America Ferrera will chair an Artists’ Committee for the Women’s March on Washington, a large demonstration planned the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, march leader Bob Bland told BuzzFeed News.
Ferrera will work with organizers of the Women’s March — including leaders Bland, Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, and Carmen Perez — though what she will specifically be doing remains unclear, and the Women’s March would not specify.
Other committees within the Women’s March include a “Conveners Table,” which consists of leaders of various left-leaning activist movements, and a “Policy Table,” which will decide the direction of the March’s advocacy. Further announcements detailing all three committees are forthcoming, leaders of the Women’s March said.
A spokesperson for Ferrera said, “that’s something she’s arranged on her own,” when asked about her being chair, and declined to comment further.
Ferrera is widely known for playing the title role in the show “Ugly Betty,” for which she won a Golden Globe and an Emmy. She is the first Latina woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress.
Ferrera also spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and has been active in encouraging Latinos to vote throughout the United States. She chairs the artist coalition for the organization Voto Latino and has attended political rallies across the country with Voto organizers.
The March’s organizers have emphasized the diversity of the leadership — though that has been a point of contention — and the breadth of the march’s goals, which include addressing concerns of racial bias, access to gynecological services, environmental degradation, LGBTQ issues, harassment of Muslim Americans, the rights of immigrants, and more. They leaders say the rally is “pro-women” rather than “anti-Trump.”
Feminist Gloria Steinem and civil rights activist and musician Harry Belafonte have signed on as honorary co-chairs of the March, and Planned Parenthood has also partnered with the organization. Belafonte’s foundation, Gathering for Justice, has financially sponsored the march and is acting as a repository for donations. Perez and Mallory, two of the four national leaders of the Women’s March, both serve in the leadership of Gathering for Justice.