Special broadcast: Exclusive roundtable discussion on Roe v. Wade and reproductive justice

La’Tasha D. Mayes 

La’Tasha D. Mayes, MSPPM, is a nationally recognized leader in the field of reproductive justice, human rights and leadership development for Black women and girls. She is a native of West Philadelphia and believes in the indefatigable spirit of women. 

La’Tasha is the founder and former president and CEO of New Voices for Reproductive Justice, an organization in Pennsylvania and Ohio dedicated to the health and well-being of Black women, femmes, girls and gender-expansive folx. New Voices advocates at the local, state and national level for reproductive justice. In January 2015, New Voices co-launched the national policy initiative In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda as a founding partner. She also has served on the board of directors of the Groundswell Fund, the largest funder of reproductive justice and women of color. She completed a second term on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs, ending in 2021. She is a past National Board Chair of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, the largest human rights advocacy group for Indigenous women and women of color based in Atlanta. 

La’Tasha is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and earned a Master of Science in public policy and management from the Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University. La’Tasha also completed the Rockwood Leadership Institute Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Fellowship in 2016, the Executive Program for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 and the Higher Heights Senior Leadership Fellowship in 2021. 

La’Tasha has served the Pittsburgh community as an inaugural Allegheny County Human Relations Commission vice-chair, Social Action Chair of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. – Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter and president of the Urban League Young Professionals of Greater Pittsburgh. In the Pennsylvania Primary Election 2015, La’Tasha ran for Pittsburgh City Council – District 7 and earned 35% of the vote against an incumbent in her first major campaign for elected public office. 

La’Tasha currently is the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania State Representative in House District 24. La’Tasha is running to disrupt politics as usual with a campaign platform of health care and reproductive justice, community safety, environmental justice, equitable education and voting rights. La’Tasha won the primary election on May 17, 2022, with 46% of the vote against two candidates and she is running in the general election on Nov. 8, 2022, with endorsements from Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania PAC, Represent PA, Sunrise Movement Pittsburgh / Pennsylvania, #VOTEPROCHOICE, Run for Something, Progressive Voter Project, LPAC, Steel City Stonewall Democrats and LGBTQ Victory Fund.

She has received numerous honors for her work, including the City & State Pennsylvania 2022 Power of Diversity: Black 100, 2022 She Can Win Building Bridges Award, 2021 KYW Newsradio GameChanger Award, 2018 ATHENA Award nomination, 2017 NAACP East Boroughs Phenomenal Woman Social Justice Award and 2016 Coro Center for Civic Leadership Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award. 

La’Tasha has been published in the following books: “Reproductive Justice: An Introduction” by Loretta J. Ross and Rickie Solinger (University of California Press), “Radical Reproductive Anthology” by Loretta J. Ross (Feminist Press), Lynn Roberts et al and in the In Our Own Voice Policy Report, “Our Bodies, Our Lives, Our Voices: The State of Black Women and Reproductive Justice” with her article “Building the Next Generation of Black Reproductive Justice Leaders.” La’Tasha has been featured by many regional and national media outlets, including ColorLines, Essence Magazine, NBCNews.com, Rewire, Slate Magazine, The Nation and Time.com.

Dorothy Roberts

Dorothy Roberts, an acclaimed scholar of race, gender and the law, joined the University of Pennsylvania as its 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Africana Studies and Sociology and the Law School where she holds the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander chair. She is also founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science & Society in the Center for Africana Studies.

Tiffany Barrett

Tiffany Roxanne Barrett is a native New Yorker born and raised in the Bronx and Harlem neighborhoods of the city. After moving to the Pennsylvania suburbs in high school she attended Temple University and graduated from the School of Communications and Theater with a B.A. in theater. Tiffany stayed in Philadelphia for another 10 years working as an artist and teaching artist in the city.

Tiffany founded The Priceless Woman in 2014 as a safe space for Black women to develop and cultivate sisterhood. Prompted by the upcoming birth of her first grandchild and the knowledge of the glaring disparities in maternal health care for Black women, Tiffany decided to shift the focus of the company in 2020. She revamped the company to be a service-based platform, while simultaneously developing Magic V Steam, a product-based offering, both with their focus in reproductive wellness and justice. Tiffany is a champion for all things woman and fierce advocate for women’s wellness and reproductive justice.

“We built the Priceless Woman and Magic V Steam as safe places for all women, but especially women of color who suffer from glaring disparities in health care, especially in the area of reproductive wellness. I want women to fall in love with self care and reclaim their wellness. I could not sit on the sidelines and hope for someone else to give us better. I stepped into the arena to provide better.

“I am trained and hold certifications as a Birth Doula, Child Birth Educator, Lactation Educator, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and Womb Steam Practitioner. Every product we’ve created came from the marriage of the knowledge I’ve received in all my trainings and the needs of the thousands of women I’ve worked with over the years. I come from a long line of birth workers and traditional healers on my maternal side. Natural healing and birth work is in my bloodline. No matter how people find us we hope they stay and become family. The more we know the more we grow in knowledge, health and sisterhood.”

Tracie Q. Gilbert

Tracie Q. Gilbert, Ph.D. (she/her/Thembi) is an educator, writer, researcher and consultant who uses conversation to pursue sexual healing for Black people and racial justice in sex ed spaces. Using lectures, interactive workshops, conversation series and other projects, Dr. Gilbert works to help communities unpack the mental, historical and cultural barriers that keep us from having honest, productive conversations about sex and sexuality.

Dr. Gilbert has nearly 25 years of experience teaching urban youth, young adults and their advocates. She received her Master of Science in education at the University of Pennsylvania, and her doctorate from the Center for Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University. Her dissertation on the lived experience of sexuality among African Americans won the CHSS 2019 Distinguished Dissertation Prize.

Dr. Gilbert has consulted with nearly a dozen different organizations including Planned Parenthood, Fact Forward, Christiana Healthcare Systems, Evoluer House, the Innovative Learning Institute, and the Center for Sex Education. Her voice and perspectives can be found most often on her podcast, The Sex Ed of Blackfolk w./ Dr. G., airing on all major platforms.

Elicia Gonzales

Elicia Gonzales is a queer Latinx who holds master’s degrees in social work and human sexuality education. Since 2017, she has proudly served as the executive director for the Abortion Liberation Fund of PA (formerly named Women’s Medical Fund), an organization that since 1985 has worked to ensure and expand abortion access now and always through direct service and community organizing. Elicia formerly served as executive director for GALAEI: a queer Latinx social justice organization and adjunct professor for Widener University’s Center for Human Sexuality Studies. Elicia serves on the Bread and Roses Community Fund board, is a member of the newly formed Philly Pride Collective, is the co-founder of the SEXx Interactive Collective and was a former appointed member of the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs. Elicia lives in the Wissinoming section of Philadelphia with her amazing wife and furry cat children, and she is originally from Denver.