ABOUT SUMMER WILLIS
Summer Willis is an endurance athlete, world-record holder, sexual assault survivor, and namesake of the Texas consent law, The Summer Willis Act. With our help, Summer lobbied government officials and changed the law, forging new civil rights protections for countless women across the state.
As a sophomore in college, she was drugged by one student and raped by another. After she woke up the next morning, her attackers bragged about the assault in their fraternity's newsletter. When Summer tried to seek justice, she was stunned to discover she couldn’t–under Texas law, sexually assaulting a voluntarily intoxicated person, or someone impaired by a substance and incapable of giving consent, does not technically count as rape.
Summer spent the next decade struggling to come to terms with what had happened to her. She chose to reclaim her sense of self with the only way she knew how–by running dozens of marathons to raise awareness, one by crawling on her hands and knees, and another with a mattress tied on her back. What followed was Summer’s rediscovery of her inner strength–and her impassioned commitment to activism, advocating for other sexual assault victims and fighting tirelessly for their dignity.
Today, as the founder of Strength Through Strides, a nonprofit supporting survivors of sexual assault, Willis continues to raise awareness and fight for bipartisan policy reform to protect survivors and hold perpetrators accountable.
ABOUT MONICA LEWINSKY
Monica Lewinsky is a producer, social activist, global public speaker and contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Her focus is on storytelling that moves the conversation forward – around shame, reclaiming identities and justice for women.
In 2014, Lewinsky authored an essay nominated for a National Magazine Award titled “Shame and Survival” for Vanity Fair in which she re-examined her personal experiences at the center of a political, legal and media maelstrom in 1998, and challenged the often-misogynistic culture of shame that continues to cannibalize the powerless. Lewinsky was a speaker at the 2015 TED Conference in Vancouver; her speech, “The Price of Shame,” has been viewed nearly 20 million times.
She has also spoken at the Forbes “30 Under 30 Summit” and delivered the Ogilvy + Inspire Lecture at the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival. Lewinsky is an executive producer on the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame for HBO Max and producer of FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story. Her company, Alt Ending Productions, recently announced a first look production deal with 20th Television.
We began working with Monica in 2014 where we devised a strategy centered on continually building momentum; raising the impact and reach of each press moment. We engaged ad firm BBDO to create a PSA campaign around the issues of shaming and bullying, and subsequently we worked twice more on major campaigns for bullying prevention month.
ABOUT
THE SUMMER WILLIS ACT
Before the Summer Willis Act, if a victim in Texas was voluntarily intoxicated, their rape did not legally count as rape. The Summer Willis Act closed that legal loophole.
Two weeks before the final deadline to have the bill scheduled for a vote, DVMC stepped in to push it over the finish line through media exposure.
DVMC worked tirelessly to raise awareness for the legislation and its necessity. By securing media coverage across all of Texas, DVMC ensured lawmakers were aware of the importance of the act.
With a strategy that tapped into our relentless determination, even holding a press conference just days before the vote on the steps of the Senate building, DVMC was able to maintain the pressure needed to see this bill scheduled.
In our short work window, DVMC secured a total media reach of over 3 billion.
After two weeks of persistent campaigning, the Summer Willis Act passed with near-unanimous support in the Texas Senate chambers.
Under the new law, sexual assault in Texas is without consent if the actor knows or reasonably should know that the other person cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment, regardless of who provided the substance. It also clarifies that consent must be ongoing, and a person who continues an act after consent has been withdrawn can be charged.
With our help, the Summer Willis Act will now protect countless women across all of Texas. By advocating for stronger protections for rape victims, DVMC is proud of our efforts in the fight for sexual assault survivors.
The Summer
Willis Act
If the Summer Willis Act, a Texas bill that would close a legal loophole in rape cases, was not scheduled by the end of the day on May 20th, 2025, it would die in committee and be postponed for at least another two years, leaving sexual assault victims without the justice they need and deserve.
In the last two weeks before the deadline, DVMC stepped in to amplify the Summer Willis Act, spreading its namesake's story and raising awareness to help pass the legislation.
Case Study
