Deliana Speights is an internationally respected leader in the labor movement and a powerful advocate for women workers. As International Chair of the UFCW Women’s Network, she is committed to ensuring that women see themselves not only as active participants in their unions, but as leaders with the power to shape their future and the future of the labor movement.

Speights’ involvement with the Women’s Network began in the late 1990s, driven by a core belief that when women are supported, mentored, and empowered, entire unions and communities are strengthened. She was elected Treasurer of the Network in 2018 and International Chair in 2020. In these roles, she has helped expand leadership development, organizing opportunities, and cross-regional collaboration for union women across the United States and Canada. Under her leadership, the Network continues to foster connection, confidence, and collective action among thousands of members.

Her leadership is deeply rooted in lived experience. Speights began her career as a grocery worker in 1987 and brings firsthand understanding of the challenges working women face on the job. That perspective fuels her unwavering commitment to equity, inclusion, and lifting others as she rises.

Speights believes the labor movement is strongest when women lead with courage, purpose, and compassion—because when women rise, unions rise, and communities thrive.