Carlissia Graham is the President of New Media Ventures, a mission-driven venture fund and investor network funding early-stage media and tech companies to advance a multi-racial, representative democracy. She oversees a portfolio of more than 120 nonprofits and for-profits, including innovative disruptors like ActBlue Civics, Blavity, Ballot Ready, Hustle, New Disabled South, Stylebot and other mission-driven entities that are working to shift the structures of power in the US to benefit more people.

 

Carlissia started her career in journalism and community-based organizing in Memphis before serving as a staffer in the Tennessee state legislature and U.S. Congress, where she staffed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and now LA Mayor Karen Bass. She has held multiple senior-level positions in the Obama administration democratizing access to publicly-funded technology, creating pathways to government service for underrepresented communities, and directing billion-dollar capital investments in public-tech infrastructure. She’s been a leader in resistance organizing movements from fighting back Trump at Planned Parenthood Federation of America to fighting for police reforms and voting rights in the South. An entrepreneur in her own right, she has founded four companies and also served as an early employee in other civic tech startups.

 

Tennessee native based in the Washington, DC metro.