Co-founder, Black Voters Matter

As the co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund and the BVM Capacity Building Institute, LaTosha is adamant about ensuring that all human beings have access to quality education, safety, security, peace, love and happiness. From creating community-led funds to establishing donor networks, LaTosha has raised millions of dollars to support social justice causes and created projects that bring more investments into marginalized communities. In addition to being recognized as a well-respected leader in the South who has led numerous initiatives, campaigns and special projects to empower marginalized communities, LaTosha is leading several international efforts to provide training, support and funding for women-led institutions based in Guyana, Senegal, Belize and Tanzania.

President and CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Convener, Black Women's Roundtable

Melanie Campbell is president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable. Campbell is recognized as one of the hardest working leaders in today’s Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Social Justice Movement. She is a veteran at leading highly successful multi-million dollar civic engagement and issue-based organizing campaigns. Campbell brings together Black women nationally and key states to build power for black women and girls, families and communities to live their best lives by focusing on four strategic platforms: health & wellness, economic security & prosperity, education and global empowerment.

California Board of Supervisors for Equalization

Malia serves as Chair on the California State Board of Equalization, the first African American woman to serve on the Board. Prior to being elected to the Board of Equalization, Malia served as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She currently serves as President of the San Francisco Police Commission where she is a strong voice for police accountability. She has championed policies and programs that protect public health, foster economic development, promote new a¬ffordable housing, and that create good jobs.

Board Chair Cohen was born and raised in San Francisco. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Masters in Science in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Colorado State Representative

State Representative Leslie Herod was elected in 2016 as the first LGBTQ African American in the Colorado General Assembly. Since then, she has passed over 100 bills, addressing criminal justice reform, mental health, addiction, youth homelessness, and civil rights protections. Herod serves as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee and is a member of the powerful Joint Budget Committee. Some of her signature work includes ending cash bail for minor offenses, de-felonizing drug possession, giving every Colorado newborn a $100 college kickstarter account, providing free menstrual hygiene products to inmates in Colorado’s prisons and jails, passing a comprehensive police accountability bill following the highly public murder of George Floyd, and the nationwide movement that followed.

President and CEO Dependable Source Corp.

Willie Jones has been a leader in the transportation and staffing industries, supplying experienced, professional and DOT certified commercial drivers to manufacturers, distributors and motor carriers throughout the South. In 2018, Jones was selected as one of Mississippi’s Top CEOs by MS Business Journal. Her organization was recognized in 2016 as one of the Largest Minority Owned Businesses in Mississippi by the Mississippi Business Journal, and Top 50 Women in Business 2013. Jones became the first African American woman in Mississippi to establish a truck driver training school. Jones provided quality in-home care to seniors and other clients who needed help with the activities of daily living for over eight years (2011-2019). Through these efforts her agency enriched the lives of clients as they enabled them to maintain the highest possible level of independent living in their own home for as long as possible, in addition to providing jobs for women in Mississippi.

Founding director of the People’s Advocacy Institute, and co-director of the Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives

A legal professional, transformative justice strategist, Rukia Lumumba is founding director of the People’s Advocacy Institute, and co-director of the Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives. Rukia currently serves on the boards of Operation Shoestring, a Mississippi based early childcare non-profit, the Edward W. Hazen Foundation dedicated to youth-of-color leadership development, Black Voters Matter which is committed to increasing political power in Black communities, and the Abolition Law Center dedicated to providing free legal support to people serving life sentences. She was selected as one of the brightest and most promising women of color by New York University Wagner School of Public Service and she is a 2011 Youth for Justice Leadership Fellow for the National Juvenile Justice Network.

OBGYN, Pregnancy accommodations/ Black maternal health

Dr. Owens is a Maternal Fetal Medicine subspecialist and Professor in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where she serves as Chief of the MFM division and Program Director of the MFM fellowship. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists executive committee and the MS Women’s Foundation. Her research and clinical interests are in Maternal health equity, preterm labor, sickle cell disease, hypertensive and substance use disorders in pregnancy. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters, and is a two-time Gubernatorial appointee to the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure and also serves on the State Board of Nursing. Dr. Owens has been a passionate advocate for women’s health and health equity both locally and nationally. Dr. Owens is the Clinical Director for Mae Health, a culturally competent digital health platform connecting Black expectant mothers with critical resources to drive positive pregnancy outcomes. She also serves as the Medical Director for Converge, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring all people can access high quality family planning care when they need it, how they need it and where they live.

Co-convener and Lead Organizer for the BWR

Cassandra Overton Welchlin is co-convener and lead organizer of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable an inter-generational statewide network dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter participation among black women while at the forefront of championing just and equitable public policy on behalf of Black women and girls. Prior to joining MS BWR, she cofounded and launched the ambitious and progressive MS Women's Economic Security Initiative (MWESI). Her work has led to legislative & policy wins in child care, juvenile justice reform, health care for women and the most vulnerable and domestic violence in addition to preventing harmful legislation & policies in child care, education, women’s healthcare and safety net programs from going into effect.

Vice President of Advocacy, Alliances & Policy, Oxfam America

Gina is the Vice President of Advocacy, Alliances & Policy for Oxfam America where she oversees research, policy, advocacy, campaigning, and building Oxfam's network of US allies, partners, and supporters to influence the US government and US corporations.

