Shannon Watts
Founder, Moms Demand Action
Shannon Watts is the founder and a full-time volunteer with the nation’s largest grassroots group fighting against gun violence, Moms Demand Action. With nearly 10 million supporters and a chapter in every state, Moms Demand Action and its partner, Everytown for Gun Safety, have stopped the NRA’s priority legislation in statehouses roughly 90% of the time, and passed hundreds of gun safety laws across the country, changed corporate policies and educated Americans about secure gun storage. This grassroots movement helped break through the logjam in Congress and pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first gun safety bill in 26 years. Watts is also an active board member of Emerge America, one of the nation’s leading organizations for recruiting and training women to run for office, and Advance Peace, a prominent community-based organization that works to end cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods. Her book, Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World, was released in May of 2019 and is now available in paperback.
Awards & Honors:
2022: American University Sine Institute Spring 2022 Fellow
2020: Washington University, Honorary Doctorate of Humanities
2020: Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Medal for Distinguished Service
2020: Houston Peace and Justice Center’s Peacemaker of the Year (announcement)
2019: University of Missouri Griffiths Leadership Society “Spirit of Martha” Award
2018: YBCA 100 Honoree, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
2018: Bloomberg Philanthropies, award in recognition for work to reduce gun violence
2018: People Magazine, 25 Women Changing the World
2018: Instyle, Badass Woman
2014: People Magazine's 15 Women Changing the World Right Now
