Monica Raye Simpson

Monica Raye Simpson is the executive director of SisterSong, the southern-based national Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Simpson is a proud, Black Queer Feminist and graduate of Johnson C Smith University, a historically black university (HBCU) based in Charlotte, NC. For over 20 years Simpson has been organizing extensively for LGBTQ liberation, civil and human rights, and sexual and reproductive justice from a Southern to global scale.

As a creative and cultural strategist, Simpson lives by the charge set by Nina Simone that says, “It's an artist's duty to reflect the times” and is deeply committed to using the power of cultural organizing to educate and Ingnite the masses and dismantle systems of oppression. She is certified in “Power, Innovation & Leadership” from Harvard Kennedy School and she is a published writer. Simpson has also received numerous awards and acknowledgements for her innovative leadership including being named a New Civil Rights Leader by Essence Magazine, a visionary leader by the Ms. Foundation, one of Fast Company's awardees on their Queer 50 list, and as one of TIME 100’s most influential people of 2023.

A singer and spoken word artist who infuses art into her activism, Simpson has appeared in theatrical productions such as For the Love of Harlem, Words the Isms, Walk Like a Man, The Vagina Monologues, and For Colored Girls. She released her first solo album, Revolutionary Love, in 2015, and she has performed at events across the country, including singing the National Anthem and the National Black Anthem for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. march and rally in Atlanta, GA. Simpson created Artists United for Reproductive Justice as a project of SisterSong in order to create a platform for artists to collaborate on replicable artwork that furthers the Reproductive Justice movement.