Time’s Up has found its first president and CEO in Lisa Borders, who has extensive experience in both the private and public sectors. Borders was selected after a rigorous vetting process and elected by several of Time’s Up’s founding members, including Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Birds of Prey), Jana Rich (Rich Talent Group), and Katie McGrath (Bad Robot).
Borders graduated from Duke, and from there, she became a prominent voice in Atlanta’s political scene. She served as Vice Mayor of Atlanta and as president of the Atlanta City Council, before moving into the private sector as the VP of Global Community Affairs at Coca-Cola, and then taking over as president of the WNBA. Shonda Rhimes said of Borders, “Lisa has the qualities I wanted most, which is proven experience and commitment to gender and inclusion issues, and an amazing track record moving the needle of change.”
Since their attention-grabbing debut at the Golden Globes, where some of Hollywood’s most powerful women dressed in black in solidarity, the Time’s Up team has been quietly building resources and a business plan to help women across the world battle sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination. Since its inception, the group has raised more than $22 million dollars for the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is dedicated to providing paid legal support for women battling sexual misconduct in the workplace.
It was at that very Golden Globes ceremony, Borders says, that she was inspired by Oprah Winfrey’s rousing speech: “I was being not just invited, but encouraged—implored—to step forward and be part of this transformational change for women.”
According to Deadline, Borders said that her role in the company would be “both a natural extension and a bold advancement of the work I have been doing for the last four decades. I’m honored to have this opportunity to combine my experience working across all three sectors, as real, systemic change will require collaboration from each of these arenas. To disrupt and reinvent the ingrained status quo, we will need all hands on deck to create and sustain enduring change. I’m thrilled to lead Time’s Up and I am convinced that together, we will shift the paradigm of workplace culture.”
While Time’s Up was founded by a group of wealthy women in the entertainment industry, the collective has made it clear that they want the movement to be accessible for women of all backgrounds. Borders said of the group’s mission, “It’s out here for everybody. This is not a club. I would just offer the invitation to everyone, right here, right now . . . come join us on this journey.”
By all accounts, Borders is a smart, capable, and compassionate choice to lead the Time’s Up movement. We can’t wait to see what she has in store.
(via Vanity Fair, image: Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
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