News and Events

Remarkable Women Powerful Stories

November's Remarkable Women: ElsaMarie D'Silva

Listen to ElsaMarie's story on the go | Audio only

Meet our next remarkable woman: ElsaMarie D'Silva

Listen on demand 30 November | Bio


Our past guests, HEAR HER STORY:

Get Involved

Are you ready to join the thousands of Zonta members and partners worldwide who are currently making sustainable differences to benefit women and girls? 

Learn about being a member


Meet our host: Lynne Foley, OAM

“I channel my energy into influencing and supporting each woman I meet to be empowered to reach her aspirations. I intend my legacy to be the contribution I make to achieving gender equality, through opening doors to education for women and girls.”

An exciting motivational speaker, Lynne Foley, OAM, is passionate about leaving her audience with new ideas, thoughts and challenges and full of confidence to break through personal and professional barriers. She works professionally by facilitating leadership programs for individuals and organizations whose mission is to empower women and men through personal and leadership development. Lynne is an accredited and highly respected executive coach, speaker, consultant and educator, gaining her experience through successful executive leadership, consulting, board chair and director roles. As chair of the Zonta Spirit Working Group, Lynne implements the organization’s global strategy to meet the leadership needs of members, clubs and districts  facilitates at conferences and workshops.

Meet ElsaMarie D'Silva

ElsaMarie D'Silva (pronouns: she/her) is the founder of the Red Dot Foundation in India and the president of the Red Dot Foundation Global in the U.S. She created the technology platform Safecity, which crowdsources personal experiences of sexual violence and abuse in global public and private spaces. Since its launch in 2012, Safecity has become the largest crowd map on sexual violence and abuse in India and abroad. She is also the co-founder of the Brave Movement, a coalition to end global childhood sexual abuse, Beyond Black, a social enterprise that leverages arts for good and Gender Alliance, where she established a cross-network initiative that unites feminists across various German networks.

For her work, ElsaMarie has been recognized by various organizations and governments, such as the UN Secretary General, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the German Federal Foreign Office and more. She has served as a W7 advisor during the German G7 Presidency and has been named a fellow for the Yale World Fellowship and the Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellowship as well as earning other esteemed honors.

ElsaMarie is an alumna of several prestigious programs, including the Stanford Draper Hills Summer School, the U.S. State Department's Fortune Mentoring Program, Oxford Chevening Gurukul and the Duke of Edinburgh's Commonwealth Leadership Program. These programs have provided opportunities for professional development, networking, and leadership training, which have helped shape her career and contributions to sexual violence prevention and advocacy.

ElsaMarie has penned articles for CNN, Huffington Post, theWIP.net and has spoken at events such as the Rotary International Assembly, Aspen Ideas Festival, TEDxMidAtlantic and for UN Women. She has also co-edited and authored books such as The Demographic Dividend, Power of Youth and Decolonising Development in South Asia. ElsaMarie is also part of the series She Is, which aims to showcase women's leadership in various fields.