Alicia Garza: Architect of Power, Building Movements for Black Futures

Alicia Garza doesn’t wait for change to happen — she builds it.

As a co-founder of the global #BlackLivesMatter movement and the visionary behind the Black Futures Lab, Alicia has spent her life creating the blueprints for liberation. She is one of the most influential organizers of our time, but more than that, she is a strategist who understands that movements are not moments — they are living, breathing infrastructures that must be nurtured, expanded, and sustained.

While the world knows her as a leader of protests and a creator of viral calls to action, Alicia Garza’s true genius lies in the way she has engineered pipelines of lasting power. Her work goes beyond rallying cries — it dives into the hard, often invisible labor of organizing communities, influencing policy, and redefining what it means to be truly free.

Her mission is as clear as it is bold: to build political power for Black communities, not just for today, but for generations to come.

Beyond the Hashtag: From Awareness to Action

The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter became a worldwide call to arms, igniting protests across continents. But for Alicia Garza, the hashtag was just the beginning. She understands that while hashtags raise awareness, infrastructure raises power.

Through her leadership with the Black Futures Lab, Alicia works to turn energy into policy and protests into political action. The Lab’s mission is to engage Black communities in civic life, generate actionable policy agendas, and transform Black communities into formidable political forces.

Her initiatives have led to the Black Census Project — the largest survey of Black people in America since Reconstruction — giving voice to over 30,000 Black respondents and crafting data-driven policy proposals that center the realities and needs of Black lives.

Alicia’s work reminds us that when we organize around data and lived experience, we create blueprints for liberation that no institution can ignore.

Power With, Not Power Over

Alicia’s leadership is defined by collaboration. She doesn’t view power as something to hoard, but as something to share and multiply.

She has tirelessly worked alongside grassroots organizers, elected officials, and everyday citizens to co-create a future where justice isn’t aspirational — it’s actionable. Whether she’s on stage at global forums or in strategy rooms with local leaders, Alicia Garza carries the same message: Black communities don’t need saviors. They need resources, respect, and recognition of their inherent power.

Her voice amplifies a simple yet revolutionary idea: power with the people, not over the people.

Reimagining Democracy Through Black Futures

At a time when democracy itself feels precarious, Alicia Garza offers a powerful vision: a democracy that includes everyone, especially those it was never originally designed to serve.

Through her activism, writing, and public speaking, she consistently calls out the gaps in our political systems while providing solutions grounded in community wisdom. Her book, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, is both a memoir and a masterclass in movement-building, giving activists and everyday citizens alike the tools to create lasting impact.

Alicia teaches us that democracy is not a static institution — it is a living system that requires constant tending, especially by those who have historically been excluded from its promises.

Alicia Garza and The Machetes: A Collective of Builders

Alicia Garza’s transformative work is magnified through her place in The Machetes — a powerful collective of ten visionary women, each committed to shaping culture, media, and movements.

Alongside Angela Rye, Joy Reid, Tiffany Cross, Jemele Hill, LaTosha Brown, Errin Haines, Cari Champion, Brittany Packnett Cunningham, and Sunny Hostin, Alicia is part of a sisterhood that refuses to wait for systems to change on their own. They are architects of their own futures, dismantling old frameworks and constructing new ones built on truth, justice, and community power.

Within The Machetes, Alicia’s role as an architect of movements complements the media powerhouses, cultural commentators, and grassroots leaders of the collective. Together, they represent a full spectrum of influence — from organizing marches to crafting narratives, from legislative advocacy to shifting cultural consciousness.

In Alicia, The Machetes have a master strategist whose vision for Black power extends beyond slogans and into the structural realities that change lives.

Together, they are more than voices — they are a force.

The Road Forward: Building What We’ve Never Seen Before

Alicia Garza is not just fighting against oppression. She is fighting for something much greater — a world where Black people thrive, lead, and define their own destinies.

Her work continues to remind us that liberation is not a distant dream. It is built every day, brick by brick, by those willing to do the work of imagining and constructing a better future.

With The Machetes by her side, Alicia Garza’s impact is not only multiplied — it is immortalized in a living movement that belongs to all of us.

Together, they are not just shaping history.
They are building the future.