Liz Kennedy
communications + research alchemist
liz@leadtolife.org
Liz Kennedy is a storyteller, activist, and researcher from Ann Arbor, MI (originally called Gaa-giishka'aanig by the Objibwe people). She is committed to decomposing environmental and state violence and their roots in white supremacy, capitalism, settler colonialism, and heteropatriarchy. As a student at Duke University, Liz began her organizing career by protesting the Dan River coal ash spill in 2014. She later joined the Moral Monday Movement under Reverend William Barber’s leadership, and became a campus representative for the NAACP working at the intersections of racial, environmental, & social justice. She continued her commitment to environmental justice by working for United Way in Flint, Michigan in 2016, supporting community-led solutions to the water crisis.
Liz recently completed a fellowship as a Research and Policy Analyst with the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. She co-authored texts on just transition and energy justice, equitable climate change adaptation, youth organizing, black representation in the green economy, food justice, and more. As an intersectional black feminist, she's passionate about uniting and queering transnational struggles for environmental, gender, racial, and economic justice.