Member of the Month

Barbi Appelquist

Of Counsel Cohen Gardner LLP

“GDIGM has been at the forefront of the issue of gender stereotypes in children’s and family programming. Geena went from being a concerned mom of a preschooler who had anecdotal evidence of stereotypes to being at the helm of an institute that provides empirical quantitative evidence that gender stereotypes exist across all media platforms and the impact these stereotypes have on our children and the public at large. As a social justice attorney engaged in my community, I mention regularly the data compiled by Geena and the institute and advocate for change with both content creators and consumers. I look forward to continuing my work with the institute on the advisory board and hope to expand our message to broader audiences.”

Barbi S. Appelquist is Of Counsel at the Los Angeles entertainment law firm Cohen Gardner LLP with a focus on government affairs and social enterprises. She serves on various nonprofit boards emphasizing gender equality and political participation, including the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (Chair of Advisory Board), Hillary for America (Co-Director of Veterans and Military Families for Hillary), UN Women #TeamHeForShe (Co-Founder & Co-Chair), Santa Monica Child Care and Early Education Task Force (Co-Chair), National Women’s Political Caucus, and Santa Monica Democratic Club.

Ms. Appelquist is a delegate to the California Democratic Party, a Political Partner of the Truman National Security Project, and a former candidate for California State Senate, District 26.

She is an alumna of Barnard College, UC Hastings College of the Law, and Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Ms. Appelquist is also a regular contributor to Huffington Post and has been published in the UC Hastings International and Comparative Law Review and Pepperdine Policy Review.

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