Media Coverage
As Black women, we often find ourselves in situations where we are forced to hold our identities and lived experiences at the intersections of oppression and marginalization. We tend to live — depending on where we as individuals plot on the axis of privilege — from the perspective of our places of dis-privilege.Recently, I took…
Read More“When you know what it feels like to be harmed, and you have a platform and you take responsibility and you immediately get to work on righting the wrong, you not only are doing your work, but hopefully continuing to set an example,” said Nakisha Lewis, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Breakthrough, a…
Read MoreThe self-proclaimed Black feminists in charge of assembling the second annual gathering come from various backgrounds. Trinice McNally, Creator & Creative Director of The Defend Black Women March and the I Support Black Women Campaign hails from London, England by way of Jamaica as a grandchild of the Windrush generation. Jaimee Swift, the Executive Director…
Read MoreAshton Jackson for CNBC Make It Juneteenth is a 157-year-old holiday that celebrates the liberation of Black Americans from slavery. It’s also an annual reminder of the systemic racism, oppression and brutality Black people have faced in America. However, if you’d like to spend the holiday enjoying stories about Black empowerment, triumph and purpose, Nakisha Lewis,…
Read MoreThomas Waller for Yahoo! finance Designer Melody Ehsani has joined forces with “I Support Black Women” campaign founder Trinice McNally, Black Women Radicals founder Jaimee Swift and national media organization Breakthrough to launch the “Black Women in Defiance” charm bracelet. The bracelet honors 10 Black women activists and historical figures from the U.S., Latin America,…
Read More“What we don’t see, what we don’t hear, we cannot humanize,” she said. To that end, Lewis explained that without charity through the lens of humanity, our most vulnerable populations will remain so. Reid, Pauleanna, “Meet The Black Queer And Trans Women Making History With Radical Approaches Toward Nonprofit Work,” Forbes.com, March 30, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/pauleannareid/2022/03/30/meet-the-black-queer-and-trans-women-making-history-with-radical-approaches-toward-nonprofit-work/
Read MoreAre you a storyteller? A social justice warrior? In this dynamic conversation hosted by the LA County Library, Breakthrough President & CEO Nakisha M. Lewis speaks with Brittany Armstrong and Lauren Stockmon Brown about how Black women and girls are driving culture change, and how their histories and futures intersect with queer, disabled, and diasporic…
Read MoreJustice for Black Girls in collaboration with EveryBlackGirl Inc, presented their 2021 Virtual conference on Sunday, October 31, 2021. Among those honored was Nakisha M. Lewis, with the 2021 Legacy Award.
Read MoreAs the IATSE labor strike loomed closer, Breakthrough’s new President and CEO Nakisha Lewis sat down with BNC’s “AMplified with Aisha Mills” to discuss Breakthrough’s work, the new labor movements, and how our work is all connected towards greater equity, solidarity, and respect.
Read MoreGENDER AT WORK PODCAST | THU JULY 1 2021 On the eve of the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) in Paris, Aruna Rao and Joanne Sandler – veterans of the 1995 Beijing conference – have an intergenerational talk with three young activists: Natalia Escruceria Price, an independent consultant formerly with JASS and Priya Kvam and Amani Jui…
Read MoreStatements
The entire team at Breakthrough is ecstatic at the news that seven-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner has finally been released from her unjust imprisonment in Russia. After nearly a year of being detained under unimaginably harsh conditions thousands of miles away from her wife, family, friends, teammates and community, Brittney is at last being reunited…
Read MoreIn 2015, with only 100 books in tow and a brownstone stoop, Brooklyn, New York-based artist, set decorator, cultural worker and single mom OlaRonke Akinmowo launched The Free Black Women’s Library. Since then it has grown into a social art project that celebrates the brilliance, creativity, and diversity of Black women writers from all over…
Read MoreSince February 2022, seven-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner, a current player with the Phoenix Mercury, has been detained in Russia due to the alleged presence of vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. After more than 148 days in Russian detention, Brittney’s trial finally began on July 7, 2022, and while we wait for…
Read MoreToday the Organization Issued the Following Statement from President and CEO Nakisha M. Lewis: On June 27, 2022, a young Black man named Jayland Walker was murdered by police officers in Akron, OH. Walker, who was unarmed, was shot at over 90 times, with at least 60 bullets striking his body, ultimately causing him to…
Read MoreToday the Organization Issued the Following Statement from President and CEO Nakisha M. Lewis: Today the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which has effectively struck down the half-century-old decision of Roe v. Wade, taking away the right of birthing people to privacy and access to an abortion. While…
Read MoreThis Father’s Day, Breakthrough is celebrating the beauty of Black fatherhood. We’re honoring dads who identify within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as dads who have publicly demonstrated unwavering love and support for their cis, queer, trans and gender-expansive children. We know parenthood is never without its challenges. To thrive within the margin of the…
Read MoreToday the Organization Issued the Following Statement from President and CEO Nakisha M. Lewis: “Breakthrough joins the rest of the nation in mourning and grieving the lives taken tragically and hatefully by an unabashed white supremacist and domestic terrorist with no regard for human life, as clearly demonstrated by the monstrous events that took place in…
Read MoreAs a global organization committed to championing Black women and girls through the media, storytelling and narrative change, Breakthrough recognizes Judge Jackson’s appointment as powerful proof that representation truly does matter.
Read MoreA message from Nakisha M. Lewis, Breakthrough’s President & CEOArt Credit: Kendrick Daye via The Marsha P. Johnson Institute Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, a time to celebrate the contributions of trans people and celebrate the trans and nonbinary community in all its diversity. The lives, work, cultural contributions, and activism of…
Read MoreKetanji Brown Jackson’s experience with providing legal representation for people from underserved communities makes her better suited to make legal decisions that impact Black and Brown people… Ketanji Brown Jackson is one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees we’ve ever witnessed. She will be the first justice with experience as a federal public defender, and the first since Justice Thurgood Marshall with significant experience as a criminal defense attorney on behalf of underserved and under-resourced defendants.
Read MorePress Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 15, 2021 The Board of Directors of Let’s Breakthrough (USA) and the Board of Trustees of Breakthrough Trust (India) are pleased to announce the following major milestone in the growth of our organizations. For more than twenty years, Breakthrough has worked in unity of mission between our two organizations to drive culture…
Read MoreFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lynn Harris Phone: 212.868.6500 Email: lynn@breakthrough.tv New York, NY —April 5 – Breakthrough announced today that its multimedia storytelling platform THE G WORD has been honored for Best Web: Activism in the 20th Annual Webby Awards. Hailed as the “Internet’s highest honor” by The New York Times, The Webby Awards, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts…
Read MoreMEDIA ADVISORY April 11, 2016 Human rights group Breakthrough receives Skoll Award, will use funds to catalyze one million social change actors NEW YORK — Today, the Skoll Foundation announced that global human rights group Breakthrough has been awarded $1.25 million as a 2016 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship recipient. Breakthrough works to combat gender-based…
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