About Monique
Monique has been active in social justice movements for the past 20 years, serving as an organizer, lawyer, strategist and funder. Her career spans a range of justice issues—from gender-based violence and LGBTQ rights, to mass incarceration and women’s rights. Monique is passionate about bringing people together to build inclusive, strategic and sustainable movements.
Monique is the founder and former executive director of the Just Beginnings Collaborative (JBC), a national movement building organization designed to bring leaders and funders together to end child sexual abuse. Prior to JBC, Monique served as senior program officer at the Ms. Foundation for Women where she managed grantmaking and field building initiatives focused on ending gender-based violence.
Before working in philanthropy, Monique spent a decade in the LGBTQ movement focused on campaign, organizational and leadership development. Monique served as chief of staff at the National LGBTQ Task Force, where she led efforts to align organizational practices to deepen cross-departmental collaboration and achieve greater external impact. Prior to that she worked on legislative and ballot measure campaigns in 15 states, including leading Maine’s statewide legislative campaign to pass marriage equality in 2009. Monique also served on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, helping to build the most visible and effective national network of LGBTQ activists of any previous presidential campaign.
Early in her career Monique worked as a civil rights attorney for the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, an advocacy organization working to end mass incarceration. In 2000 she was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations based on her work with women in the criminal legal system. Monique also worked for the ACLU National Prison Project and the Metlhaetsile Women’s Center in Mochudi, Botswana.
In her next life Monique wants to produce documentary films. Until then, she works hard to keep up with her adventurous toddler in Brooklyn, NY.
