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Women to Know 2020, Arisha Hatch

Source: iOne Creative Team / other

 

Arisha Hatch,

Vice President and Chief of Campaigns at Color Of Change.

Although Arisha Hatch never planned to be in politics, her passion for social justice and civic engagement made her career path inevitable. After attending undergraduate school at Stanford University and law school at Santa Clara University, Hatch left her legal career to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. During that time, the Texas native worked to overturn Proposition 8 in California, which would have banned same-sex marriage. She also served as National Organizing Director of the Courage Campaign, which sets the groundwork for progressive change in California. After hearing President Rashad Robinson’s speech on Color of Change’s commitment to social justice and empowering Black people, Hatch joined the civil rights organization in 2012, where she now serves as Vice President and Chief of Campaigns. 

With Color of Change, Hatch has successfully worked to elect progressive prosecutors across the country, including helping to unseat Bob McCullough, the prosecutor in St. Louis County who failed to indict the police officer that killed Michael Brown.  She has called herself “an organizer who is  dedicated to building political power for Black folks.” Hatch’s expertise also extends beyond voting rights and civic engagement. She is a leader in corporate and media accountability, and has gotten processors like Mastercard and PayPal to ban the use of their platforms by white supremacists. She convinced Saturday Night Live to add two Black women to its cast and writer’s room and led the protests that demanded RCA drop R. Kelly from their label.

In 2016, Hatch launched the Black Women’s Brunch Tour to connect Black women around sisterhood and joy. To date, nearly 40,000 women have attended. “To empower Black joy in our communities can look like a lot of things. It could look like having a district attorney who is actually responsive, who goes to bed each night afraid of disappointing black people, that actually has values that are more aligned. It could also mean delivering water to folks in Flint that don’t have it, or making sure that folks have school supplies. Or a black women’s brunch where we appreciate each other and build commitment to support one another,” she has said.

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