Emily Usher Shrair is a British-American gender expert, women’s rights activist and award-winning social entrepreneur. She currently serves as Programme Manager at the European Women’s Lobby, where she is responsible for resource mobilization, program design, and advocacy around the resourcing of the European women’s movement.
Prior to this role, she was responsible for directing the European Women Lobby’s WEstart Project, the first-ever pan-European research project mapping the state of women’s social entrepreneurship in 10 EU countries. In this capacity, she led a team of ten international researcher experts on women’s entrepreneurship as they undertake cutting-edge research on the relationship between women’s social entrepreneurship and women’s empowerment within Europe. Additionally, she provided expert guidance to policy makers within the European Parliament and European Commission regarding legislation concerning women’s entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and women’s social entrepreneurship.
Ms. Usher Shrair is also the founder and CEO of two social businesses, Girl Got Grants, a feminist fundraising collective with a staff of five writers, and Feminist Job Board, the world’s leading international feminist job search site. In addition to her entrepreneurship and activism, Ms. Shrair has been working as intermediary between women’s organizations and large donors and policymakers for over seven years. By bridging the gap between women’s empowerment on the ground, and gender equality on the level of government policy, she helps to foster the mutual trust and understanding that is necessary to change the world for women and girls.