Meet Ai-jen.
Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and Trustee of the Ford Foundation. Ai-jen is a nationally recognized expert on elder and family care, the future of work, gender equality, immigration, narrative change, and grassroots organizing. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. Together with Alicia Garza, Ai-jen co-hosts the podcast, Sunstorm. Follow her at @aijenpoo.
She has been recognized among Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders and Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and she has been the recipient of countless awards, including a 2014 MacArthur "Genius" Award. Ai-jen has been a featured speaker at TEDWomen, Aspen Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Skoll World Forum, and the Obama Foundation Inaugural Summit.
She has made TV appearances on Nightline, MSNBC, and Morning Joe, and her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Maire Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and CNN.com among others. Ai-jen has been an influential voice in the #MeToo movement and attended the 2018 Golden Globe Awards with Meryl Streep as part of the launch of #TimesUp.
In 12 short years, with the help of more than 70 local affiliate organizations and chapters and over 200,000 members, the National Domestic Workers Alliance has passed Domestic Worker Bills of Rights in 10 states, the cities of Seattle and Philadelphia, and brought over 2 million home care workers under minimum wage protections. In 2011, Ai-jen launched Caring Across Generations to unite American families in a campaign to achieve bold solutions to the nation’s crumbling care infrastructure. The campaign has catalyzed groundbreaking policy change in states including the nation’s first family caregiver benefit in Hawai’i, and the first long-term care social insurance fund in Washington State.
Awards and honors.
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MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellow
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world.
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President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
The Commission advises the President on ways the public, private, and non-profit sectors can work together to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPI communities.
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World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, Fortune Magazine
In truly unprecedented times, these leaders stepped up to make the world better, and inspired others to do the same.
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World's 100 Most Influential People, TIME
They entertain us, lead us and challenge us. TIME honors the icons who are defining the world in 2012.
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The Fredrick Douglass 200
On the occasion of his bicentennial, a list of 200 people who best embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass, one of the most influential figures in history.
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Gruber Distinguished Lecturer in Women's Rights
The Gruber Distinguished Lecture in Women’s Rights is a signature lecture open to the entire Yale community and other interested groups.
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2015-Present
University of Texas at Austin School of Law, Frances Farenthold Lecture in Peace, Social Justice and Human Rights, 2017
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award, 2017
Schweitzer Leadership Award, 2017
University of Hawai’i, Dan and Maggie Inouye Chair in Democratic Ideals, 2017
Fast Company, Most Creative People in Business, 2017University of California, Los Angeles, Regent Lecturer, 2016
Power & Influence Top 50 list, The NonProfit Times, 2015 & 2016
Next Avenue’s Influencers in Aging list, Caregiving, 2015
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, City University of New York Graduate Center, 2015
21 Leaders for the 21st Century list, Women’s eNews, 2015
World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list, Fortune Magazine, 2015
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2011-2013
Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum, 2013
MIT CoLab Mel King Community Fellowship, 2013
Champions of Democracy Award, National Priorities Project, 2013
Trailblazer Award, National Council for Research on Women, 2013
Emerging Leaders Award, Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, City University of New York, 2013
Transforming America Award, Demos, 2012
Celebrating Women Award, New York Women’s Foundation, 2012
Ashoka Fellowship, 2012
100 Most Influential People In the World list, Time Magazine, 2012
150 Fearless Women list, Newsweek, 2012
American Express NGen Leadership Award, Independent Sector, 2011
Courageous Luminary Award, National Immigration Law Center, 2011
International Women’s Day Women Deliver 100 list, Women Deliver, 2011
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1992-2010
40 Under 40 Award, Feminist Press, 2010
Hunt Alternatives Fund Prime Movers Fellowship, 2010
Center for Social Inclusion Alston-Bannerman Fellowship, 2009
Moves Power Women list, New York Moves Magazine, 2009
40 Under 40 list, Crain’s New York, 2009
University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Activist Program, 2009
Women of Vision Award, Ms. Foundation, 2007
Ernest deMiao Award, Labor Research Association, 2007
Leadership for a Changing World Award, Ford Foundation, 2005
Union Square Award, 2000
Open Society Institute Community Fellowship, 2000
Madame Sarah Abbott Leadership Award, Phillips Academy, 1992
“Cry, cry, laugh. Just feel whatever it is you need to feel.”
Each generation of women has taken up this question of equality, and we have made real gains through our organizing and activism. We stand on the shoulders of giants.
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