Feminista Jones is a Philadelphia-based feminist writer, public speaker, community activist, and semi-retired social worker. She is an award-winning blogger and the author of the novel Push the Button, the poetry collection The Secret of Sugar Water, and the critically-acclaimed Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World From the Tweets to the Streets(Beacon, 2019). Her work centers Black American culture, critical race theory, intersectionality, women’s health and well-being. She sits on the board of the Wayfinder Foundation, a grant-making organization that invests in women making a difference in their underserved communities, and The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice.
Feminista’s passion and talent for writing have led to her being featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Essence, XOJane, Complex, Vox, Salon, and EBONY. In 2017, Feminista was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Philadelphia by Philadelphia magazine and was later featured in Philadelphia Style magazine for her community work in 2018, In 2020, Feminista was named one of the “Bitch 50”, honoring the work of feminist women around the world. She is currently a weekly columnist at Zora Magazine and operates her own subscription-based platform.
Since 2013, Feminista has presented and lectured at various colleges and universities including Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Boston University, UC Berkeley, and The University of Pennsylvania. Represented by APB Speakers, Feminista is a highly sought-after presenter, and keynote speaker for major conferences and has presented at several, including Stanford’s Online Feminism Conference, Drexel’s Racism in Medicine Conference, the Society for Social Work and Research Conference, Netroots Nation, BlogHer, Woodhull Freedom Summit, and more. In 2018, she was honored to give the Baccalaureate speech during Vassar College’s Commencement weekend.
In 2015, she co-founded and served as General Director of the Women’s Freedom Conference, the first all-digital conference completely organized by and featuring only Women of Color. For her work, she was named one of SheKnows 2015 “Voices of the Year”. In 2014, she launched a global anti-street harassment campaign (#YouOKSis) and a National Moment of Silence protesting police brutality (#NMOS14), both of which received international media attention. That year, she was named one of the Top 100 Black Social Influencers by The Root. In 2019, Feminista joined two of her closest friends to create Black Girl Missing, a true-crime podcast that focuses on the stories of missing Black girls in the United States.
Feminista is also a mom, a non-profit consultant, a mentor to young girls and women, and an outspoken advocate for the homeless, people living in poverty, and those living with psychiatric disabilities.