Around the world, women leaders face horrific levels of gendered disinformation and online abuse, with dramatic consequences on their freedom of expression, as well as women’s rights and democracy more broadly. Yet, their perspectives are often missing from key conversations around democracy and technology.

With a combination of over twenty years of experience each in democracy and women’s rights, Lucina and Kristina created #ShePersisted to leverage the voices of women leaders globally and make sure that they are part of crucial conversations on digital platform reform.

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Kristina is a global democracy activist and elections specialist who has worked in over 25 countries for more inclusive and responsive democratic movements. She has been on the ground in hotspots such as Ukraine, Kenya, Turkey, Tunisia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. 

Kristina has worked hand-in-hand with hundreds of women on their campaigns for higher office and to help break systemic barriers to political participation, designing large-scale election integrity, political party, civil society, and counter disinformation programs. 

She is the Global Democracy Advisor at Reset.Tech and Adjunct Professor with The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She is on the advisory board of GW’s Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs, the Transatlantic Progressive Campaign Committee, and a member of the U.S. Institute of Peace Civil Society Working Group. 

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Lucina is a recovering political activist and a gender equality expert. Born and raised in Italy, she has over twenty years’ experience working with a wide range of international nonprofits, foundations, and UN agencies across three continents.

Her groundbreaking study, #ShePersisted. Women, Politics & Power in the New Media World, is the foundation of our work and features interviews with 85 women leaders in 30 countries, as well as data analytics of the US Presidential Democratic primaries.

Lucina’s work has been featured in five different languages across some of the world’s most authoritative media outlets, including the BBC, The Washington Post, El País, Time, and The New York Times. She was also recognized by Apolitical as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy for her efforts to promote women’s rights and her work with Room to Read, a global nonprofit working to end gender inequality through education.