Norris Henderson is the Founder and Executive Director of both VOTE and our sister organization, Voters Organized to Educate. Norris is a former OSI Soros Justice Fellow and has had tremendous success impacting public policy and discourse about reentry, police accountability, public defense for poor and indigent people, and reforming the notorious Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), also known as the Orleans Justice Center (OJC). In 2018, Norris served as the statewide campaign director for the Unanimous Jury Coalition, a ballot campaign that ended non-unanimous juries, and thus Jim Crow’s last stand in Louisiana.

As someone who was wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years, Norris shares firsthand experience of racism and brutality of the criminal justice system with communities of color across Louisiana. He was a jailhouse lawyer, a co-founder of the Angola Special Civics Project, and a trailblazer for freeing other wrongfully convicted people prior to the inception of the Innocence Project. While incarcerated, Norris co-founded a hospice program and also drafted a successful parole reform law for Lifers.

Norris regularly speaks publicly in support of underprivileged communities in New Orleans and acts as a general liaison to other community organizations in the city. Since his release in 2003 Norris has applied his 27 years of self-taught legal expertise and community organizing skills to a number of leadership positions, including Co-Director of Safe Streets/Strong Communities and Community Outreach Coordinator of the Louisiana Justice Coalition. Norris serves on a number of organizations’ Board of Directors, including Common Justice, and is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement, and has received numerous awards in the civil rights community.

Norris Henderson is the Founder and Executive Director of both VOTE and our sister organization, Voters Organized to Educate. Norris is a former OSI Soros Justice Fellow and has had tremendous success impacting public policy and discourse about reentry, police accountability, public defense for poor and indigent people, and reforming the notorious Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), also known as the Orleans Justice Center (OJC). In 2018, Norris served as the statewide campaign director for the Unanimous Jury Coalition, a ballot campaign that ended non-unanimous juries, and thus Jim Crow’s last stand in Louisiana.

As someone who was wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years, Norris shares firsthand experience of racism and brutality of the criminal justice system with communities of color across Louisiana. He was a jailhouse lawyer, a co-founder of the Angola Special Civics Project, and a trailblazer for freeing other wrongfully convicted people prior to the inception of the Innocence Project. While incarcerated, Norris co-founded a hospice program and also drafted a successful parole reform law for Lifers.

Norris regularly speaks publicly in support of underprivileged communities in New Orleans and acts as a general liaison to other community organizations in the city. Since his release in 2003 Norris has applied his 27 years of self-taught legal expertise and community organizing skills to a number of leadership positions, including Co-Director of Safe Streets/Strong Communities and Community Outreach Coordinator of the Louisiana Justice Coalition. Norris serves on a number of organizations’ Board of Directors, including Common Justice, and is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Families Movement, and has received numerous awards in the civil rights community.

After finding out there were no jobs for Irish history majors, Kristen fell into public interest communications, and then fell in love with it. She started as an intern with a firm that was just finishing up Nelson Mandela’s stadium tour, and a few years and many pitch calls later, became its president. In 2002, deciding the world could use more women-run companies, she started Spitfire Strategies. Her first order of business was to democratize the knowledge about how to create a strategic communication plan so lots of organizations could harness the growing power of communication to make the world better. After writing the Smart Chart, she used all its helpful tips to get more children health care coverage, get the Gulf Coast back on its feet after the BP oil spill, start the Executive Training Program to give CEOs the skills needed to run communicating organizations, and work for thousands of nonprofits and foundations around the world, learning more with every assignment.

As @headspitfire, she believes she has the best job in the world: hire the smartest people she can find, unleash them on clients doing essential work to advance racial and social justice, and roll up her sleeves and join in. She has created narratives that stick, messages that motivate, theories of influence that shape new laws of the land, campaign, and communication strategies that drive momentum for movements and field-building resources that share tricks of the trade so fellow progressive changemakers can do smarter, more impactful work.

Over her 30 years doing public interest communication and campaigns, she has worked for clients across issues and across the world. This includes work for clients like the Ford Foundation on Census 2020 and human rights in the global south, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on education reform, Walton Family Foundation on Gulf Coast and Mississippi River regional work on sustainable farming and development, Food Trust on food deserts, Patagonia on civic engagement, Georgia Organics on local, organic school meals, Environmental Defense Fund on climate policies, Carnegie Corporation on ending nuclear proliferation, Living Cities on racial inclusion in the C-Suite, Innocence Project on criminal justice reform, Farm to Fork on a safe, healthy food system, Media and Democracy Fund on online privacy, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on Voting Rights Act Reauthorization, Barr Foundation on transportation, Mott Foundation on clean Great Lakes and safe drinking water, Aspen Institute on family prosperity, NRDC on safe food and Meyer Memorial Trust on anti-hate, among others.

