Victory Fund names Aisha Moodie-Mills new president
Photo by Todd Franson
Aisha Moodie-Mills will become the next president and CEO of the Victory Fund and Institute, the LGBT-rights organization’s board of directors announced Thursday.
When she takes the reins in April, Moodie-Mills will be the first lesbian and first person of color to lead the organization, filling the position vacated by Chuck Wolfe in January after 12 years.
“We believe that Aisha is exactly the person Victory needs to usher in an innovative and holistic approach to creating a pipeline for exceptional LGBT leadership and public officials,” said Kim Hoover, chair of the Victory Fund board, in a statement. “To us, Aisha represents the future of the LGBT movement. We are at a pivotal moment and in order to continue our momentum we need the insight and energy that Aisha brings to the job.”
Moodie-Mills joins the nonpartisan Victory Fund, which helps elect out LGBT candidates at all levels of government across the country, after more than four years at the Center for American Progress (CAP). As a senior fellow at CAP she launched the FIRE (Fighting Injustice to Reach Equality) Initiative exploring the intersections of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. She has also served as a political advisor and consultant, private-sector liaison and fundraiser for more than 40 member of Congress. She and her wife, Danielle, cofounded Politini Media, a boutique communications strategy company that produces new media content, and host the weekly podcast Politini.
“Her ideas for building a strong and visible network of LGBT leaders in public life align perfectly with Victory’s mission, but her vision to greatly amplify the impact of those leaders is what really captured the board’s attention,” said Mike Holloman, chair of the Victory Institute board, in a statement.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Moodie-Mills articulated a vision for the organization focused on grassroots efforts in areas and communities lacking LGBT representation, including the African-American and transgender communities.
“We’re not going to win North Carolina if we don’t find and cultivate members of the African-American community who also happen to be LGBT to run,” she told BuzzFeed News. “We have to go places and actually make sure that our constituents know that we care about the populations that’s there and that the people we are supporting to run reflect the demographics of the people there.”
In an email to Victory Fund supporters, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) — the first out member of the Senate — announced the selection of Moodie-Mills to lead the organization.
“Today marks a new chapter in Victory’s vital work to establish a pipeline of LGBT leaders and help these change agents enter public office, which gives us all a powerful voice in our government,” Baldwin said. “I’m thrilled that Aisha will be the first woman to lead Victory, but more importantly, she will bring a smart, inclusive, and experienced brand of leadership to the job.”
Read Metro Weekly’s August 2013 interview with Moodie-Mills.
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