Actress Tracee Ellis Ross headlines Women in Conversation event in Santa Rosa

The ‘Black-ish’ star talked about empowerment and unity through activism at a recent event that included high school students from Petaluma.|

Tracee Ellis Ross strode onto the stage amid loud cheers wearing a pant-and-shirt combo of teal and green, smiling and waving as if she was walking into the home of a loved one, rather than an auditorium filled with over 1,000 strangers.

It was her first time visiting Sonoma County wine country, Ross said, but she had so many travel delays she had yet to taste any of the beloved vintages.

After a few self-deprecating jokes to ease into the Women in Conversation series event Wednesday night at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, Ross leapt into discussing empowerment, stories of embracing loneliness and tales of facing her fears with a network of female professionals by her side.

Beyond the two-hour event, Ross said she had a goal of encouraging people to take what they learned from the evening and start their own conversations.

“I hope every night is the night for another young person and young lady to find their voice and discover who they are and have the support around them to be that person,” said the daughter of famous singer, actress, record producer Diana Ross.

Aside from being an award-winning actress in the hit ABC television series “Black-ish,” the younger Ross has been involved with numerous social and political movements urging inclusivity and equity. Oftentimes, she’s spoken alongside other powerful women of color such as former first lady Michelle Obama.

Continuing to spread those messages at the local level, Ross joined Petaluma student Lucia Garay on stage Wednesday at the Santa Rosa biannual event - co-sponsored by The Press Democrat - to raise the voices of women in the community and provide a forum for them to discuss important topics.

Garay, a junior at Casa Grande High School, discussed her passion for environmental justice and youth activism. She helped organize the local March for Our Lives event calling for an end to gun violence, planned the inaugural Women’s March in Petaluma, worked with a handful of local conservation groups and is chair of the Sonoma County Junior Commission on Human Rights.

The high school student recalled seeing the wildfire consume neighborhoods around her home in October 2017, and blamed the natural disaster on climate change.

“I helped my mom pack as the fires raged over the hills,” Garay said. “Our right to a livable future is at stake so youth has been forced to stand up.”

Attendees such as Tamara Russell and Mickele Carpenter said having an opportunity to bring women together to discuss national issues locally was crucial to uniting for a better future for all.

“These conversations need to happen in the open as opposed to smaller circles,” said Russell, a Santa Rosa native.

Using her social influence for good, Ross collaborated with other female leaders in the entertainment industry in 2017 to work towards closing the wage gap between male and female actors as part of the Time’s Up movement.

Being involved with that effort from the start gave her an opportunity to collaborate with more women in the arts and to build her support network.

“Through Time’s Up, I gained an extraordinary community of women and gained extraordinary courage by witnessing women step up in other ways,” Ross said.

When she first went behind the camera to direct the first episode of “Black-ish,” she was so nervous after the first scene she froze.

The support of other Hollywood actresses like Kerry Washington and Rashida Jones, among others, who uplifted her during her most vulnerable moments, Ross said.

Mentoring the next generation of leaders has become another passion for Ross and one she takes seriously after being raised by her equally bold and famous mother.

Uniting men and women always is a challenge, Ross said, but not one people can give up on, especially not now.

“Getting men more involved in our plight feels like an uphill battle at times,” Ross said. “But I think it takes all of us and it takes us raising young boys with the same concern as we now raise young girls.”

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