SPEAKING

Vanessa Priya Daniel is the author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025), an organizer, and award-winning leader for racial and gender justice.

The heart of her work is supporting social justice leaders and philanthropy to build the grassroots power it takes to win a multiracial, feminist democracy.

A seasoned public speaker, she is know for inspiring audiences to action through a style that delivers both fire and humor.

POPULAR SPEAKING TOPICS INCLUDE:

  • The 3 superpowers many women of color bring to the fight against authoritarianism, and that we can all adopt to win.

  • The top 5 barriers women of color face in leadership — how they navigate them, support one another, and how allies can show up.

  • Tips from women of color movement leaders on how we free social justice organizations from dysfunction — how leading with love means empathy, healing and sustainability but also healthy boundaries and limits that keep frontline communities at the center. 

  • Why grassroots organizing that sparks and sustains mass movements is necessary to defeat authoritarianism and keep movement organizations out of the conflict quagmire. 

  • How investing our time in cultivating real/authentic connection and beloved community is essential to keeping our souls, backbones, and movements strong. 

2025 California Donor Table Conference keynote.

“Listening to Vanessa Daniel speak is both grounding and uplifting. She has a way of weaving stories and truth together that makes you feel seen, while also opening your eyes to what’s possible. Her commitment to justice shines through every word, and she communicates with such authenticity that people from all walks of life can connect with her message. Vanessa doesn’t just speak—she inspires, leaving you with both clarity and courage to take action. She is one of the most timely and necessary voices of our generation.”

Linda Sarsour, Co-founder of the Women’s March, Executive Director of MPower Change

Book talk during the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization (CIWO) conference at Rutgers.

Keynote at the WILL Empower Women Innovating Labor Leadership awards ceremony.

“I have known Vanessa for several years as a visionary leader and exemplary speaker, able to communicate complex ideas in a compelling way for different kinds of audiences.  Recently, our foundation organized an event featuring Vanessa as a speaker, and she was fantastic! Her ability to call donors and funders into courage and solidarity with humor, grace and concrete actionable steps, is remarkable and so needed in these times.”

Supriya Lopez Pillai, President, Libra Foundation

“When Vanessa speaks, she brings the kind of authentic, grounded truth-telling we need. She doesn't just educate audiences, she brings them in and moves them to action with a clarity and passion that reflects her deep expertise and unwavering commitment to collective liberation.”

Edgar Villanueva, Author, Founder/CEO Decolonizing Wealth Project

“Vanessa keynoted our 20th Anniversary celebration. Her justice-centered truth talking is all too rare in philanthropy, and I have really appreciated her as a partner in getting the money to move where the earth and its people need it to go!” 

Ludovic Blain, Executive Director, California Donor Table

Past Speaking Engagements

  • THE 22ND CENTURY INITIATIVE

  • AAPI Civic Engagement Fund

  • Aspen Institute

  • Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE)

  • Ballot Initiative Strategy Center

  • Battery Powered

  • Bay Area Book Festival

  • Be. Bold. for Everyday Impact

  • Bioneers

  • Brave Space Radio

  • California donor table

  • Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers

  • Committee On States

  • Communities of Opportunity

  • Decolonizing Wealth Project

  • Democracy Frontlines / Libra Foundation

  • Donors of Color Network

  • Equity Summit

  • Ford Foundation

  • Funders Committee on Civic Participation

  • Funders for Reproductive Equity

  • Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership

  • Grantmakers in Health

  • Group Health Foundation

  • Health & Environmental Funders Network

  • Human Rights Funders Network

  • LeaderSpring Center

  • Maryland Regional Grantmaker’s Association

  • Northern California Grantmakers

  • Off Kilter Podcast

  • Philanthropy Northwest Annual Conference

  • Pink House Foundation

  • Pivotal Foundation

  • Rachel’s Network

  • Resource Generation

  • Rockwood Leadership Institute

  • Sandyland Podcast

  • Social Change Diaries

  • SPARX Donor Network

  • The Philanthropy Workshop

  • Washington Regional Grantmaker’s Association

  • Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence

  • Washington Women’s Foundation

  • Western States Center

  • William Hewlett Foundation

  • Women Donor Network

  • Women Moving Millions

  • Women’s Foundation of California

  • Women’s Funding Network