I am a values-driven progressive leader with a passion for building strong and resilient communities. Originally from suburban Virginia, I moved to Durham, North Carolina in 1999 to attend Duke University and graduated in 2003 with a B.A. in public policy and a minor in women’s studies. I have worked in the non-profit sector since 2004 and have experience in operations, organizing, strategy, technical support, and development. I am passionate about advancing an inclusive, multiracial, cross-class, feminist democracy, decommodifying housing, building worker power, expanding cooperative governance, and ending the carceral state.
In December of 2023, I became the Southern Regional Field Director at Movement Voter Project, previously serving as the North Carolina State Advisor from June 2020. MVP is a funding intermediary that works to strengthen progressive power at all levels of government by helping donors support the best and most promising local community-based organizations, with a focus on communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQ communities, and youth. In this role, I support the work of over 60 grassroots partners across the region that are doing the critical work of building a more equitable, just, and sustainable South.
From 2015 to 2023 I served as an at-large representative on the Durham City Council. I was elected on a platform that focused on racial, economic, and environmental justice, police accountability, equitable development, broadening democracy, and centering the voices of those who are most impacted by injustice. I was the first openly LGBTQ person elected to the Durham City Council and the youngest member of the council. In 2017, I was unanimously chosen to serve as Mayor Pro Tempore by my council colleagues and served until 2021. I was elected to a second term on the Durham City Council in 2019, which ended in 2023.
I am also a co-founder of Durham for All, an organization working to build multi-racial, cross-class, democratic participation in Durham, and co-founder and board co-chair of Southern Vision Alliance, a grassroots intermediary that supports emergent grassroots groups and efforts organizing for social, racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice in the U.S. South. In March of 2022 I was elected co-chair of Local Progress, a network of local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government, and I am co-chair of our NC chapter.
In my free time, I enjoy playing tabletop and video games, fancy cocktails, dancing, and cuddling babies. I live in Durham’s West End neighborhood with a friendly and eclectic collection of humans, dogs, cats, and chickens.