Lateefah Simon ’18 – nationally recognized advocate for civil rights and racial justice, president of the Akonadi Foundation, serving on the BART Board of Directors representing District 7
Stacey Milbern, MBA ’15* – national leader in the disability justice movement; appointed to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (2014)
Aiden Thomas, MFA ’15* – New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning, #OwnVoices novel Cemetery Boys
Koa Beck ’09 – author of White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind, former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, former executive editor of Vogue.com
Regina Stanback Stroud, MA ’07, EdD ’09* – former chancellor of the Peralta Community College District, former president of Skyline College
Noah Georgeson, MFA ’03* – Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer, mixer, and musician known for his work with Devendra Banhart, The Strokes, Norah Jones, and Joanna Newsom
Camila Chavez ’98 – co-founder and executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation
Claire Ptak ’97 – pastry chef and owner of Violet Bakery in London, selected to create the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tradition-breaking wedding cake (2018)
Renel Brooks-Moon ’81 – first African American woman announcer in professional sports history; voice of the San Francisco Giants
Barbara Lee ’73 – US House of Representatives (D-CA 13th District), sole member of Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF) in 2001
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid ’66 – first Saudi Arabian to head a United Nations agency, one of the first women appointed to historically all-male Shura Council of Saudi Arabia
Jennifer Losch Bartlett ’63 – internationally renowned artist who combines a distinctly postmodern sensibility with dazzling technical facility
Steve Reich, MA ’63* – renowned composer of “minimal music;” recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in music and a Grammy Award
Trisha Brown ’58 – internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and founder of Trisha Brown Dance Company; first woman awarded the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in choreography
Jane Rule ’52 – internationally recognized novelist and essayist; activist on behalf of gay rights, the environment, and community service
March Fong Eu, MA ’47* – first woman to serve as California’s Secretary of State; former US ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia
Dave Brubeck, Honorary MFA ’46* – world-renowned musician, composer, and jazz pianist who wrote more than 200 compositions and made over 115 recordings
Beate Sirota Gordon ’43 – author of the section of the Japanese Constitution that guarantees full and equal rights to women (1945)
Dixy Lee Ray ’37, MA ’38* – first woman governor of Washington State; former chair of the US Atomic Energy Commission; recipient of 21 honorary degrees spanning science, law, and art
Emma Nevada, 1876 – internationally renowned opera singer
*Denotes an alumna or alumnus of a Mills College all-gender graduate program