The 49% is a female-led media company using women’s storytelling to advocate for sustainable change.
Through film, multimedia, and events, we focus on giving voice to underrepresented filmmakers and women’s stories which are rarely told.
Bringing Change
Through Stories
Meet The Team
Paula Kweskin, J.D., LL.M
Paula Kweskin is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer and human rights attorney.
She believes in the power of media and arts to advocate for change. She is the founder and director of the global women’s rights non-profit organization, The 49%, a group dedicated to advancing global women’s rights through media and film.
Her films have been featured in several international film festivals and distributed on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, DirecTV and Al-Hurra, among other international Platforms.
Director & Founder of The 49%
Dana Wilsey
Dana Wilsey discovered her passion for women’s rights while volunteering at a hidden women’s shelter in the Guatemalan countryside.
A graduate of Drexel University with a degree in International Studies: Human Rights & Justice, she began her role as the brand manager for the award-winning documentary film Honor Diaries.
Dana served as the festival coordinator for the Censored Women’s Film Festival which she helped to shape and run, and went on to become the director of marketing for an international nonprofit organization that saves the lives of children from developing countries with cardiac disease.
COO & Founder of The 49%
Amy Richards
Amy Richards is an author, producer and organizer.
Most recently Amy authored We Are MAKERS, a book based on the PBS documentary series MAKERS. She produced the Emmy nominated series WOMAN for Viceland and executive produced The Glorias, among other stage and video projects. Amy is the president of Soapbox, Inc., the foremost feminist lecture agency, and the affiliated Soapbox Foundation, creators of Feminist Camp.
In addition to running Soapbox, Inc., Amy also consults to many organizations and initiatives, including being a consulting producer on the HBO documentary Gloria Steinem: In Her Own Words and an advisor to PBS documentary on the women’s movement in America MAKERS: Women Making America
Author, Producer, and Organizer
Dr Aleida Mendes Borges
Dr Aleida Borges leads the Grassroots Women Leaders research stream at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL).
Her research offers critical perspectives on grassroots organizing and politics, women’s rights, representation and participation, diaspora political participation, and youth politics in the Global South (Africa & Latin America). Aleida is a jurist by training, specializing in International Public Law (Human Rights), occasionally consulting as country expert for Cabo Verde.
Aleida leads the Internship Programme at GIWL and is the SSPP representative on the Research Staff Representative Committee (RSRC). Aleida has taught modules including Digital Politics, Social and Political Analysis of Emerging Economies, and Digital Research Methods.
Leader, Researcher, and Scholar
Changing a woman's life begins by knowing her story!
Join The Team?
“I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard!”
– Malala Yousafzai