She is the mastermind behind Spitfire’s Smart Chart, Planning to Win, Mindful Messaging and Discovering the Activation Point, among other big think pieces. Always interested in learning more about how to get traction, she explores innovative efforts like using culture to shape meaning as she did with AndACTION. She thinks fast in a crisis, is deft at drawing phenomenal visionary speeches out of leaders and is someone you want in your corner when you’re ready to go big. When it comes to storytelling, all you need to know is that her last name is Grimm.

She is a go-to counselor for organizations and leaders embarking on organizational change. Whether supporting the first woman president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation as she took the helm, working with the UN environment and development agencies to craft a climate change platform for the Secretary General, writing speeches, op-eds and testimony for “Orange is the New Black” author Piper Kerman, or working with Greenville, South Carolina, leaders to create the political climate for more ambitious public transit, Kristen provides counsel that leads to measurable impact.

When not working, Kristen tours the country in her trailer. Yep, trailer. She lives in 16 feet with a husband and two dogs, checking out this country of ours and finding out it is a lot different than they would have us believe on the nightly news.

Kristen has a B.A. from Smith College. She currently serves on the boards of Grist and the Windward Fund, and she is on the advisory board for the Narrative Initiative. She is a member of the 2014 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute and serves in the moderator corps for Aspen. On faculty at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, she teaches a course on using influence to advance public policies.

After finding out there were no jobs for Irish history majors, Kristen fell into public interest communications, and then fell in love with it. She started as an intern with a firm that was just finishing up Nelson Mandela’s stadium tour, and a few years and many pitch calls later, became its president. In 2002, deciding the world could use more women-run companies, she started Spitfire Strategies. Her first order of business was to democratize the knowledge about how to create a strategic communication plan so lots of organizations could harness the growing power of communication to make the world better. After writing the Smart Chart, she used all its helpful tips to get more children health care coverage, get the Gulf Coast back on its feet after the BP oil spill, start the Executive Training Program to give CEOs the skills needed to run communicating organizations, and work for thousands of nonprofits and foundations around the world, learning more with every assignment.

As @headspitfire, she believes she has the best job in the world: hire the smartest people she can find, unleash them on clients doing essential work to advance racial and social justice, and roll up her sleeves and join in. She has created narratives that stick, messages that motivate, theories of influence that shape new laws of the land, campaign, and communication strategies that drive momentum for movements and field-building resources that share tricks of the trade so fellow progressive changemakers can do smarter, more impactful work.

Over her 30 years doing public interest communication and campaigns, she has worked for clients across issues and across the world. This includes work for clients like the Ford Foundation on Census 2020 and human rights in the global south, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on education reform, Walton Family Foundation on Gulf Coast and Mississippi River regional work on sustainable farming and development, Food Trust on food deserts, Patagonia on civic engagement, Georgia Organics on local, organic school meals, Environmental Defense Fund on climate policies, Carnegie Corporation on ending nuclear proliferation, Living Cities on racial inclusion in the C-Suite, Innocence Project on criminal justice reform, Farm to Fork on a safe, healthy food system, Media and Democracy Fund on online privacy, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on Voting Rights Act Reauthorization, Barr Foundation on transportation, Mott Foundation on clean Great Lakes and safe drinking water, Aspen Institute on family prosperity, NRDC on safe food and Meyer Memorial Trust on anti-hate, among others.

She is the mastermind behind Spitfire’s Smart Chart, Planning to Win, Mindful Messaging and Discovering the Activation Point, among other big think pieces. Always interested in learning more about how to get traction, she explores innovative efforts like using culture to shape meaning as she did with AndACTION. She thinks fast in a crisis, is deft at drawing phenomenal visionary speeches out of leaders and is someone you want in your corner when you’re ready to go big. When it comes to storytelling, all you need to know is that her last name is Grimm.

She is a go-to counselor for organizations and leaders embarking on organizational change. Whether supporting the first woman president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation as she took the helm, working with the UN environment and development agencies to craft a climate change platform for the Secretary General, writing speeches, op-eds and testimony for “Orange is the New Black” author Piper Kerman, or working with Greenville, South Carolina, leaders to create the political climate for more ambitious public transit, Kristen provides counsel that leads to measurable impact.

When not working, Kristen tours the country in her trailer. Yep, trailer. She lives in 16 feet with a husband and two dogs, checking out this country of ours and finding out it is a lot different than they would have us believe on the nightly news.

Kristen has a B.A. from Smith College. She currently serves on the boards of Grist and the Windward Fund, and she is on the advisory board for the Narrative Initiative. She is a member of the 2014 Class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute and serves in the moderator corps for Aspen. On faculty at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, she teaches a course on using influence to advance public policies.

