Janell Clemente

I am interested in women's rights with a specific focus on empowering women's voices, independence, and autonomy. I am here because I want to understand and learn what is already happening around the world, and locally, and what avenues and organizations are doing things I see myself participating in, or creating. I am interested in areas such as sex trafficking, war crimes against women and girls, and religious oppression. I am also interested in studying and exploring how physical strength, in weightlifting and other athletics,  affects mental empowerment in women who have been oppressed and silenced.

I enrolled in this program because I want to see women rise out of the ingrained male suppression and gendering that exists in so many societies, and has been filtered into many religious practices. I want to see women powerfully leading in roles that have been dominated by white males for decades, and I want to drive needed change in our world with my own voice and those of other women. I want to affect the trajectory of women and girls’ lives, and participate in bringing a new normal to the generations that will follow. I want to see women rise out of environments where we are not established or being treated as equals to men. I want to see women and girls find strength with independence and autonomy. I want to see more women and girls become the leaders and change makers we are meant to be.

My undergraduate degree and work background is in fashion design. I currently work in the specialty coffee industry. Community is extremely important to me, and I believe in the significant bond and power of chosen family.