2023 CSforALL Summit

Sheng Thao

The City of Oakland’s 51st Mayor

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Mayor Thao is one of the Bay Area’s strongest and most effective progressive leaders. Her family story - escaping genocide, poverty, and abuse - has made her into a determined, empathetic leader. Her commitment to racial justice, building affordable housing, advocating for low-wage workers, and protecting tenants can be seen in her many accomplishments as a City Council member and will drive her work to improve the lives of Oakland residents as Oakland’s 51st Mayor.

Born and raised in Stockton, CA, Mayor Thao grew up in poverty as the daughter of Hmong refugees. Her family used social services and lived in public housing. She left home at 17, and in her early 20s found herself in an abusive relationship, isolated from her family, and pregnant. She escaped this domestic violence, but soon had a baby and no permanent housing. For months, she and her son Ben slept on couches or in her car. When Ben was 10 months old, she got a job at a local community college and started taking classes. With the help of welfare and a Head Start program for her son, she put herself through school. She became class valedictorian, then transferred to UC Berkeley, where she co-founded a food access program for low-income students and graduated with a degree in legal studies.

Shortly after graduating, she got a job as a legislative aide for an Oakland City Councilmember and worked her way up to Chief of Staff. In 2018, she ran for City Council District 4 and won, becoming the first Hmong-American Councilmember in California history. As a Councilmember, she bridged political divides to make progress on many key issues. In the last budget, she brought the Council together to make historic investments in violence prevention programs while also ensuring funding for three new police academies. Last year, Mayor Thao negotiated a historic agreement between organized labor and the Oakland business community to modernize the city’s business tax structure and secure millions in new revenue for public services.

• 6:30 - 9:30 PM, October 25, 2023 Chabot Space and Science Center

  Opening Evening Reception @ Chabot Space and Science Center

Nabiha Syed

CEO

The MarkUp

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Nabiha Syed is the CEO of The Markup, a media nonprofit that challenges technology to serve the public good. Forbes has called Nabiha "one of the best emerging free speech lawyers" and in 2023, she was honored by the NAACP with their Digital Civil Rights award.

Under her leadership, The Markup's pioneering data-driven journalism was named by FastCompany as a World Changing Idea and a Most Innovative Company. Previously, Nabiha served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel at BuzzFeed, as the company's first newsroom lawyer navigating high-stakes litigation, and as the First Amendment Fellow at The New York Times. She has worked on legal access issues at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, represented asylum-seekers in south Texas, counseled on whether to publish leaked and hacked materials, co-founded the nation's first media law clinic, and spoken widely about misinformation and propaganda, including to two sitting presidents. For her work, Nabiha has been named as a "Rising Star" by the New York Law Journal and received an inaugural Reporter's Committee for the Freedom of the Press Award. She holds a B.A. from Johns Hopkins, a J.D. from Yale Law School and another law degree from Balliol College, Oxford, which she attended as a Marshall Scholar.

• 9:30 - 10:40 AM, October 26, 2023 Auditorium, Oakland Scottish Rite Center

  Performance, Summit Welcome, Keynote