"Svitak is an activist for feminism, liberal politics, and youth
causes [...] pretty far up the road to becoming intellectual royalty," wrote Avital Andrews in Pacific Standard Magazine. Adora began advocacy work by promoting literacy, citing her surprise at hearing someone say "I hate reading!" as a key reason she began presenting at schools and libraries about reading. She became a Verizon Foundation Literacy Champion, presenting at the National Center for Family Literacy and the International Society for Technology in Education Conference (then the National Education Computing Conference) alongside famed voice actor James Earl Jones.
In her expanded role as a teacher (speaking to over 500 schools and classrooms around the world via video conferencing presentations), she realized the importance of bringing student voices to the proverbial "table" of education reform decisions. To this end, she is a strong supporter of Student Voice, a student-led organization advocating for students to be authentic partners in education, which hosts weekly Twitter chats using the hashtag #StuVoice (even making it to trending on Twitter, and catching the attention of Secretary Arne Duncan). Adora also promotes meaningful education technology use; in 2012, Adora collaborated with Google and the Family Online Safety Institute to produce the Teach Teachers Tech series.
Adora's work in the youth empowerment arena has taken the form of both public speaking and event organizing. In speeches at TED, IdeaCity, Ciudad de Las Ideas, and countless other events, Adora helped adult audiences grasp the importance of learning from children and young adults, whether in education or in daily life. After her TED Talk in 2010, Adora also began organizing the entirely youth-run event TEDxRedmond (where TEDx = independently organized TED event), where she would continue as director and curator until her fourth conference, in 2013. Over 1000 attendees flooded the conference venue in 2012. 100% of speakers at TEDxRedmond were under 20, and the speaker lineup achieved a perfect or near-perfect gender balance every year (a feat few large conferences for adults manage to accomplish).
A proud feminist, Adora has advocated for the inclusion of more women and girls in STEM and politics, written opinion pieces for the Huffington Post and Women's Media Center on gender issues, and delivered speeches (including one, introduced by Gloria Steinem, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC) for audiences of girls on promoting women's rights in the United States and around the world. Most recently, she keynoted at the Orange County Girls' Conference at UC Irvine. She has contributed to cultural analyses, including a Forbes article on the Sports Illustrated Barbie cover wrap controversy; Forbes' Denise Restauri profiled her with the headline "Is This 15-Year-Old the Next Gloria Steinem?"
