This post originally appears on Adam Mendler's Leadership Blog

I recently went one on one with Malika Redmond. Malika is the co-founder and CEO of Women Engaged, a human rights and political power-building initiative that engages, organizes, and develops the leadership of Black women and young adults through voter engagement on justice issues dear to their lives.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? 

Malika: I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, known as the Steel City, and watching the Steelers play football was my family's favorite pastime.  My grandparents, my heroes, moved to Pittsburgh from the South to escape from Jim Crow and racist domestic terrorism, and my grandfather worked in the city’s steel mills and as a contractor building residential properties.  My grandparents built their own home from the ground up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and raised a family of 5.  My mother and her brothers were among a very small number of Black children who attended an all-white school system in the 50’s and 60’s dealing with daily bullying because of the color of their skin.  Yet through it all, my grandparents were able to create a very good quality of life for themselves and their family.  

Read the full interview »