Katrina Avilla
Deputy Director, Frontline Women’s Fund
Katrina Avilla is a women’s rights advocate living in Brooklyn, NY. As a young college student, she volunteered at a safe house in Baguio City, Philippines, supporting women and girls who had survived human trafficking, domestic abuse, and neglect. Her experiences there inspired her decision to dedicate her career to human rights and gender justice. Today, as Deputy Director of Frontline Women’s Fund, she advocates globally for women and girls by connecting grassroots women’s rights groups with the funding and resources they need to advance dignity and equality. She also helps oversee the Gloria Steinem Equality Fund to End Sex Trafficking, which supports organizations and initiatives on the frontlines, fighting exploitation and pushing for systemic change through the Equality Model, a legal framework that solely decriminalizes those bought and sold in prostitution while holding their buyers and exploiters accountable.
“For as long as I can remember, and before I even had the words for it, I recognized the compassion, intelligence, and resilience of the women who surrounded me: my mother, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, friends, and teachers. I looked up to them and wanted to grow up to be like them. And I don’t believe this experience is unique to only me. So why then, do societies around the world continue to normalize and accept the degradation and violation of our women and our girls? We have to imagine—and build—a reality where no one can be bought and sold.”