JAYNICE DEL ROSARIO
Founding Director, Feminist Idea Lab | Senior Program Officer, Girls First Fund | Philanthropist & Organizer
Parkchester, Bronx, NY
Dominican Republic
A global feminist who believes a more beautiful, vibrant, joyful and equitable world is possible, and that part of the solution is giving marginalized people, including young women and girls, the opportunity to help create it.
As a woman, a Black person, and an immigrant, I think about how often my people get stuck in survival mode and never get the opportunity to be creative - to make the world. And that is why I founded the Feminist Idea Lab, to give girls and young women from all walks of life the opportunity to create the world, to bring their visions for a more beautiful vibrant existence to life
As Senior Program Officer at Girls First Fund, she launched the Changemakers program — a participatory grantmaking model where girls and young women from multiple countries (including Haiti, Morocco, and Pakistan) awarded nearly $1 million in grants to grassroots organizations fighting child marriage. Working across seven languages, including Dominican Sign Language, she pioneered an approach rooted in language justice and co-creation.
She is also the founder of the Feminist Idea Lab, which provides seed funding and mentorship to girl-led initiatives. Her 2024 cohort launched five projects spanning a digital magazine for Black immigrant voices, SRHR education in Tanzania, ancestral land reclamation in Mexico, and a fashion show for autism awareness.
Jaynice helped lay the groundwork for Michelle Obama's Let Girls Learn initiative while serving in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia (2013–2015), bringing that same strategic vision to every role since — from grassroots organizing to global philanthropy.
She builds a world where self-determination is not aspirational but expected and where young women are the architects of prosperity and peace.
What does a great day in Ñiu Yor look like for you?
Waking up early in the Bronx to go to a photo shoot in Queens, then driving to Harlem to have brunch and dance the day away with my cousins, and ending the night in the Heights at my cousins apartment talking about gender, race, and politics, over coronas. I had this exact day recently and it is the kind of day that nourishes both my mind and my soul.
