Advocating for the eradication of violence against women and girls in the Caribbean through education, empowerment, community outreach, research, and grassroots mobilization.

Ronelle King is an intersectional feminist, gender-rights advocate, and the founder of Life In Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender-Based Violence. In 2016, Ronelle created the hashtag #lifeinleggings and started a viral social media campaign that led to the creation of Life in Leggings. The hashtag empowered survivors of gender-based violence and sexual harassment to share their experiences, find solidarity, and advocate for the eradication of gender-based violence across the Caribbean. Today, Life in Leggings provides empowerment and educational programs, advocacy, and survivor support services to women and girls. The organization’s Pink Parliament Program works with young women and girls to increase their participation in politics, and its Redefining Masculinities program works with men and boys to address patriarchal masculinities and end male-perpetrated violence against women and girls. Ronelle hopes to develop a program on gender and climate and will use the Scholars program to explore the intersection between the environmental crisis and gender-based violence. 

Ronelle received the Queen’s Young Leaders Award in 2018, the Future Island Leader Award, and the Phoenix National Youth Award. She currently serves as a UN-recognized Young Leader for the SDGs and in the United Nations Youth Advisory Group for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. She has also served as a One Young World Ambassador. Ronelle is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a focus on gender and development from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.

Biography current as of 2023-2024 program year