RASHAD ROBINSON
The back story
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Rashad Robinson is a nationally recognized social justice leader, strategist and author.
Rashad led Color Of Change for 13 years, transforming the organization from a small startup into a powerhouse of Black activism and a national force for social change. Before that, he led the advocacy and programmatic work at GLAAD during a period of achieving major cultural and political progress for LGBT people. Rashad’s strategy and leadership have played a critical role in winning real change on seemingly intractable problems: securing the right to marry and wining other advances for LGBT people; taking on corporate executives to win policy changes across Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street; taking on the financial and media infrastructure that enables right-wing extremists to gain political power; and launching a movement to elect a new generation of local prosecutors dedicated to police accountability and criminal justice reform.
As part of his work, Rashad co-led the largest advertising boycott in history: a $7 billion boycott of Facebook and Instagram. Before same-sex marriage was legal, he led the effort to get more than 100 local and regional newspapers to accept same-sex wedding announcements. He also co-founded a coalition of organizations in the aftermath of the 2016 election that proved essential for staging a comeback in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Rashad has counseled leaders across government, politics, philanthropy and both the nonprofit and corporate sectors.
Rashad led Color Of Change for 13 years, transforming the organization from a small startup into a powerhouse of Black activism and a national force for social change. Before that, he led the advocacy and programmatic work at GLAAD during a period of achieving major cultural and political progress for LGBT people. Rashad’s strategy and leadership have played a critical role in winning real change on seemingly intractable problems: securing the right to marry and wining other advances for LGBT people; taking on corporate executives to win policy changes across Silicon Valley, Hollywood and Wall Street; taking on the financial and media infrastructure that enables right-wing extremists to gain political power; and launching a movement to elect a new generation of local prosecutors dedicated to police accountability and criminal justice reform.
As part of his work, Rashad co-led the largest advertising boycott in history: a $7 billion boycott of Facebook and Instagram. Before same-sex marriage was legal, he led the effort to get more than 100 local and regional newspapers to accept same-sex wedding announcements. He also co-founded a coalition of organizations in the aftermath of the 2016 election that proved essential for staging a comeback in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Recognitions
Rashad’s work and insights are regularly featured in broadcast, written and social media, in outlets as varied as CNN, MSNBC, BET, NPR, NewsOne, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Essence, The Guardian and the Masters of Scale podcast with Bob Safian. He has published multiple whitepapers and book chapters on strategies for social change, as well as essays in series by Playboy, The Nation, Nonprofit Quarterly and a book about Bayard Rustin.
Rashad won a Webby Award for Best Political Podcast in 2020, won an ADCOLOR award, has been honored by many organizations across the social change sector, and was featured multiple times on Fast Company’s List of Most Innovative Companies. He has been profiled by The New York Times, Fast Company, Ebony, NPR, The Root and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Rashad also served as Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder, and as an inaugural Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity.
Upcoming Book Release
Rashad’s forthcoming book is a highly engaging mix of stories drawn from the frontlines of social change and a handbook for understanding and embracing the most important strategies for winning social change in our era—while avoiding the missteps that have so often led us to lose power instead of gaining it. It will be published in 2025 by One World Random House.