about bonnie abaunza
Bonnie Abaunza has dedicated her life to humanitarian work, human rights, and social justice advocacy.
She has received commendations for her human rights work from the United States Congress and from the City of Los Angeles. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Unlikely Heroes, a non-profit dedicated to rescuing child victims of sex trafficking, the Advocate for Justice Award from the ACLU of Southern California, Women in Leadership Award from the City of West Hollywood, Global Champion Award from the International Medical Corps., Local Hero/Hispanic Heritage Award from KCET-PBS, Social Justice Award from Catholics in Media, Impact Award from Native Women in Media, the Advocate of the Year Award from Women Raise the Game and Honorary Colonel for the American Legion Post 43.
Bonnie was named Goodwill Ambassador to the Government of Timor-Leste (appointed by current President of Timor-Leste and 1996 Nobel Peace Laureate, José Ramos-Horta).
She has worked with groups on the evacuation and relocation of Afghan women and girls, and with non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance to Haitian, Ukrainian, Venezuelan, Darfuri and Nicaraguan refugees. She has responded to numerous humanitarian crises by raising resources, delivering aid, and working with displaced peoples. For her decades of humanitarian work, in March 2026 she was bestowed the title of Dame Commander of the Royal Order of the Eagle (Royal House of Georgia).
Bonnie is Chair of the Advisory Board of TheCommunity.com’s Human Rights Campaign, Board Chair of The Sentry, Board Co-Chair of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking, Board member of The Pad Project, and Advisory Board Member for Veterans in Media & Entertainment. She is a Board member of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California
Work History:
After graduating from UCLA with a degree in Political Science/International Relations in 1986, she worked in the entertainment industry as a Development and Production Executive from 1986-2000.
2001 to 2007: Bonnie served as Director of the Artists for Amnesty program for Amnesty International, raising Amnesty’s profile in the entertainment industry and the visibility of human rights campaigns with the public. She co-produced four film festivals, Academy Awards viewing parties to benefit Amnesty, produced quarterly entertainment industry salons and more than 50 feature and documentary screening events, fundraisers, and art exhibits. She worked on numerous high-profile campaigns including human trafficking and slavery, ending rape as a tool of war, rehabilitation of child soldiers, justice for the murdered women of Juarez, ending small arms trafficking, protecting the rights of indigenous peoples, and other global issues. Her events and work were covered by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, London Telegraph, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, TIME, People Magazine, US weekly, Variety, Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, CNN, and other international publications and news networks.
2007 – 2009: Bonnie served as Vice President of Social Action and Advocacy at Participant Media, where she developed social action campaigns to promote the documentaries and feature films produced by Participant Media, founded by billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, Jeff Skoll.
2009-2014: Bonnie led the Special Projects & Philanthropy division for Academy Award winning composer, Hans Zimmer. Her initiatives included raising humanitarian aid for Haiti, Pakistan, and Japan for International Medical Corps, and worked with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the National Democratic Institute to advocate for the disenfranchised Romani people in Europe. She launched a successful online advocacy effort with Senator Elizabeth Warren for passage of the Dodd-Frank Bill and the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
2014 – Present: Through her social impact agency, the Abaunza Group, she works closely with filmmakers, artists, production companies, distributors, and non-governmental organizations to develop and execute social impact campaigns for films and documentaries. Bonnie’s work has addressed myriad human rights and civil rights issues as she has brought hard-hitting campaigns and major celebrity engagement to issues as diverse as child slavery, campus sexual assault, human trafficking, genocide, racial and environmental justice, girls’ education, food safety and animal rights.
Her campaigns have moved the needle on critical issues including genocide awareness with the Hotel Rwanda campaign, conflict diamonds with Blood Diamond, arms trafficking and child soldiers with Lord of War, abuses by the food industry with Food, Inc., campus sexual assault with The Hunting Ground, online sex trafficking with I Am Jane Doe, the plight of refugees with Cries From Syria, girls’ education with The Breadwinner, rights of domestic workers with ROMA, With This Light, a documentary about Honduran nun who saved over 87,000 children, and Pelota de Trapo, an initiative with Pope Francis focusing on youth and sports.
Bonnie was Executive Producer of the documentary Francesco, about Pope Francis. She received a 2024 News & Documentary Emmy nomination as Executive Producer for the documentary Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom.
She has worked on the awards campaigns for Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy nominated films and documentaries including Frankenstein, Nuremberg, Train Dreams, The Perfect Neighbor, All the Empty Rooms, The Singers, The Zone of Interest, All Quiet on the Western Front, Pinocchio, The Elephant Whisperers, The Boy, the Mole, The Fox and the Horse, American Factory, Crip Camp, October 8, The Edge of Democracy, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Knock Down the House, The Great Hack, Two Popes, Period: End of Sentence, The Life Ahead, and the limited series When They See Us.
Bonnie consulted on the last seven awards campaign for legendary songwriter and 17 times Oscar nominee Diane Warren, including her song with Lady Gaga, “Til it Happens to You,” from the critically acclaimed documentary, The Hunting Ground. The song was nominated at the 2016 Academy Awards, and was performed by Lady Gaga at the Oscar ceremony. The music video has been viewed over 60 million times and has been embraced as the anthem for the movement to end sexual assault on college campuses.
Bonnie has assisted with outreach to the entertainment community as a consultant to the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO). She launched the ILO’s artist engagement program, Artworks, and spearheaded their End Slavery Now, 50 for Freedom, and Red Card to Child Labour campaigns, as well as ILO’s centenary in 2019, and the 2021 campaign for the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour.
Bonnie and her daughter are co-authoring a series of bilingual children’s books focusing on human rights.