Gülşen Aktaş has dedicated her life to activism and to working with women in Germany. Born in Dersim, she trained as a primary school teacher in the province of Diyarbakir. At the age of 21 Gülşen followed her mother Şirin to Germany, where she studied political sciences and worked in one of the first women's shelters in Berlin as well as in several immigrant and women's projects. She was an active member of ""Schabbeskreis"" and is part of several women networks. Since 2007 she has been the director of ""huzur"", the first intercultural recreational center in Berlin, which is frequented by elderly people from about 30 countries.

Kook-Nam Cho-Ruwwe was born on the 30th November 1948 in Kimcheon, South Korea. She completed her vocational training as a nurse before coming to Germany in 1970, after which she worked in various medical and nursing facilities for over 40 years. She is a founding member of the Korean Women’s Group in Germany and chairwoman of the umbrella organization of female migrant organizations (DaMigra e.V.). She is concerned with issues such as the shortage of nurses in Germany since the end of the 1950s, the recruitment of Asian nurses from India, the Philippines and Korea, and the forced return of Asian nurses to their countries of origin. As well as working on these topics, she has organised various resistance campaigns and has fought for irredeemable residence and workers‘ rights to be inscribed in German immigration law.

Seher Yeter was born in 1971 in Erzincan. She moved to Istanbul with her family when she was 4. She went to primary and secondary school, and completed half of high school. Then she started to work in quality control in the textile industry where she worked for a long time. Besides her work in textile factories, she was active working for the women's struggle, women's rights and women's freedom. In order to gain more knowledge in these topics, she learned to learn from the experiences, lives and struggles of the women in her country and the women in other parts of the world. She has been living in Germany for 17 years and she a part of the women's liberation struggle in Germany. She is active in the Socialist Women Association (SKB) and draws attention to the importance of the cause for the Internationalist women's struggle.

Saboura M. Naqshband studied Arabic Studies, Political Sciences and Social- and Cultural Anthropology in London, Kairo and Berlin. In Berlin and throughout Germany she works as an anti-discrimination and empowerment trainer, e.g. for Gladt e.V., association for LGBTI* refugees and migrants and as a translator for w_orten und meer gmbh [w_ords and sea corporation], an anti-discriminatory action publisher. She works particularly on topics such as (anti-Muslim) racism, Muslim feminism and religion, gender and sexuality. Moreover, she is active worldwide in intersectional feminist alliances and in the South Asian diaspora in Europe. As a project consultant at DaMigra she is responsible for the areas of project management, connecting with MSOs and networking.

Lahya (Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo) ist eine Schwarze, intersektionelle Freiberuflerin. Sie ist Künstlerin, Autorin, Poetin, Kuratorin, Multiplikatorin, Fotografin, Aktivistin, Workshop-Teamerin und Sängerin. Zu viel für ein kurzes Leben? Ganz klar: Nein! In Lahyas Leben dreht sich fast alles um liebevoll sowie gesellschaftskritisch angereihte Realitätsmoleküle, diese sind ummantelt mit Gesang, Fotografie und_oder Poesie. In ihr wohnt eine Schwarze, von gesellschaftlicher Behinderung betroffene, neurodiverse, von unerschöpflichen Emotionen getragene, queere, phat-is beautiful, mehrfachüberlebende Akademikerin, Künstlerin und Aktivistin mit deutschem Pass. Eine königliche, ost, weiß, und weiblich sozialisierte, poly-li_ebende cis_Femme aus der Mittelschicht, mit aus_reichend finanziellen Mitteln, angemessen vielen Haaren auf dem Kopf und mit großem Herz. (Stand: September 2017)Sie lebt Buchstaben und beschäftigt sie sich mit Themen wie Dekolonialisierung, Traum(a), Selbst_Liebe, Intersektionalität, Heilung, Privilegien, Identität_en und ganz besonders warmes Erdbeereis.

