Welmore Cook Awardee

 

Aisha C. Moodie-Mills is President and CEO at the Victory Fund and Institute, the nation’s largest resource for openly LGBT public officials. She leads a team dedicated to developing the careers and leadership potential of thousands of Victory program participants and endorsed candidates who go on to add their authentic voices to the fight for LGBT equality and opportunity.

Prior to joining Victory, Aisha was Senior Fellow and Director of the FIRE Initiative at the Center for American Progress, where her work explored the intersections of race, class, and sexuality. She is also the host of “Politini,” a weekly politics and pop culture show on BLIS.FM. She has been recognized as one of the top “Forty Under 40” national LGBT leaders by The Advocate and one of The Root’s 100 emerging and established leaders in the African American community.

Aisha’s work and publications have been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Atlantic, Black Enterprise, The Washington Post, Essence, Politico, Ebony, The Huffington Post, and Uptown Magazine, and she also appears regularly as a political commentator on MSNBC. She made numerous headlines as a key strategist and spokesperson forthe campaign that brought marriage equality to the District of Columbia, where she and her wife, Danielle, were among the first same-sex couples to receive a marriage license. Their wedding was also the first lesbian wedding featured by Essence magazine online.

Throughout her career, Aisha has served as a political advisor, private-sector liaison, and fundraiser to more than 50 members of Congress, including six senators and the Congressional Black Caucus. Prior to her work at American Progress, she was the president of Synergy Strategy Group, a boutique fundraising and political consulting firm where she raised millions of dollars for progressive candidates and advocacy organizations while helping amplify their voice in the public policy arena and expand their political reach.

Aisha began her career in education policy and nonprofit management at the Center for Education Reform. She holds two degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park: a master of business administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

About the Award

The Welmore Cook Award is presented annually to two members of the local Black LGBT community for outstanding leadership. Welmore Cook was one of the co-founders of Black Lesbian & Gay Pride Day which is now known as DC Black Pride. More information about DC Black Pride Awards.