin

    How to Be a Woman Online: Surviving Abuse and Harassment, and How to Fight Back

    Narrated by Nina Jankowicz

    Documentaries

    https://equalmeansequal.comby Kamala Lopez

    NETIZENS, Cynthia Lowen

    American Totem: Reckoning with Gun Culture, Sue Hilderbrand

    A Dark Place, OSCE, International Press Institute

    Other Media

    Elle Magazine: 25 Inspiring Women to Follow on Twitter

    Yahoo: The 9 Biggest Feminist Victories in 2015

    The Guardian: #YesAllWomen Reveals The Constant Barrage of Sexism Women Face

    Pink Sky: Top Ten Influential Women to Follow on Social Media

    PolicyMic: 27 Most Iconic Feminist Moments

  • For speaking inquiries, please contact Charles Yao at The Lavin Agency.

    CYao@thelavinagency.com

Contact Soraya