Principal at Black Futures Lab, author of The Purpose of Power and co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, Alicia Garza, will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Chat for Impact Summit powered by WhatsApp.
The author, political strategist and organizer’s keynote at the America’s Summit will see Garza speak about her belief that Black communities deserve what all communities deserve - to be powerful in every aspect of their lives. To help materialize this, Garza founded the Black Futures Lab as a way of making Black communities powerful in politics and in 2018, the Black Futures Lab conducted the Black Census Project - the largest survey of Black communities in over 150 years. Garza’s belief that “hashtags don’t start movements. People do” will also be a theme of her keynote.
Taking place May 3-6 (Americas) and May 17-20 (EMEA/APAC), the Chat for Impact Summit powered by WhatsApp has been initiated to help organizations working in social justice and other impact areas to advance their goals of addressing societal issues using WhatsApp as a communication tool. Applications for the summit are now closed.
Alongside founding Black Futures Lab, Garza is the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, an international organizing project to end state violence and oppression against Black people. The Black Lives Matter Global Network now has 40 chapters in four countries. She also serves as the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s premier voice for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Additionally, Garza is the co-founder of Supermajority, a new home for women’s activism.
Garza has become a powerful voice in the media and frequently contributes thoughtful opinion pieces and expert commentary on politics, race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. Her work is featured in Time, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, Elle and Essence.
In addition, Garza has received numerous accolades and recognitions, including being on the cover of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World issue (September 2020), named to TIME’s 100 Women of the Year list (March 2020), Bloomberg 50 (2020), BBC’s 100 Women 2020, Fortune's 40 Under 40, Fast Company’s Queer 50 list, Politico 50 and 3x recipient of The Root’s list of 100 African American achievers and influencers. Garza has received the Sydney Peace Prize, Adweek Beacon Award, Glamour’s Women of the Year Award, Marie Claire’s New Guard Award, and was honored as the Community Change Agent at BET’s Black Girls Rock Awards.
Garza’s first book, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, was released in 2020 with One World (Penguin Random House) and she shares her thoughts on politics and pop culture on her podcast, Lady Don't Take No.
“Activism and change-making are key aspects of what the Chat for Impact community does and we’re thrilled that Alicia will be joining us as our America’s keynote speaker ” says Debbie Rogers, Managing Director of Praekelt.org. “Alicia’s expertise in the role of organizing and strategy is going to be both inspirational and highly insightful for our summit participants.”
The Chat for Impact Summit is powered by WhatsApp in partnership with Praekelt.org and Turn.io as well as global development community media platform Devex
For more information on the summit and how to apply, click here