Born in 1978, Tülin Duman is a queer and human rights activist and the chief executive officer of Südblock. For many years Tülin Duman has been engaged in various projects against sexism, homo- and transphobia, as well as racism, and increasingly in the musical and artistic domain. „Think multidimensionally, act multiperspectively“ is her take on these issues. She is co-owner and chief executive officer of the event location Südblock, a showstage, bar, neighborhood meeting place and venue in Kreuzberg. Since 2010 she has organized discussions, concerts and queer-feminist party series. A special focus of her work is on racism and sexism within the queer scene.For over 20 years Tülin has been active professionally and voluntarily in many political, artistic and cultural projects. From 2008 to 2011 Tülin Duman was chief executive officer of GLADT e.V. (Berlin) which is the only independent queer migrant self-organization with the status of a registered association in all of Germany. In 2005 Duman founded the shop „GOAL“ which addresses soccer culture. With GOAL she organized event series, exhibitions and readings on the topics of discrimination in soccer, antisexist fan culture and women in soccer. Under the name of „Kick it queer“ she also organised a series of large public screenings of women’s soccer games.Tülin Duman studied pharmacy and from 2002 to 2008 she was a project coordinator in the area of Public Health at Gesundheit Berlin, with a focus on migration and social injustice. Before this she was coordinator and representative project manager at the EU project in Istanbul on the topic of consumer protection and patient rights, as well as coordinator of women’s legal aid projects for victims of sexual violence and student assistant at the human rights foundation (treatment center for victims of torture) in Istanbul. ©Hassan

Clementine Ewokolo Burnley is a Cameroonian, British, African, European writer, 24 hours a day mother and community worker. She writes about loss, survival, cultural hybridity, mostly recently in Witnessed series, Versal Journal, The Feminist Wire, Parabola Magazine and The Bristol Prize Anthology 2017, Clementine lives and writes between lots of different places. You can find her at the the Migration Council of Berlin, blogging on ezibota.com or on Twitter at @decolonialheart

Aurora Rodonò, creative artist freelancer & lecturer (Uni Köln). For many years she has addressed the history of Italian guest workers and Italian migration cinema in her work as an activist, creative artist and researcher. Currently she is working as a research associate at the university of Cologne and as a freelance creative artist and film director. From 2003 to 2006 she participated in the exhibition project „Project Migration“. In May 2017 she was active in the „Dismantling NSU complex“ tribunal in Cologne, where struggles against racism from the guest worker period until today were brought together. kunst.uni-koeln.de

Ayşe Güleç studied social pedagogy at the University of Kassel and started working from 1998 at the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof (Stockyard Cultural Center) in the area of migration and (inter-)cultural education. She developed the advisory board of documenta 12 and was henceforth its spokesperson. She became member of the Maybe Education group of documenta 13 and trained part of its team of cultural mediators. She worked as the Community Liaison in the artistic direction office of the documenta 14. As an activist she is very involved with self-organized initiatives in the area of migration, post-colonialism and anti-racism e.g. initiative 6th April and the tribunal dissolving NSU complex.

B a f t a lives in Berlin and is studying towards a Masters in Social Sciences. She is a member of the board of the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD federation). She predominantly addresses marxist theories of society, (anti) racism and migration politics.

Peggy Piesche, born and raised in the GDR, is a Black German litarary and cultural scientist and transcultural trainer for critical whiteness reflection in academia, politics and society. She has been part of the Black (German) movement and a co-woman of ADEFRA e.V. (Black Women in Germany) since 1990, and an executive board member of ASWAD (Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora) since 2016. Her research and teaching focus on the fields of Diaspora and Transcoloniality, Spatiality and Coloniality of Memories as well as Black Feminist Studies and Critical Race and Whiteness Studies.

