About

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“Mississippi Bred & Fed”

Wanda Swan proudly prioritizes Black folks for a living.

An advocate, prevention strategist, speaker, published scholar, anti-oppression coach, and on-air personality, she has been deeply embedded in the anti-violence movement as a professional practitioner for over 15 years. Her work has spanned across higher education, local and state agencies, and non-profits dedicated to survivor resiliency. As both a curator and co-conspirator of systems disruption and research that informs my field of practice, Wanda is co-founder of, and currently holding chair roles in, professionals organizations like Campus Advocacy and Prevention Professionals Association (CAPPA) and The Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention Education and Response Knowledge Community (NASPA SRVPER KC).

 Wanda is also a technical assistance provider and consultant to several national organizations and state coalitions. Within this capacity she has trained service providers on the benefits of adopting an anti-oppressive trauma-informed advocacy framework to better support historically marginalized survivors of violence and organizations in addressing institutional and personal biases that disrupt care. Through the creation of data-driven trainings like Anti- Oppressive Advocacy, she has charged numerous for-profit and non-profit organizations to explore proficiency at the intersection of bias and service provision. Working from a belief that ending violence can only happen when we end oppression, she has also created pedagogical models like the Proximity to Whiteness tool and the Iceberg of Oppression to assist in better grasping the concept of oppression as a disease and violence as symptoms of that larger illness.

Lastly, Wanda serves as Executive Director of The Swan Center for Advocacy & Research and as an Anti-Oppression Coach. In this capacity, she works with executive leaders and organizations to interrogate their relationships with anti-Blackness and how that relationship is amplified through systemic culture and leadership.