For women to succeed they need equal access to and benefit from 21st century technology and connectivity.
The Women’s Tech & Telecom Partnership brings together organizations and industry leaders who understand that a new frontier in the women’s rights movement is digital equity.
Through education, coalition building, and organizing, WTTP works to raise issues of gender equity within tech and telecom policy, empower women’s rights advocates to engage on tech and telecom policy, and convene gender equity leaders and industry leaders to promote partnerships and learning. Our scope spans across technology issues, including privacy and online safety and well-being, to telecommunications issues, including broadband access, digital empowerment and media ownership.
WTTP is a fiscally sponsored project of MANA Action Fund.
Kate Black
Kate Black is the founder and CEO of K. Black Strategies. She is an advocate, political strategist, policy expert, author, and professor.
She has nearly two decades of experience working in and around government. Most recently she spent five years, spanning two Administrations, at the Federal Communications Commission as Chief Policy Advisor and Media Advisor to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the first woman ever to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency.
While at the FCC, she helped launch the nation’s largest ever broadband affordability program (the Affordable Connectivity Program) and an historic effort to connect students at home (the Emergency Connectivity Fund). She led campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of connectivity for states, Tribes, and communities. Kate’s work brought attention to the equity and access needs of veterans, seniors, rural communities, LGBTQ youth and women. She was the producer of Broadband Conversations, the first podcast hosted by an FCC Commissioner that uplifted the voices of women leading in technology, innovation and media.
Prior to her public service, she was Chief of Staff at EMILY’s List, the largest resource for women in politics where she worked with candidates running up and down the ballot and across the country.
She is currently an adjunct professor with American University’s School of Public Affairs and Women & Politics Institute.
Her first book, REPRESENT: The Woman’s Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World, co-authored with June Diane Raphael, was released in 2019 by Workman (now Hachette) Publishing.
She has also served as Executive Director of American Women, a nonpartisan research organization working to uplift the voices of women and the issues they care about. Previously, she worked at the Democratic National Committee, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, and the Service Employees International Union, one of the largest labor unions in the country.
Committed to bringing change in her community, she is an Ambassador for the Greater DC Diaper Bank and she co-founded a free salary negotiation program for 15,000 women with the City of Washington, DC, the American Association of University Women, and the Younger Women’s Task Force.
Kate is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and George Washington University.
She is a living kidney donor, an avid cyclist and triathlete. Kate lives outside of Washington, DC, with her husband and son.
Joi Chaney
JOI O. CHANEY is the founder of J.O.I. Strategies,* which develops strategies for organizations and companies seeking to achieve Justice, Opportunity, and Inclusion for America’s underserved communities. Located in Washington, DC but with interests in Greater Washington, DC, New York State and Florida, J.O.I. Strategies seeks to further civil and criminal justice, expand economic opportunity, and advance diversity and inclusion for all, beginning with women and girls and persons of color.
J.O.I. Strategies was relaunched in 2023 after Joi returned from serving as Executive Director of the Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the National Urban League, where she oversaw the rollout and implementation of the Lewis Latimer Plan for Digital, Equity and Inclusion, served on the Federal Communication Commission’s Communications Equity and Diversity Council, and was instrumental in the creation and promotion of the Affordable Connectivity Program. In 2022, she was named by the Washingtonian Magazine as one of its most influential in policy and was honored with a cover feature.
A political strategist and strategic partnership expert with nearly 25 years of experience in Washington, DC, Joi has served two tours on Capitol Hill. Most recently, she served as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Earlier in her career, she served as Policy Director and Counsel of the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee (Senate DPC), a leadership committee under the direction of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and then-Senator Byron Dorgan.
She also serves as an adjunct professor at Loyola University – Chicago School of Law.
As a progressive policy advocate, Joi has focused much of her work on advancing the rights and expanding the opportunities of women in the workplace. During the Obama Administration, Joi was a senior advisor to the Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She went on to lead Equal Pay Today!, a Project of Equal Rights Advocates and was Senior Policy Counsel at Equal Rights Advocates. And at the start of her career, Joi served as an associate at the former Baach Robinson & Lewis PLLC in Washington, D.C and as Director for Student Chapters at the American Constitution Society for Law & Policy.
Joi is a native of Orlando, FL and is an active member of the Greater Washington, DC Community, where she lives with her family. She is immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of Girls, Inc. of the Metropolitan Washington, DC Area and is an active member of the local chapters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Incorporated.
Joi also serves on several national boards, including Equal Rights Advocates, Fair Elections Center and the National Consumers League.
Joi is a graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School.
The MANA Action Fund, a C4 organization, is a sister organization to MANA, A National Latina Organization, and serves to amplify the advocacy work on behalf of Latina women, girls and their families, by building a multicultural collaborative organization that advocates even more broadly for all of our underserved women and communities. Founded in 1974, MANA has been the leading voice for Latinas in the areas of health, financial well-being, education and technology access, environmental concerns, civil rights and diversity and inclusion.
Amy L. Hinojosa serves as President and CEO. She has served as Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Publications, Inc. (NAHP), NAHP Media LLC, and the National Hispanic Press Foundation (NHPF), based in Washington, DC. Amy has extensive experience working on local and national grassroots campaigns targeted at mobilizing voices and actions in Hispanic communities across the country. Community education and engagement have been central to Amy’s work, with a particular emphasis on youth.
As a representative of MANA, Amy currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), HTTP – The National Latino Voice in Tech & Telecommunications Policy, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), and as Secretary of LIDERAMOS. Amy has been a LATINO Magazine, Huffington Post and Medium Contributor and writes about issues impacting Latinas. She has been a featured speaker at SXSW, The Aspen Institute, on Comcast Newsmakers, and at conferences nationwide. Amy has received the 2019 Humanity of Connection Award, 2021 Outstanding Community Partner Award from the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, was named one of the 2022 Social Impact Women to Watch by NonprofitHR, and received a 2023 Impact Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition.