Wendy

Wendy

she/her/hers

Professional Auntie
[Cultural Organizing Director]

wendy@alternateroots.org

The Programs Director executes the overall management, design, implementation, administration and evaluation of ROOTS Week and ROOT
S Weekends, and our regranting program, Artistic Assistance. ROOTS Week is Alternate ROOTS’ signature event and is modeled as a National Learning Exchange that highlights the learning from the Partners in Action projects throughout the programming.

Growing up in Little Rock and Memphis, Wendy inherited a passion for civil rights, social justice and the arts from her parents. She believes in the power of people to create change and has been privileged to learn from organizers of the Civil Rights Movement and today’s young activists. Wendy has worked as a middle school Drama teacher and Arts Education Director for the Mississippi Arts Commission. She joined the Children’s Defense Fund, first as the Southern Regional Office Youth Leadership Director and later as the National Youth Leadership Development Outreach Coordinator and National Conference Liaison in Washington, D.C. Since 2013, Wendy has worked with nonprofit organizations assisting with strategic planning, programming and large-scale events including the 50th Anniversaries of the March on Washington and Mississippi Freedom Summer.

Wendy lives in Mississippi. A dancer, wanna-be writer and Texas Woman’s University alum, Wendy still performs when she can, now primarily in her kitchen.

Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art that is rooted in communities of place, tradition or spirit. We are a group of artists and cultural organizers based in the South creating a better world together. As Alternate ROOTS, we call for social and economic justice and are working to dismantle all forms of oppression—everywhere.