Mary Moran is a national leader on issues organizing and Black and Brown coalition building. Mary is recognized by 100 Black Men, The Links Incorporated, the NFL, Alliance of Diversity and Excellence, the Committee for a Better New Orleans, and others for her commitment and excellence in leadership, strategy, and communications. Mary’s ultimate commitment is to the freedom of Black and Brown people. She is the co-founder of, and currently leads, Our Voice Nuestra Voz (OVNV), an issues organizing effort in New Orleans.

As a political strategist and organizer, she has led campaigns that won the first ever living wage campaign in the state of Louisiana–and the entire South– in 2018, won statewide legislation that keep school districts transparent and accountable, and fought for numerous policies that protect undocumented students, such as securing a sanctuary school district in Orleans Parish in 2017 and eliminating a discriminatory statewide policy that prevented undocumented students from playing high school sports in 2019.

Mary was a fall 2016 Pahara Next-Gen fellow. In that same year, she founded the #BlackandBrownGetDown, a movement created to build coalition, create a Black and Brown agenda, and win on shared issues.

Mary has also participated in a number of international research and organizing efforts. She served as a fellow and organized youth within the Navajo Nation. Mary was a scholar activist in Jamaica and later organized a micro financing circle with street vendors in Tanzania. She also studied in Cuba informing a comparative analysis of the education systems in Cuba and the United States.