A Women’s History Month conversation on how feminist media challenges power, reframes narratives and drives change.
The Luann Dummer Center for Women at the University of St. Thomas will host a Women’s History Month event on Thursday, March 5, featuring a moderated conversation between Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, and Dr. Janell Hobson, writer and contributing editor at Ms. magazine.
The event, titled “Ms. Magazine to Teen Vogue: Essential Feminist Journalism,” will explore the long history and present necessity of feminist voices in an evolving media landscape. The conversation will be moderated by Nina Moini of Minnesota Public Radio and will include an open audience Q&A.
Welteroth, a journalist and bestselling author, made history as the youngest editor-in-chief in Condé Nast’s history during her tenure at Teen Vogue, where she expanded the publication’s coverage of politics, race and gender. Welteroth is also the founder of birthFUND, a nonprofit that provides need-based grants and access to community-based midwifery care to improve birth outcomes for families facing maternal-health disparities.
As journalists, you have the power to shape the cultural agenda … so if you only have a certain type of people represented behind the scenes, you’re only going to continue to see the same types of messages being reinforced.
Elaine Welteroth
Hobson, a scholar of women’s studies and longtime contributor to Ms., has written extensively on Black feminism, media representation and cultural politics. She is the guest editor of a brand-new Ms. series, FEMINIST 250: Founding Feminists, an online initiative from Ms. reflecting on the semiquincentennial of U.S. democracy from a feminist perspective, launched during Women’s History Month on March 2, and continuing through April 16, with a commemorative section in the Summer 2026 print issue. The series explores how feminist histories laid the foundations that shaped 250 years of ideas about equality, freedom and social justice.
Hobson also edited Tubman 200: The Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project, an online initiative from Ms. honoring the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Harriet Tubman in 2022, with a commemorative section in the Spring 2022 print issue. The project sheds light on the history and legacy of this feminist icon Harriet Tubman through a history timeline; essays from scholars in diverse fields; conversations with Tubman descendants, creatives and experts; a slavery reparations calculator; and original art and poetry.
The evening marks the latest installment in the Luann Dummer Center for Women’s March Women’s History Month Speakers Series, which has brought prominent leaders and thinkers to campus for more than 30 years.
The event will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium on the University of St. Thomas St. Paul campus. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
The program is free and open to the public, though advance registration is required. For more information or to register, head here.