Ceren Türkmen (born 1980 in Duisburg), is research associate at the Institute of Sociology at Justus-Liebig University in Gießen. She is a sociologist and works, writes and teaches on the history of labour migration in/to Germany, (historical) racism and political migration research, neomarxism & postcolonial criticism, urban sociology and research on capitalism. Since mid-1990s she is active in MSOs and is an NSB-member in the political sound-art-collective Ultra-red. www.uni-giessen.de

Doris Messa fled to Germany 6 years ago and has been under threat of deportation ever since. She has already successfully defended herself against two deportation attempts. In the middle of the night in September 2016 she was violently removed from her refugee accommodation and brought to the airport. This forced deportation was prevented because the pilot of the airplane refused to take Doris in her condition. Doris decided to join forces with other women in similar situations and became an activist in International Womenspace.

Ivanka Sinani, 42, is a Roma activist from Serbia. She is a mother of three children and lives in Münster. From 1995 to 2003 she lived in Germany as a refugee but had to leave Germany „voluntarily“ in 2003. Today she works with youth on the topic of discrimination against Roma and refugees.

Jacqueline Maffo is a co-founder of Women in Exile e.V. and the Intercultural Women’s Group in Potsdam. Jacqueline is from Cameroon and has lived in Potsdam since 1995. Together with five other women she founded the association Women in Exile e.V. As a representative of the women in Potsdam, she has organised and mobilized for many events and demonstrations. Six years ago she founded the „Interkulturelle Frauengruppe“ (Intercultural Women’s Group) in Potsdam. For the members of this group it is important that women with children can come together to organise, solve their problems and support one other. The group is also intended for the children to get to know each other and their cultures, and to learn to share with one another. Jacqueline’s aim is that every women feels encouraged to speak, to be free, to state her opinion and to be an important part of society.

Masture Hares came to Germany in 2010 and in the same year was granted asylum. In Afghanistan, she has worked as a journalist as well as a political activist in different women’s organizations fighting against forced and early marriage. She has worked closely with Malalai Joya, the former Parliamentarian for the National Assembly of Afghanistan. Because of her involvement in the women’s rights struggle, she was heavily persecuted by Warlords and had to flee the country.

Asma-Esmeralda Abd’Allah-Álvarez Ramírez is a black, queer, transcultural activist. As a native Cuban she arrived with her parents in Germany at the age of six. Among other things, she has worked as a translator and cultural mediator. Most recently, she worked as a counsellor at the refugee office of Kargah e.V. She is active in the Initiative of Black people in Germany (ISD) and at Radio Flora.

Nancy Larenas was born in Valdivia, Chile in 1943 and has lived in political exile in Germany since 1973. She went to a catholic secondary school in Valparaíso and studied architecture at the Universidad Chile in Valparaíso. From 1970 she was a member of the Political Popular Front which supported the Chilean president Salvador Allende. After the military coup on the 11th September 1973 she fled to former West Germany. In 1976 she went to the GDR to study and complete her doctorate at the University for Architecture and Construction. She worked for the Wohungsbaukombinat (a nationally-owned housing construction enterprise) Magdeburg and the City Construction Management Jena. Since 1990 she has worked in the fields of construction research and cultural heritage preservation. Currently she is chairwomen of the Chile- Friendship Society Salvador Allende e.V. in Berlin.

Born in 1958, Saideh Saadat-Lendle went underground in Iran and applied for asylum in Germany in 1985. Today she is in charge of the antidiscrimination and anti-violence work of the Lesbenberatung Berlin e.V. – LesMigraS, one of the few lesbian-, bi-, and trans* projects that is especially directed to lesbian, bisexual and trans* migrant women and black lesbians, bisexual and trans*. She is a psychologist, diversity trainer and freelance lecturer with a focus on multıple discrimination, racism, gender, sexuality, intercultural competences and language and discrimination.

María do Mar Castro Varela was born in La Coruña in spanish Galicia in 1964 and came to Cologne when she was three years old. She has a doctorate in Political Science and is a professor in Educational Science and Social Work at the Alice-Salomon-University in Berlin-Hellersdorf. She addresses topics like racism, postcolonial theory, gender and queerness. www.ash-berlin.eu