Jollene Levid
Jollene Levid is an organizer of over 16 years in the women of color feminist movement and the labor movement. She is the Founding Chairperson of AF3IRM, an anti-imperialist, transnational feminist women’s organization, originally a Philippine mass-solidarity organization. AF3IRM has three campaign areas: anti-trafficking of women and children, immigrant women’s rights, and anti-militarism. Jollene has been a part of the organization for 16 years, currently serving on AF3IRM's International Committee and also formerly the National Organizing Director and a chapter coordinator. She has organized in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan via AF3IRM’s “Justice Not Charity” campaign, opened multiple AF3IRM chapters, and engages in direct action organizing as an AF3IRM member.
For her paid work, Jollene has been a union organizer and former union director for over 15 years across the US in majority-women industries: healthcare and education. Jollene is currently a Regional Organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles, the second largest teachers union in the country, which is now getting strike-ready. She specializes in building issue-based workers’ campaigns, training workers, and leadership development. She is also a trained union contract negotiator who has negotiated several contracts with the doctors' and nurses’ unions.
Jollene received her BA in Political Science and Asian American Studies at UC Irvine and got her Masters in Social Work from the University of Southern California, with a concentration in Community Organization, Policy, Planning, and Administration.
Jollene hails from Northeast Los Angeles - born and raised before the hipsters invaded. She is a mother of a toddler, a runner, and an avid bookworm.
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Workshops/Presentations
Women’s Organizing Workshop: Building Campaigns for Power, Growing Your Movement Membership in the Trump Era
Learn organizing skills to build and expand your organization, strategize campaigns, and create a collective plan of action. This workshop is great for new organizations and collective who are looking to build as well as existing organizations and collectives that want to expand and plan out for the year. This can be a full day workshop or a weekend retreat curricula.
Women’s Organizing Against Fascism / Reimagining Liberation
How does the global rise of fascism force us to become more militant in our tactics to achieve liberation? This workshop centers women in the struggle for our global liberation. It will engage participants in radical imagination exercises, review the tools that women have historically used to organize their communities and workplaces, and provide two fundamental labor organizing trainings.
Strands of Feminisms and Feminist Coalition-Building
Learn about different ideological strands of feminism, including liberal, radical, Marxist, socialist, womanist, and transnational feminism. Learn the importance their differences and similarities as we navigate this era, where it’s of utmost importance to build a coalition of feminists!
Gaining Access and Getting Hired!: Women in the Workplace
Learn the basics of how to write an effective resume, cover letter, and how to interview skillfully. Depending on the size of the group, Jollene may also review all resumes at the workshop.
Organizing for the Long Haul: Avoiding Burnout, Organizing for Power
What tools for sustainability have we inherited from our movement foremothers? How can we effectively address internal organizational collective conflict while simultaneously upholding a united front against our oppressors? Learn from a full-time organizer of 16 years about avoiding burnout and living with the organizer joy that we so deserve and fight daily to gain.
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Past Talks
- The Right the Organize in the Janus Era - Summer Institute Of Union Women at Sonoma State University (July 2018)
- Young Feminist Leadership Institute of Hawai’i - Hawai’i State Capitol, Oahu (June 2018)
- Feminisms 101 - presentation to the Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles Chapter (February 2018)
- “Showing Up for Black Lives By Any Means Necessary” - Occidental College (October 2017)
- “Women’s Leadership: Revisiting Our Tools for Organizing, Re-imagining Our Strategies for Liberation” - National Day Laborer Organizing Network Assembly (August 2017)
- Asian Pacific Islander Graduation Keynote Speaker “New Paths of Resilience” - University of California, Los Angeles (June 2017)
- “Revolutionary Motherhood: A Mother’s Day Celebration, Gathering, and Discussion with Movement Mamas” - Los Angeles (Mother’s Day week 2017 and 2016)
- “Centering Women’s Liberation in the Struggle for Educational Justice - Institute for Teachers of Color, Los Angeles (June 2016)
- "Recognizing and Cultivating Intersections for Our Collective Liberation" Keynote speech - Womxn of Color Conference, University of California, Santa Barbara (February 2016)
- Iowa Summer School of Youth Activism - co-authored and implemented a 4-day high school-aged activist curriculum, Des Moines, Iowa (June 2014, June 2015, June 2016, June 2017)
- Ecofeminism Conference Keynote Speaker - Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, California (April 2015, April 2014)
- "Responding to Sexual Violence, Child Sexual Abuse, and Youth Sexual Exploitation in API Communities through Healing, Organizing and Transformative Justice/Community Accountability” - co-author of national curricula and speaker at summit hosted by National Asian Pacific Islanders to End Sexual Violence (NAPIESV), Bay Area, California (2013-2015)
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