Feisty Female Friday: Shannon Watts

The FFF this week Shannon Watts.

Shannon is an US gun violence prevention activist and the founder of Moms Demand Action.She was born in NY and graduated from the University of Missouri where she worked in the Missouri House and on the staff of former Governor Cranahan. Shannon also worked as a communications executive but left her corporate career to focus on her family.

After the Sandy Hook shootings, Shannon started a FB group, Moms Demand Action, to unite women against the gun lobby, the page growing into a grassroots movement after volunteers contacted her about forming MDA chapters in their own communities. The group now has chapters in every state and over 6 million supporters nationwide. Their volunteers have stopped the NRA priority legislation in statehouses more than 90 percent of the time, helped pass hundreds of gun safety laws across the country, and educated Americans about secure gun storage. Many MDA members have also been elected to public office. The group volunteers often wear red t-shirts emblazoned with the MDA logo to show their support and stand out at legislative hearings, protests and other events. MDA and Mayors Against Illegal Guns have joined forces to become Everytown for Gun Safety. Shannon continues to speak at colleges and churches across the US in her activist work.

She is the author of the book Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World. Shannon also blogs about her work and the victories achieved by MDA volunteers, has half a million social media followers, has appeared as a commentator on television and radio stations, and written opinion pieces for many magazines and newspapers. She has campaigned for a number of political candidates across the country and serves as a board member of Emerge America and Advance Peace. Shannon has won awards from People, Glamour, and Time Magazines, Bloomberg Philanthropies, 25 Women Changing the World,, and many colleges across the US.

Shannon is married, a mom to 5 children, and lives in CA.