Who is Erica L. Williams?

Erica Williams is a political commentator, strategist, and social justice activist who’s life's work is making sure that real people understand the relationship between policy, culture, and their everyday lives.

Erica serves as the Deputy Director of Campus Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress. Directing national issue campaigns on issues such as economic mobility, equal opportunity, and climate change, among others, Erica lobbies, testifies before Congress, and leads the staff in advancing progressive policy with and for 18-27 year olds across the nation.

Erica is above all a communicator. Listed by Politico.com as one of Top 50 Politicos to Watch, Erica delivers down-to-earth commentary that balances her grasp of complex social, cultural, and political issues with her place within the hip-hop generation.

As the creator and host of Firestarters, a monthly webcast, Erica showcases the modern day movers-and-shakers that are starting fires and igniting change in communities all across America through politics, business, and the arts. With her sharp and engaging interview style, she has conversed with such notables as NAACP Chairman and legendary civil rights activist Julian Bond, world renowned author and environmental justice advocate Van Jones, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and many others, known and unknown. 

She is the founder and CEO of A Beautiful Fire, LLC an incubator for projects and initiatives that use creative communications, grassroots organizing, civic education and technology to engage underrepresented communities in the work for social justice and change.

A sought after speaker and facilitator, she has also been a guest on numerous radio and television broadcasts including The Tavis Smiley Show, C-SPAN, The Armstrong Williams Show, and the historic Daily Drum.

Before joining the Center for American Progress, she served as a field associate at the Leadership Conference on Civil Right working with some of Washington’s most powerful players in progressive politics to advance effective civil and human rights legislation at the federal level. 

She is a past participant of the American University Women and Political Leadership Training Program, a 2008 O Magazine Women Rule Leadership winner, a 2008 Aspen Institute Fellow, and a graduate of University of Maryland College Park with a degree in African American Studies and Public Policy. An accomplished vocalist and finalist for Miss District of Columbia, Erica is a Washington D.C. native and currently resides there.