Life after leading Moms Demand Action

My next chapter is literally a bunch of chapters

When I was in high school, I dreamed of becoming an investigative journalist. I was weirdly obsessed with Watergate as a child and as a teen I just knew I was going to be the first woman to break through all that male bravado on 60 Minutes. Following my dream took me from my home in Texas to the University of Missouri, where I majored in sociology and journalism.

As a columnist for the campus newspaper (the cannily named Maneater), I lived to tell provocative stories — like the time I whipped women on campus into a frenzy when I unveiled Playboy magazine’s plans to promote a new calendar of Playmates at our college bookstore. So many students protested that the event was cancelled, and it was a profound realization that my words could effect change.

Unfortunately, getting through one of the nation’s most esteemed J-schools was stymied by my inability to get a passing grade in statistics (thanks to a lifelong struggle with ADHD). I ended up pursuing a career in public relations when I graduated, but over the years my love of writing has never ebbed.

In fact, I think it’s fair to say that much of my work with Moms Demand Action has been centered around storytelling: from my first post on Facebook calling on women to take on the NRA to organizing emails to speechwriting to sharing the stories of daily gun violence and mass shootings on social media. And in 2019 I wrote an actual book called “Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World” (I’m incredibly excited to share that I’m working on another book about women’s empowerment and leadership — more on that soon).

Social media is becoming more diffuse every day and our discourse is getting coarser in spaces like Twitter, so I’ve made the decision to spend my time writing and sharing my thoughts here on Substack. As I step back from my leadership role with Moms Demand Action, I’m eager to write candidly about everything from organizing to leadership to politics to neurodivergence to women’s issues and more. I’ll also be hosting lots of provocative (there’s that word again) conversations on Instagram with thought leaders spanning a multitude of spaces. And I’m so, so excited to interact with and learn from all of you here, too.

Transitions can be scary (I’ll write about that!), but writing through things has always helped me find my way in the past, and I know it will help me clear a pathway to my future. I couldn’t be more honored to have you along for the journey.