🌱 About Avery

I’m a strategist, facilitator, coach, and consultant with over 20 years of experience organizing for justice. I’ve led local and statewide racial justice campaigns, built cross-class and multiracial coalitions, trained hundreds of leaders, and helped organizations transform their culture, structure, and strategy from the inside out.

But this work isn’t just what I do—it’s who I am.

I’ve been doing this work the majority of my life, drawn in by a deep sense that things could be different—and that transformation is possible when we face power with honesty and love. I bring sharp analysis, political clarity, and a deep embodiment of this work. My approach is joyful, grounded, and radically honest.

I’ve served as:

• Founding Director of Showing Up for Racial Justice Ohio, mobilizing white people into multiracial movements and Board Member of SURJ National, helping to build the organization across the country.

• Statewide Organizer and Strategic Advisor across criminal justice and economic justice campaigns

• Facilitator and trainer for coalitions, funders, and social change organizations

• Coach and consultant to people navigating identity, power, and purpose in their lives and work

I hold a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on policy and systems change, and a BA in Cultural Studies and Community Organizing from Antioch College. Antioch’s legacy as a leftist, student-led institution deeply shaped me—it’s a place where shared governance, critical thought, and community action aren’t theoretical, they’re lived. As a student and then staff member, I helped lead the fight to keep the college alive during its attempted closure, and co-governed alongside faculty and staff to transform our community through participatory democracy. Antioch taught me how to organize—and to believe that even the most entrenched systems can change.

I’m white, trans, from a very working class background, deeply political, and totally committed to our freedom. I believe in justice that’s not just theoretical—but felt, lived, and practiced. And I believe we can get there, together.

🚵 When I'm not supporting a healthy movement ecosystem, you can find me on my bicycle for long-distance rides, taking care of my silly pitbull, Little Man, or spending heart nourishing times with loved ones. Ohio summer is my favorite season and adventuring (or curled up at home reading a good book) keeps me in love with the world. I'm also a printmaker and take weekly classes at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center 🎨