Gina joined Oxfam America in 2006 as an Organizing and Alliances Manager where she developed the Sisters on the Planet ambassadors program, as well as alliances with chefs and other key allies. She then served as Director of campaigns setting the strategic direction for Oxfam’s advocacy campaigns and developing the team structures to support them.

Prior to joining Oxfam, Gina was Chief Operating Officer of Physicians for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. She managed day-to-day operations and supervised senior teams that oversaw policy, media, and fundraising work; forensic investigations; research; campaigns; and human resources.

Gina’s work included looking at the impact of torture in Guantanamo prison; juvenile justice in the US; asylum and human rights in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chechnya, Sierra Leone and Rwanda; and forensic investigations to determine crimes against humanity and genocide in Guatemala, Honduras, Rwanda, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She also served as the organization’s Director of Campaigns, organizing medical and nursing school programs, and establishing partnerships and projects with Partners In Health, the American Public Health Association, and other health-related organizations.

Rachael D. Johnson was elected in April, 2017 to serve as Judge of Civil District Court, Division B in Orleans Parish, LA. She was re-elected without opposition in July, 2020. Immediately prior to being elected, she was a Senior Staff Attorney with the Law Offices of Julie E. Vaicius, which serves as staff counsel in Louisiana for Hartford Insurance and its subsidiaries.

Judge Johnson began her legal career in 2005 as a law clerk for the Honorable Nadine Ramsey at Civil District Court in Orleans Parish. In 2006, she became an associate at the Gary, Williams, Finney law firm in Stuart, Florida representing hundreds of plaintiffs in Vioxx litigation, personal injury and wrongful death cases.  She then worked as an assistant City Attorney with the City of Riviera Beach, FL, where she advised the city and its various boards on a variety of matters.  She is a 2005 graduate of Tulane Law School where she was a member of the juvenile litigation law clinic and served on the Executive board of the Black Law Students Association. Judge Johnson attended Spelman College in Atlanta, GA where she received a B.A. in Psychology in 1998. She also has a Masters in Social Work from Smith College. Judge Johnson practiced clinical and adoption social work in Atlanta, GA before returning to New Orleans for law school.

Judge Johnson is active in several professional and civic organizations. She currently serves as Secretary for the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program and on the executive board of the A. P. Tureaud Chapter of the Inns of Court, the Louisiana Judicial Council- NBA, and the Paul S. Morton Scholarship Foundation. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Grace House-Bridge House. She is a past President of the Greater New Orleans Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, a former member of Louisiana State Bar Association Board of Governors and the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel. She is a member of United Fellowship Church and the New Orleans Chapter of the Links, Inc. Judge Johnson was born and raised in New of Orleans and is proud graduate of McDonogh #35 Senior High School. She is married to Telley Madina and has three step-children.

Senior Advisor, Oxfam America

Sophia Lafontant is a Senior Advisor at Oxfam America and currently living in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two daughters. Her areas of focus are strategic alliances and partnerships. In her over a decade long career in international development, she has led a global campaign, advocacy efforts to support the people of Haiti following the Haiti earthquake of 2010 and educated and organized thousands of college students on a whole host of issues.

When she isn't working, she loves spending time with her big Haitian family or traveling with her husband and daughters. She has a master’s in public administration from American University and a bachelor’s degree in social work from St. Edwards University.

Senior Policy Advisor and Program Lead for Mississippi and Louisiana, Oxfam America

Joi Owens Norwood is Oxfam America's Senior Policy Advisor and Program Lead for Mississippi and Louisiana. As an experienced policy advocate, organizer, and coalition builder, Joi has received several local and national prestigious awards. Before joining Oxfam, Joi served as the managing attorney and lobbyist for Disability Rights Mississippi, worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, and served as a Judicial Intern for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She also served on the Mississippi Bar's Women in the Profession Committee and the Mississippi Women's Lawyers Association board of directors. Joi earned her B.A. in Speech Communication from Jackson State University and her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law. Norwood was a 2016 National Juvenile Justice Fellow, a 2017 Mississippi Bar Leadership Class graduate, a 2019 Leadership Mississippi graduate, and 2020 young professionals on the rise award recipient. In addition, she is a proud wife and mother to a son, Legend, and daughter, Soleil who was born in February 2022.

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University's 2019 Heimark Artist -In -Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston. Her work can be found in or forthcoming from with TriQuarterly Magazine, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Globe, Essence Magazine, Redivider, The Academy of American Poets, Netflix, Wildness Press, The Museum of Fine Arts and elsewhere

Pushcart Prize nominee, a USC Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Fellow and a Department of Cultural Affairs City of Los Angeles (COLA) Master Artist Fellow, Shonda Buchanan is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian.

An award-winning poet, fiction, nonfiction writer and educator, Shonda is the recipient of the Brody Arts Fellowship from the California Community Foundation, a Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, several Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grants, the Denise L. Scott and Frank Sullivan Awards, and an Eloise Klein-Healy Scholarship. Shonda is also a Sundance Institute Writing Arts fellow, a PEN Center Emerging Voices fellow and a Jentel Artist Residency fellow. Finalist for the 2021 Mississippi Review poetry contest, Shonda’s memoir, Black Indian, won the 2020 Indie New Generation Book Award and was chosen by PBS NewsHour as a "Top 20 books to read" to learn about institutional racism. About to enter a 3rd printing, Black Indian begins the saga of her family’s migration stories of Free People of Color communities exploring identity, ethnicity, landscape and loss. Her first collection of poetry, Who’s Afraid of Black Indians? was nominated for the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the Library of Virginia Book Awards.

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