Williams Stands For Social Justice
• The Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund (WMG/BFF SJF) has appointed Lorelei Williams as its inaugural Executive Director. Based in New York, Williams will serve as an employee of Moore Impact, the Fund’s fiscal sponsor, and report to the organization’s President, Yvonne Moore.
“We’re thrilled to have Lorelei join us to help lead our grantmaking strategy, which is focused on three guiding pillars — education, criminal justice reform, and culture and the performing arts,” said Mark Baker, WMG/BFF SJF Board member and SVP, Public Policy & Government Affairs, WMG. “Her extensive background in social justice philanthropy on a global scale and community development make her a perfect fit for this role. With her strategic oversight and direction, the Board is confident that it will make a sustained, long-term impact in advancing equity and justice around the world.”
Williams (pictured) most recently served as Senior Vice President of Grant Programs at Comic Relief U.S., a nonprofit that uses the power of entertainment to help eliminate world poverty. Before Comic Relief, Williams spent more than 15 years working as a philanthropic strategist with a focus on the U.S., South America, and Sub-Saharan Africa. For the majority of those years, she was President of Onira Global Advisors. She also served as Co-Chair of the Civil Society Committee for the U.S. State Department’s U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to End Racial Discrimination.
Williams remarked, “Structural racism, economic inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic have converged with devastating impact, especially for Black communities in the U.S. and the African Diaspora. We have a powerful opportunity — and obligation — to radically reimagine and rebuild a more just society. In partnership with our dynamic Board, I look forward to building an innovative Fund that leverages the power of culture, advocacy and direct action to create real change in the lives of historically underserved and marginalized populations.”
Williams holds a B.A. from Yale University in Political Science and African American Studies and a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. [Photo from LinkedIn]
