Vanessa Priya Daniel
Vanessa Priya Daniel is the author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, March, 2025), which cracks open a long overdue conversation about the obstacles women of color leaders face when leading social justice organizations, how they navigate them, and how others can show up. Vanessa has worked in social justice movements for 25 years as a labor and community organizer and funder. She founded and served for 17 years as executive director of Groundswell Fund, a leading funder of women of color-led grassroots and electoral organizing. She is a recipient of the Smith College Medal, was featured by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of fifteen “Influencers” who are changing the non-profit world, and by Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy.” She has written for The New York Times and other publications.
Presentations from Facing Race 2024
Unrigging the Game for Women of Color Movement Leaders
Women of color leaders are the backbone of most social justice movements, and have been responsible for many of the most significant social justice and environmental victories of our time. Remarkably, they’ve accomplished this despite conditions—in their fields and organizations—that make leadership uniquely treacherous for them.
Unrig the Game (Random House, March, 2025), asks the question: How much more could humanity be winning if we unrigged the system that hinders women of color leaders? What might be possible, in this clutch moment of history, with so much on the line, if movements stopped benching our best in ways that negatively impact the scoreboard for everybody? What if these leaders were unencumbered by barriers like: the assumption of incompetence, the demand that they mammy/mother and prove likability, a zero-tolerance policy for failure, and abandonment when they are attacked? It draws on interviews with nearly 50 prominent women of color social justice leaders to explore how to support effective women of color leaders so we can all win.
LaTosha Brown calls Unrig, “Essential reading for everyone who wants progressive movements to win.” Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson calls it, “An immeasurable gift to anyone trying to understand movement today.” Linda Sarsour says, “I didn’t know how much I needed this book,” and Ai-Jen Poo shares it is, “like sitting in a sister circle with some of the greatest movement leaders of our time.” This session features Daniel in conversation with Race Forward’s own Eric Ward, preceding a discussion with participants about key themes in the book.
Speakers: Vanessa Priya Daniel, Eric Ward