Our Honorees
Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina
Changemaker Champion Honoree
Reshma Saujani
Philanthropy Champion Honoree
Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina is a labor educator, political scientist, and Executive Director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Her work focuses on advancing worker justice, collective bargaining, and the rights of immigrant and low-wage workers.
She holds a PhD from Rutgers University and degrees from Cornell and has held national leadership roles in major labor organizations, including SEIU, Workers United, and LCLAA-AFL-CIO. In 2024, she ran for U.S. Senate in New Jersey and is recognized as a leading voice in labor and politics.
Dr. Campos-Medina is a Visiting Fellow at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics, President of Latina Civic, and serves on the boards of PODER PAC and the Network Action Foundation. She is also the host of the Activista Rise Up podcast and a published author on social and economic justice.
Reshma Saujani is a leading activist, founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, and host of My So-Called Midlife with Lemonada Media. For over a decade, she’s built powerful movements for women’s and girls’ economic empowerment—working to close the gender gap in tech and fight for affordable child care and paid leave.
She’s a New York Times bestselling author of PAY UP, Brave, Not Perfect, and the Girls Who Code series. Her TED Talk, “Teach girls bravery, not perfection,” has over 54 million views, and her 2023 Smith College commencement speech on imposter syndrome has been viewed more than 18 million times.
In 2024, she launched My So-Called Midlife, which hit Apple’s Top 10, reached #1 in Health & Fitness, and was named one of TIME’s best new podcasts of the year.
Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer, becoming the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress in 2010. She lives in New York City with her husband Nihal, their sons Shaan and Sai, and their dog Steve.