Rosario Dawson made her film debut in Kids and has since starred in RENT, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Unstoppable, Seven Pounds, Trance, Chavez, Sin City, Top Five and most currently in Marvel’s Netflix Daredevil, among many other notable pictures. She is a creative, out-of-the-box innovative powerhouse whose work ranges from film to social activism to fashion, design and technology.
Dawson has garnered praise not only for her numerous leading roles, but for her work with a range of influential organizations. In 2004, Dawson co-founded VotoLatino, a non-partisan organization that empowers Latino Millennials to claim a better future for themselves and their community. VotoLatino, which is celebrating its ten year anniversary this year, is dedicated to bringing new and diverse voices to develop leaders by engaging youth, media, technology and celebrities to promote positive change and has registered over 250,000 voters.
Dawson also lends her time and efforts by serving on the board of the Lower Eastside Girls Club in Manhattan and is an ardent environmentalist doing work with a variety of organizations including the Environmental Media Association and Global Green. Dawson is an active board member of V-Day, an organization founded by Eve Ensler, where she travels worldwide to stop violence against women.
Today, Dawson’s journey has taken her to Africa. Through Studio One Eighty Nine, which she co-founded with luxury executive Abrima Erwiah (formerly of Bottega Veneta), she curates and showcases beautiful creative work celebrating craftsmanship, heritage, and design.
Dawson met her co-founder, Abrima Erwiah, on the Lower East Side growing up in New York. Erwiah was inspired by Dawson’s dedication to the community, social activism, creativity and Dawson’s ability to create social change. In February 2011, Dawson invited Erwiah to join her on a trip with Vday through Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda to Bukavu in the Democrative Republic of Congo for the opening of the City of Joy – a healing and leadership center for women who have been the victim of rape and sexual violence.
The mission of Studio One Eighty Nine to use fashion as an agent for social change by creating a platform to showcase the work of local artisans through ecommerce and through an artisan produced collection took shape following the trip with Vday. On February 14th 2013, in order to make a greater impact in the community, Studio One Eighty Nine launched a private label collection called Fashion Rising Collection in support of Vday’s One Billion Rising. Statistics indicate that one in three women globally—that is, one billion women—will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. Most notably, Dawson was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her valuable contributions to the community and encouragement in getting others involved.