Brea Baker

Brea Baker is an activist and writer working to build a world where joy, safety, and community are accessible to all Black people. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University where she held internships with the U.S. Department of State in Botswana, Public Defender Service D.C., Co-Director of AIDS Walk New Haven, and served as President of Yale’s NAACP Chapter.

Brea Baker social justice work began at the age of 18 as a student activist and, over the last decade, she has contributed to dozens of electoral and advocacy campaigns including the 2017 Women’s March where Brea Baker served as the youngest national organizer, the 2018 student walkouts against gun violence following the Parkland shooting, and Jumaane Williams’ successful bid for NYC Public Advocate.

At present day, Brea Baker is the Chief Equity Officer at Inspire Justice, a social impact firm and creative agency where she advises entertainment and media industry leaders on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and anti-racism in storytelling.

As part of Inspire Justice, Brea also connects progressive influencers to political campaigns including mutual aid programs, Los Angeles ballot measure initiatives, and Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential run.

Wearing many hats, Brea also supports nonprofits and political leaders on a range of issues including juvenile justice, grassroots mobilization, deradicalization, communications strategy, and digital engagement. 

As a freelance writer, Brea Baker comments on race, gender, sexuality, and public safety for leading publications including ELLE, Harper’s BAZAAR, Refinery 29, and Coveteur. Her book, Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft & The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership, will be published by One World (an imprint of Penguin Random House). For her work in coalition with others, Brea has been recognized as a 2023 Creative Capital awardee, 2017 Glamour Woman of the Year and 2019 i-D Up and Rising.

Brea Baker is a skilled communications strategist, influencer engagement professional, activist/organizer, and social impact advisor. She has contributed to dozens of electoral and advocacy campaigns including the 2017 Women’s March (where she served as the youngest national organizer), the 2018 student walkouts against gun violence, Jumaane Williams’ successful bid for NYC Public Advocate, and more.

Brea Baker | Social Justice Activist

Brea Baker is a queer Black millennial activist working at the intersections of race, gender identity, public safety, and community. She has spoken about her work across the country and around the world including Yale University School of Art, Yale Law School, the United Nations’ Girl Up Foundation, ABC’s The View, Pace Gallery, New York City Pride, Disney+, Audible, and dozens of colleges and universities.

RACIAL AND GENDER JUSTICE 

Intersectionality in practice isn’t the feel good slogan we think it is? It requires centering the most marginalized in a way that’s not intuitive to our normally self-centered society. What does intersectional feminism truly look like?

PEOPLE-POWERED MOVEMENT 

Can encompass a wide range of issues under the umbrella of building progressive mass movements. What are the steps for more committed activists to building out campaigns that can take their work to the next level? How can we lean into populism to disrupt far-right agendas? How do we ensure our work is leader-full?

POLITICAL STORYTELLING 

We live in a society and world full of silos and echo chambers. In order to truly effect change we have to pause from preaching to the choir and reach those who think of themselves as neutral or actively against progressive moments. Whether you’re trying to get out of the cycle of social media arguments, trying to convince family members, or trying to tell your own story, let’s break down the anatomy of political storytelling and take on new strategies.

BLACK LAND MATTERS 

This country has always been happy to see Black people working the land but rarely if ever owning it. It’s impossible to understand the 21st century racial wealth gap without first un- packing the historic attacks on Indigenous and Black land ownership.

Land theft has been detrimental in creating and widening the racial wealth gap, privatizing natural resources, and creating a permanent barrier to land that should be a birthright for Black and Indigenous communities. In this session Brea Baker will provide a brief overview of the attack on Black ownership that spurred the Great Migration along with the current movement to reclaim that land led by Black farmers and Southerners.

IN PERSON
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT AND YOUTH LEADERSHIP 

Youth political leadership is the norm, not the rule and yet young activists are treated like gimmicks. Through exploring historic and current examples of youth leadership, we’ll understand how young people can find their entry point into this work and what adults can do as allies to that work without eclipsing it.

THE STATE OF POLICING AND THE CASE FOR ABOLITION 

How did mass incarceration and over policing proliferate in this way? What is the history of expanding the carceral state and what are the opportunities for eradicating it?

MOVING BEYOND ALLYSHIP 

If we’re learning and growing, then we should be constantly asking ourselves how to be better allies. Whether to other racial groups or to those from other religious backgrounds (or lack thereof), we can always be doing more for those more marginalized than us and yet we tend to fall short. What should true allyship look like?

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