Bio

Since joining Color Of Change in 2011, Rashad has greatly expanded the scope, voice and impact of the organization. He opened three new offices (in New York, Hollywood and Washington, D.C.). Rashad led Color Of Change in a national campaign against the secretive, right-wing policy shop, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). After exposing ALEC's involvement in passing discriminatory voter ID laws—and deadly Stand Your Ground laws—Color Of Change pushed over 100 corporations to end their financial support of ALEC. Rashad similarly emerged as a game-changing new voice in the national fight over net neutrality, convincingly reframing the technology issue as a major civil rights issue, and leveraging the moral authority of Black communities across the country to win a free and open Internet for all. Rashad has appeared in hundreds of news stories, interviews, political discussions and as an op-ed author in media outlets including ABC, CNN, MSNBC, BET, NPR, The Root, The New York Times, the LA Times and Huffington Post. He was recently selected as one of EBONY Magazine’s Power 100 honorees for 2015, and for the past six years, The Root has named Rashad to “The Root 100” list of influential African Americans under 45. In 2015,Fast Company named Color Of Change the 6th Most Innovative Company in the world, and in 2016, the Stanford Social Innovation Review profiled Color Of Change for its strategies in “pursuing the fight for racial justice at Internet speed” in both online and offline venues. Rashad is a the proud recipient of awards from many notable organizations, including an honorary doctorate from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Prior to his work at Color Of Change, Rashad served as Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD, where he led the organization’s programmatic and advocacy work to transform the representation of LGBT people in news and entertainment media.