Rebecca Sive

Rebecca Sive is an admired women’s leadership strategist, the author of three books on American women’s politics and power, a motivational speaker, and experienced media analyst. Sive co-produced and co-hosted the popular #VoteHerIn podcast with Two Broads Talking Politics, a “best political podcast,” according to Parade magazine. She is an advisor to the national PAC, HER BOLD MOVE.

Sive’s books include MAKE HERSTORY YOUR STORY: Your Guided Journal to Justice Every Day for Every Woman, VOTE HER IN: Your Guide to Electing Our First Woman President, and EVERY DAY IS ELECTION DAY: A Woman’s Guide to Winning Any Office, from the PTA to the White House. Sive’s articles and op-eds have appeared in The Huffington Post, Crain’s Chicago Business, The Hill, at MSNBC, and in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and elsewhere. She has appeared in national, regional, and local media as a commentator for over three decades.

Sive’s audiences say she is: “a visionary, a deeply thoughtful speaker on women’s leadership;” “profoundly radiant; delightful; lively; and brilliant.” She has spoken at: Starbucks HQ, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, University of Washington Law School, the Women’s Funding Network, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, The Ohio State University, University of Texas, the Association for Women Journalists, Navigant Consulting, Inc., Mesirow Financial, Publicis Groupe, National Conference of State Legislatures, Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, and the League of Women Voters among others.

Speaking topics include:

• Build your brand and change the world: Strategies for women building public leadership brands and complementary spheres of power and influence while deepening the public good
• Proven strategies for success for women seeking political power and influence in American public life
• How businesswomen−across industries, generations, and experiences−can together advance equality for every woman

In Sive’s consulting practice, she:

• Advised numerous groundbreaking political women; among them, vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, various US. Senators, and various Members of Congress.
• Developed campaigns and strategies for philanthropic projects engaging such diverse individuals as The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex; Hollywood stars Carol Burnett, Raquel Welch, and Cybil Shepherd; feminist and former California First Lady Maria Shriver; actor John Cusack; the young activist Michelle Obama; music legend Mavis Staples; and four Chicago mayors.
• Advised executives of numerous philanthropic foundations.
• Counseled and conducted projects for some of America’s most important national public interest organizations, including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, People for the American Way, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Ms. Foundation for Women, The New Israel Fund, The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Girls on the Run, and Earthjustice (formerly The Sierra Club), as well as the City of Chicago and State of Illinois.

Sive is a past faculty member of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and statewide governmental official. She was the founding director of one of the nation’s first women’s centers, and helped to develop women’s issues agendas for US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. She has served as advisor to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, Commissioner of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and Commissioner of Chicago Park District. She is the recipient of many awards for her public leadership, and is listed in Feminists Who Changed America, University of Illinois Press (2006).

“I am grateful to you for adding your voice to the essential conversation about women’s leadership that we need to have as a country.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton to Rebecca Sive

Rebecca Sive hosts #VoteHerIn in collaboration with Two Broads Talking Politics.

Rebecca Sive at TEDxCarletonCollege

LWV Chicago and Union League Club celebrate Women's History Month with guest speaker Rebecca Sive.

Women's Funding Network Conference: What's Next in Women's Public Leadership?