When Mothers Out Front launched in 2013, we believed that there was no more powerful force for change than women mobilizing to protect their children. We started out in living rooms in Boston first making connections with mothers who felt that we must act immediately to address the climate crisis. Nine years later, we have built a movement of over 35,000 mothers and other individuals who take action every day in their communities towards a livable climate for all children.
We are so proud of this growth of our movement. Not only in size, but in how we have begun to address climate justice and equity through our campaigns. It has been both challenging and tremendously rewarding. Mothers Out Front has reached an important turning point. We have new leadership in our Executive Director, Beth Shipp. Our new Strategic Plan is in place. It’s the perfect time to transition to a new National Leadership Team.
We are excited to introduce you to this amazing group of Mothers Out Front leaders. They each represent one of our five staffed states and have experience serving on community and state teams. Over the next year, they will be working together to develop Mothers Out Front into a strong, cohesive national community.
California: Anya Deepak
Anya believes that equity and environmental protection are inextricably linked and neither can happen without the other. Anya feels that enabling mothers to organize with and around their children can pave the way for a more resilient community and a more sustainable future for all. When not working hard to secure a livable future for all, she can be found in her little San Francisco neighborhood with her husband and their five-year-old.
Colorado: Velma Campbell
Environmental justice and social change have long been at the heart of Velma’s activities, beginning with her childhood in the segregated South during the civil rights movement caused her to pursue transformation and social change. She appreciates our organizing style and the philosophy that solving the climate crisis requires addressing the combined effects of systemic racism, classism, and corporate welfare. She loves to be engaged with energized and committed members of her community, state, and beyond.
Massachusetts: Mina Reddy
Since joining Mothers Out Front in 2016, Mina has been involved in her local chapter in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in statewide work on environmental justice and communications. She has co-coordinated the Massachusetts State Leadership Team, drawing on her experience in planning and facilitation. She enjoys meeting new people and connecting them to the many opportunities to be active with Mothers Out Front.
New York: Nora Brown
Nora has been part of Mothers Out Front since 2018, joining because she felt the need to plunge into climate action after she read the IPCC report that year. Since then, the community she has cultivated with her local team and the empowerment she feels doing her small part has become a huge part of her life and who she is.
Virginia: Bobby Monacella
Bobby worked in the outdoor industry for many years and developed an abiding love for the outdoors and wild places. She witnessed the growing impacts on the health of our climate firsthand and she became increasingly scared about the science which said her daughters’ futures were in peril. Bobby now lives in Vienna, VA, with her husband Joe, and two daughters, Katie and Ellie.
We could not be more excited about where Mothers Out Front is headed. Along with other leaders who have served on the NLT over the years, it has been fulfilling and gratifying to work towards this moment. We are so grateful to these leaders, and to have worked together with you to build this amazing movement of mothers who work so hard each day to make the world a better place for all children.