Eliza VanCort is an academic, lecturer, consultant, writer, and in-demand speaker. Before most people had heard of the term, VanCort had been inspiring people to "claim space" across gender, race, and class. She is the creator of a highly regarded talk commissioned by MIT that focused on mentorship and institutionalized racism, as well as a TEDx Talk called "Women, Power, and Revolutionary Speech." She is the founder of the Actor's Workshop of Ithaca.