Women At The Helm 2011

November 9, 2011 Kat Long

Rachel Tiven: Executive Director, Immigration Equality “Every day, Immigration Equality hears from couples and individuals who, because of our work, literally have a new lease on life,” Rachel Tiven proudly reports. As the Executive Director of Immigration Equality and Immigration Equality Action Fund, the national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for LGBT and HIV-positive individuals, Tiven (pictured with New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler) has helped to win asylum for more than 100 LGBT people who escaped persecution and violence in their homelands. Immigration Equality was founded with three goals: end the HIV travel and immigration ban, provide LGBT people with full access to asylum in the United States, and allow lesbian and gay Americans to sponsor their partners for citizenship. “In a little more than a decade, we have already accomplished our first two goals,” Tiven says. “Today, Immigration Equality is working to win its final victory, too. That work is based on a simple but profound belief: American citizens should not be told whom they can, and cannot, share their lives and their homes with, and no one should be forced to choose between the person they love and the country they call home.” Prior to her work with the group, Tiven was a reporter and television producer for Bloomberg Business News and an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of New York.

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Stacy Codikow: President and CEO, POWER UP “Challenging Perception Through Film”—that’s the mantra of Professional Women in Entertainment Reaching Up (POWER UP), founded by Stacy Codikow 11 years ago in Los Angeles. As the CEO of the only nonprofit educational organization that is a “teaching” film production company for women in showbiz, Codikow has blazed the path for successful feature films with lesbian themes, including D.E.B.S. and Itty Bitty Titty Committee. Recognizing that evolution begets success, the group’s famed annual “10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz” list went co-ed in 2009. Codikow has been honored by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center for her contributions in the entertainment industry for the LGBT community and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has recognized POWER UP with its Leadership Award. Even with the accolades, Codikow’s focus remains fixed on helping young filmmakers hone their craft and advance their careers. “By far the most rewarding aspect of my work is creating and teaching future filmmakers through the POWER UP Filmmaking Mentorship Program. People come from all over the world to participate. On the GIRLTRASH: All Night Long set, POWER UP had 40 Mentees, some of whom came in from Singapore, Australia, Utah, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco,” Codikow tells GO. The program provides its graduates with the “opportunity of a lifetime: to succeed, to learn and to gain access to the most exciting industry in the world: Showbiz.”