The new year brings some new faces to Girls Write Now! We’ve added four new members to our Board of Directors, rounding out this group of incredible advocates to a total of sweet sixteen. From an intellectual property attorney and small business strategist to a veteran ABC News producer and a mentor-alumna—they all have a passion for helping to write the future, one young woman at a time. Please join us in welcoming them to the Girls Write Now Community!
Faiza S. Issa is Assistant Commissioner at SBS where she leads the organization’s Innovation and Strategy team. Previously, Faiza served as Director of Entrepreneurship Initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw the expansion of the city’s incubator initiative and spearheaded other real estate, technology, and talent programs to support NYC’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. Prior to joining NYCEDC, Faiza worked at the Council on Foreign Relations and Goldman Sachs. She holds a BA from Yale University, a JD from NYU Law, and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School.
Laura Scileppi, who is serving as our Fundraising Chair, is a Partner at Dunnegan and Scileppi LLC, an intellectual property law firm. An experienced litigator, she has overseen large scale antipiracy programs, argued in the Second Circuit and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, and second-chaired a case in the Supreme Court of the United States which altered the standard for inducing patent infringement. Laura has also presented on the topics of copyright enforcement, fair use, and the public domain at Rights and Permissions Advisory Group Conferences of the American Association of Publishers. An avid reader and writer, her poetry has been published under a pen name in Gargoyle Magazine. Laura holds a BA in English from Vassar College and a JD, with honors, from Rutgers School of Law. She currently lives in New York City.
Kerry Smith, a veteran producer and manager, is currently Senior Vice President for Editorial Quality for ABC News. In this position, she maintains the journalistic integrity and editorial standards of organization. Prior to stepping into this role, she served as the senior Washington editor for ABC News and supervised investigative units. During her more than 30-year career as a television news producer and program executive, she has worked for “PrimeTime Live,” ” 20/20,” “World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America” and “Nightline.” Her work has been honored with numerous awards, including the Dupont and Peabody Awards. Kerry is also a member of the Advisory Boards of Directors of the International Women’s Media Foundation, the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica, and the World Science Festival.
Elaine Stuart-Shah is a non-fiction writer and journalist with an editorial and marketing background. She is currently the Senior Copy Manager for Fresh, a luxury beauty brand owned by LVMH. She has also worked as an editor at Child and Modern Bride magazines and freelanced for a range of national and regional publications. A former dancer, her writing on the art form has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Brooklyn Rail, and Dance Magazine. Elaine has a M.A. in Literary Reportage from NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Georgetown University. A Girls Write Now mentor alumna, she also served on the Program Advisory Committee and as mentor chair of the Board Fundraising Committee. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.