Salandra is the Executive Director of the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Salandra’s community work involves educating youth in churches and college campuses about why civic engagement is vital to everyone. She educates them on why they need to become an activist for their family and community.

Over four decades, Salandra has served on many committees and boards. She has received many awards from organizations like the NAACP, NCBCP, Asa Philip Randolph Institute (APRI State of Florida), Metropolitan Life Foundation, and the United States Department of Agriculture. She also received the late great labor leader Jerry Wurf’s scholarship. Salandra’s work also includes working with women in Colombia, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, and other East African countries around the globe on women empowerment.

Salandra served as State Community Organizer and State Field Director for Florida AFL-CIO. Before joining the AFL-CIO staff, she served as the Organizing Director for the American Federation of State County Municipal Employees (AFSCME Council 79) in Florida. She has led and participated in several successful organizing campaigns in Florida and around the country to bring justice to working people and women. She served in various capacities of the labor movement, including President of Local 3040, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 2866, Executive Board Member for AFSCME Florida Council 79, Trustee for Space Coast AFL-CIO, Vice President for Space Coast APRI, President of The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist Central Florida Chapter, and Consultant for the Solidarity Center.

Salandra has a degree in Business Administration. Her peers at Harvard elected her to be the class speaker for Harvard Trade Union Program in 2008.

Salandra’s passion is for the younger generation because they can carry the vision, and her commitment is to the older generation because they have seen the vision. Her love is her family that keeps her lifted up.

Salandra is the Executive Director of the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Salandra’s community work involves educating youth in churches and college campuses about why civic engagement is vital to everyone. She educates them on why they need to become an activist for their family and community.

Over four decades, Salandra has served on many committees and boards. She has received many awards from organizations like the NAACP, NCBCP, Asa Philip Randolph Institute (APRI State of Florida), Metropolitan Life Foundation, and the United States Department of Agriculture. She also received the late great labor leader Jerry Wurf’s scholarship. Salandra’s work also includes working with women in Colombia, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, and other East African countries around the globe on women empowerment.

Salandra served as State Community Organizer and State Field Director for Florida AFL-CIO. Before joining the AFL-CIO staff, she served as the Organizing Director for the American Federation of State County Municipal Employees (AFSCME Council 79) in Florida. She has led and participated in several successful organizing campaigns in Florida and around the country to bring justice to working people and women. She served in various capacities of the labor movement, including President of Local 3040, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 2866, Executive Board Member for AFSCME Florida Council 79, Trustee for Space Coast AFL-CIO, Vice President for Space Coast APRI, President of The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist Central Florida Chapter, and Consultant for the Solidarity Center.

Salandra has a degree in Business Administration. Her peers at Harvard elected her to be the class speaker for Harvard Trade Union Program in 2008.

Salandra’s passion is for the younger generation because they can carry the vision, and her commitment is to the older generation because they have seen the vision. Her love is her family that keeps her lifted up.

Trabian Shorters is one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and the catalyst of a national movement to first define black people by their aspirations and contributions, then to secure their fundamental freedoms to Live, Own, Vote and Excel.

He is a retired tech entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and former vice president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation where he was responsible for $300M in active grants and endowments in 26 US cities.

His nonprofit social impact network, BMe Community, is award-winning for innovation, impact, and storytelling and boasts more than 400 black leaders plus institutional allies committed to building “equity without stigma.”

Shorters is the international authority on an award-winning cognitive framework called “Asset-Framing” which is in high-demand by heads of influential philanthropic, journalism and social impact networks. Asset-Framing equips its practitioners to have far greater social impact, raise more money, engage broader populations, and make fundamentally stronger cases for equity and systems-change.

Shorters is also the proud husband of international Radical/Purpose Clarity Coach, Yetunde Shorters, and father to two adult sons and preschool twin daughters whom he easily loves more than he loves air.

Trabian Shorters is one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and the catalyst of a national movement to first define black people by their aspirations and contributions, then to secure their fundamental freedoms to Live, Own, Vote and Excel.

He is a retired tech entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and former vice president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation where he was responsible for $300M in active grants and endowments in 26 US cities.

His nonprofit social impact network, BMe Community, is award-winning for innovation, impact, and storytelling and boasts more than 400 black leaders plus institutional allies committed to building “equity without stigma.”

Shorters is the international authority on an award-winning cognitive framework called “Asset-Framing” which is in high-demand by heads of influential philanthropic, journalism and social impact networks. Asset-Framing equips its practitioners to have far greater social impact, raise more money, engage broader populations, and make fundamentally stronger cases for equity and systems-change.

Shorters is also the proud husband of international Radical/Purpose Clarity Coach, Yetunde Shorters, and father to two adult sons and preschool twin daughters whom he easily loves more than he loves air.