Dr. Heldman is the Executive Director of The Representation Project, a Professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and the Senior Research Advisor for the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media. Her research specializes in media, the presidency, and systems of power (race, gender, ability, and sexuality). Dr. Heldman has published five books -- Rethinking Madame President: Are We Ready for a Woman in the White House?; Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age; Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States; The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement; and Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election.

Dr. Heldman has been active in “real world” politics as a professional pollster, campaign manager, and commentator for CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, and CNBC. She has also been featured in popular documentaries, including Missrepresentation, The Mask You Live In, The Hunting Ground, Informant, Equal Means Equal, Liberated, This Changes Everything, and Nevertheless. Dr. Heldman was one of many women who went public with allegations of gender discrimination against Bill O’Reilly that led to his firing from Fox News. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New Orleans where she co-founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter and the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum. Dr. Heldman also co-founded End Rape on Campus (EROC), Faculty Against Rape (FAR), and End Rape Statute of Limitations (ERSOL).