UNA-SF Emerging Leaders for
UN Agenda 2030 Award Series
Announcing 2021 Award Recipients
Emerging Leaders for UN Agenda 2030 Award Series recognizes emerging leaders of San Francisco who made an extraordinary contribution to achieving the UN Agenda 2030 and can serve as a role model and an inspiration for taking action towards a brighter future for all. The awards are given annually on October 24 (UN Day) in San Francisco, California by the United Nations Association of the USA, San Francisco Chapter.
1. Emerging Civic Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award
The Emerging Systems Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award is given to cross-sectoral leaders who address a combination of material, institutional, cultural, and mental conditions of complex systemic challenges that keep communities from achieving the UN Agenda 2030.
Emerging Systems Leader 2021: Srujana Kaddevarmuth
Srujana is a Data Science evangelist, thought leader and an advocate of using data science to attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She is passionate about the cause of achieving gender diversity in the technology domain. With a master’s in engineering and doctoral program in technology, she holds certifications from Stanford, Harvard, and Purdue.
She currently works as a Senior Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at a Fortune 1 company and is driving enterprise scale innovation. She has multiple patents and publications in data science and is recognized as a thought leader in the technology industry.
Srujana is a graduate of the Young Professionals for Sustainable Development Goals Seminar Series hosted by UNA SF. As the now Secretary to the UNA SF Board of Directors, she fulfills a very big responsibility. Furthermore, she has designed and led 3 UNA SF Panels of Experts on the SDG’s, Tech, Artificial Intelligence, and Women & Girls. She also serves on the UNA SF Communications and Program Committees to develop other programs related to the Agenda 2030. Most recently, she designed and produced a video, Voices of Girls, for the International Day of the Girl Child.
Overall, Srujana has created a much-needed niche of expertise on the rights of women and girls relating to technology, data science, STEM, etc. for UNA SF that is typically missing in UNA organizations as well as the UN Commission on the Status of Women NGO Forum. Ms. Kaddevarmuth is actively working on furthering this agenda in partnership with UNA SF and other organizations to promote AI innovation through the development of standards and guidelines to ensure a safe and equitable digital future.
2. Emerging Business Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award
The Emerging Civic Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award is given to activists, volunteers, nonprofit leaders, artists, scientists, and other members of the civil society who made an extraordinary contribution to the UN Agenda 2030.
Emerging Civic Leader 2021: Micaela Leonarte Paredes
Micaela, an active young professional member of UNA-SF, has accomplished a great deal as a young adult who is dedicated to the advancement of gender equity - U.N. Sustainable Development Goal #5.
She is a Founding Member of the Ratify Movement Steering Committee which is dedicated to U.S. ratification of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Micaela was among the key leaders and organizers of UNA SF's launch of the Ratify Movement at the NGO Forum of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, lending her superior organizational skills and social media expertise to the "San Francisco Series" of sessions showcasing the important work on CEDAW. She was a featured speaker on the 3 out of 16 sessions presenting intergenerational and intercultural perspectives on the SDGs in the age of COVID.
As a Public Policy Fellow at the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, Micaela researched and wrote the first gender analysis report of names on public streets, buildings, and monuments. The report surfaced deep inequities in public recognition of women.
As a 2019 graduate of the University of San Francisco, Micaela served as President of the Model United Nations Club, organizing meetings and events to advance student participation in global affairs.
3. Emerging Public Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award
The Emerging Public Leader for UN Agenda 2030 Award is given to elected officials as well as government employees and contractors who made an extraordinary contribution to the UN Agenda 2030.
Emerging Public Leader 2021: Jessica Bartholow
Firstly, Jessica speaks about the SDG’s with regard to poverty. As a child raised in extreme poverty she has persisted in her educational objectives to earn two Masters Degrees and is considered an expert in poverty in the US. Jessica has also done international development in South America.
Secondly, as a member of the Ratify Movement: CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, she is mobilizing women and girl leaders to support the movement. She has led anti-poverty organizing and public policy advocacy in California for 20 years.
Thirdly, she is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and a Board Member for the National Diaper Bank and the Alliance for Period Supplies.
Last but not least, she is the Chief of Staff for Senator Nancy Skinner and has worked to get AB65 passed and signed into law. It addresses the proportionally high rate of maternal deaths in mothers of color.