Malia Lazu

Malia Lazu is the executive director of Harry Belafonte's The Gathering, an intergenerational, intercultural organization working to reintroduce nonviolence to our communities to stop child incarceration. Formerly Progressive Majority's director of The Racial Justice Campaign, Malia and her team identified, trained and elected progressive candidates of color at the state and local levels. Before joining the Progressive Majority, Malia served as national field director for The Institute for Policy Studies' Cities for Progress program, for Young Voters Alliance and Democracy Action Project, and as campaign manager for several state and local races. Malia was the founding executive director of Mass VOTE, a statewide nonpartisan coalition of community and faith-based organizations recognized by the Massachusetts State Senate and House for increasing voter turnout in Boston. Malia was named one of The Source magazine’s "Power 30" in 2007 and "Activist of the Year" by MTV. Her work has been featured in print, radio and television. Malia sits on the boards of The League of Pissed Off Voters, The Ruckus Society, The Vote by Mail and Oil Change. Malia is also co-author of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office.