Mia Birdsong

Mia Birdsong is a pathfinder, futurist, author, and facilitator who has spent more than two decades engaging the leadership and wisdom of people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American life. Blending scholarship, journalism, and cultural analysis, Birdsong works to reconnect audiences with overlooked knowledge and focuses on the ideas and practices needed to build equitable communities. Her work highlights the contributions of everyday people, aiming to expand their influence in cultural and political change and promote collective well-being.

Birdsong is the founding executive director of Next River: An Institute for Practicing the Future, which operates as a think tank and culture change lab dedicated to interconnected freedom. Through Next River, she advances conversations, culture, and resources that support people, practices, and ideas moving society toward liberation. Her major work through the institute, "Freedom's Revival: Research from the Headwaters of Liberation," explores the interconnected nature of freedom. Prior to founding Next River, Birdsong served as co-director of Family Story and as vice president of the Family Independence Initiative, where she promoted new narratives and leveraged data to support low-income families. At the Family Independence Initiative, she created and curated the Torchlight Prize, an award for groups working together to strengthen their communities.

Birdsong is the author of "How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community," which examines community life and explores how individuals can foster belonging and interconnectedness. She is also the creator of "More Than Enough," a podcast miniseries from The Nation, which expands the guaranteed income movement by featuring the voices and perspectives of low-income people.

Birdsong's TED talk, "The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn't True," has reached a wide audience, and her writing has appeared in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Slate, Salon, and On Being. Her public conversations, such as the New America series centering Black women as agents of change, spotlight the leadership and innovation of marginalized communities. Earlier in her career, Birdsong established the first digital department at Sierra Club and served as deputy organizing director for MoveOn.org.

Birdsong is a senior fellow of the Economic Security Project, a Future Good fellow of the Institute for the Future, and an inaugural Ascend fellow of the Aspen Institute. She has also held fellowships at Rockwood Leadership Institute and New America California, and serves as a board member of the California Budget and Policy Center and Liberation in a Generation. Birdsong is a graduate of Oberlin College and is recognized for her contributions to community, freedom, and collective liberation through her work on public platforms and in publications worldwide.