Beatriz Topete, an organizing director at UNITE HERE Local 11, made a significant impact in Arizona by leading the efforts to bring over 1000 workers into the union. Her belief in empowering working-class people to enact meaningful change is not just a philosophy but a tangible reality that has transformed the lives of many. Her organizing philosophy centers on applying the leadership that working-class people demonstrate in their personal lives to combat issues of systemic poverty and inequity in the workplace and beyond.

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Course: Two-Day Organizing Training

Kent Wong is the Project Director for Labor and Community Partnerships and former Director at the UCLA Labor Center, where he teaches courses in Labor Studies and Asian American Studies.

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Course: "The Politics of Immigration"

Robin D.G. Kelley is Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA. His sweeping research has explored a wide variety of topics, including the history of social movements in the U.S., black intellectuals, music and visual culture. Kelley’s essays have been published in the Journal of American History, The Nation, New York Times, and Boston Review, and he has written several bestselling books

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Course: TBD

Sophie Clark has worked for UNITE HERE Local 11 and is currently a doctoral student in Sociology at Princeton. Her research focuses on the politics and future of work in the U.S. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2023.

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Course: "New Directions in the Labor Movement"

CWA is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States. CWA represents workers in the communications and information industries, news media, the airlines, broadcast and cable television, public service, higher education and healthcare, manufacturing, in high tech, and more.

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Course: "Reversing Runaway Inequality"

Gwen Mills is the first woman to serve as President in the union's history. UNITE HERE represents nearly 300,000 workers in hotels, casinos, food service, airports, and more across the U.S. and Canada. Gwen Mills is also a member of the AFL-CIO's Executive Council.

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Guest Speaker

Leilah Danielson is a professor of history at Northern Arizona University where her research and teaching explores the political and cultural history of the modern U.S. with a focus on the history of the American left. She is the author of American Gandhi: A.J. Muste and the History of Radicalism in the Twentieth Century. She is currently researching the workers’ education movement of the 1920s and 1930s.

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Course: "Class War in America, Part II"

Samir Sonti has worked for UNITE HERE Local 11 and currently teaches at the School of Labor and Urban Studies of the City University of New York. He earned his Doctorate in History at UCSB, where his research focused on the politics of inflation from the 1930s to 1980s. His work has been published in Jacobin Magazine, Critical Historical Studies, and New Labor Forum.

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Course: "Class War in America, Part I"

Stephanie Luce is Professor of Labor Studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, and author of several books, including Labor Movements: Global Perspectives, Fighting for a Living Wage, and Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World.

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Course: "Labor and Social Movements"

Laura Perez is an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 11 in Arizona. She organized the first Arizona airport strike in the local's history at Sky Harbor Airport. She became involved with the union as a committee member at the Renaissance Downtown Phoenix. 

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Alex Rosado began organizing at his own hotel in Los Angeles. He was a part of the successful strikes in LA that led to a historic contract win for thousands of Southern California hotel workers.

Josh Lappen is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame, where he uses historical analysis to devise strategies for a just energy transition. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University, and has worked with UNITE HERE Local 11 in California and Arizona.

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Course: "Labor and the Climate Crisis"

Mari Yepez is a Lead Organizer with UNITE HERE Local 11, based in Arizona. She first became involved in politics in 2012 when she joined the efforts to oust Sheriff Joe Arpaio with CASE's Adios Arpaio campaign. She currently drives the organizing in UNITE HERE Local 11's eight union workplaces in Arizona.

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Course: Two-Day Organizing Training

Shana L. Redmond is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. A writer and interdisciplinary scholar of race, culture, and power, she is the author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora, and Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson.

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Course: "Songs and Solidarity"

Susan Minato is a Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11, a union representing more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona. She has spent the past 30 years organizing in the hospitality industry and training others to become leaders in a movement for social justice.

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Course: "The Worker Power Model"