Rising Power

M Adams is a community organizer and co-executive director of Freedom, Inc., which works with low- to no-income Black, Khmer, and Hmong women, queer folks, and youth in Dane County. As a queer Black person, Adams has developed and advocated for a strong intersectional approach in numerous important venues. Adams is a leading figure in the Movement 4 Black Lives, the Take Back the Land Movement and has presented before the United Nations for the Convention on Eliminating Racial Discrimination. She is also the co-author of Forward from Ferguson and is currently working on a book about Black community control over the police. Adams contributed intersectionality theory to Why Killing Unarmed Black Folks Is a Queer Issue—including an article and a series of talks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Kabzuag Vaj was born in Laos and came to the U.S. as a refugee child with her mother and siblings. She is founder and co-executive director of Freedom, Inc. She has dedicated the majority of her life to ending gender-based violence while building communities. Her advocacy started when she was 16 years old, assisting and housing at-risk teens and challenging abusive gender norms within her community. She is a strong believer that those who are most deeply impacted must be at the forefront of the movement. Those who are most impacted must have opportunities and resources to advocate for themselves and tell their own stories. Kabzuag is also a co-owner/founder of Red Green Rivers, a social enterprise that works with Artisan makers, most of whom are women and girls, from the Mekong Region in Southeast Asia.