Full Name
Victoria Kirby York
Position Title
Director Public Policy and Programs
Organization/Affiliation (full name)
National Black Justice Coalition
Speaker Bio
Victoria Kirby York, MPA (V.K.Y., she, they), is the Director of Public Policy and Programs at the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same-gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS. In this role, V.K.Y. leads the organization's federal and state public policy agenda and signature programs, the Black Institute, OUT on the Hill, Wisdom, and James Baldwin Legacy Awards.
Mrs. Kirby York has led and trained teams of organizers, organizations, advocates, clergy, students, and volunteers in nearly all of the most consequential campaigns of this century. Her first campaign was with Students Working Against Tobacco (S.W.A.T.) in the late 90s, successfully prohibiting indoor smoking. Soon after, she joined a city-wide campaign in Tampa to end racial discrimination and prejudice. Since then, V.K.Y. has been a part of nearly every consequential campaign this century, including the movement for Black Lives, LGBTQ+ equality, comprehensive immigration reform, gun violence prevention, climate change, women's equality, and healthcare protections and insurance reform.
Before coming to NBJC, they served six years in senior roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force managing the organization’s faith, organizing, and public policy campaigns and staff. V.K.Y. also spent several years leading electoral campaigns, including managing 100 staff members in the 2014 Florida gubernatorial campaign and organizing the most consequential region in the nation for President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. She was the inaugural Florida Director for Organizing for Action (O.F.A.), the nonprofit formed to support President Barack Obama's legislative agenda. She worked briefly in government as the Outreach Director for U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. While in graduate school, she created and was selected to serve as Howard University’s first Presidential Fellow. In this role, she founded the university's social media program, co-led its first sustainability program, and launched a Presidential Commission on LGBTQ+ Campus Inclusion. When the Harvard Kennedy School of Government LGBTQ+ Policy Journal published her commentary, The Black Closet: the Need for LGBTQ+ Resource Centers on HBCU Campuses, she created a resource used to start HBCUs LGBTQ+ resource centers across the country. Finally, they worked through undergraduate school by supporting the conference editorial team at Aviation Week Space & Technology (an aerospace trade publication formerly owned by the McGraw-Hill Companies).
V.K.Y. is a highly sought-after public speaker, board member, and recognized and awarded leader. She is a board member of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council for Search for Common Ground. In her work with NBJC and as a patient advocate with the Hypersomnia Foundation and the Fibromyalgia Network in her spare time, her mission is to encourage marginalized and excluded people to take up space by viewing our differences as our superpowers - necessary perspectives required to make our world a better place for all of us. She was recognized as one of NBJC’s 100 to Watch Black LGBTQ+/SGL leaders, was a 2011 Metro Weekly Next Generation awardee, a top 30 under 30 leader by Florida Politics, and Women You Should Know by GO Magazine.
Mrs. Kirby York has also served as a member of the Human Rights Campaign’s National Diversity & Inclusion Council, the National Black Justice Coalition’s Leadership Advisory Council, the first openly gay member of the Howard University Board of Trustees; and a board member for the Center for Black Equity, the Next Generation Leadership Foundation, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation. She served two terms as the Vice Chair of the DC Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee.
She has been featured on CNN, MSNBC’s Today Show, FOX, the Washington Post, and several other national and international media outlets.
Mrs. Kirby York holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Culture and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in education policy from Howard University.
Mrs. Kirby York has led and trained teams of organizers, organizations, advocates, clergy, students, and volunteers in nearly all of the most consequential campaigns of this century. Her first campaign was with Students Working Against Tobacco (S.W.A.T.) in the late 90s, successfully prohibiting indoor smoking. Soon after, she joined a city-wide campaign in Tampa to end racial discrimination and prejudice. Since then, V.K.Y. has been a part of nearly every consequential campaign this century, including the movement for Black Lives, LGBTQ+ equality, comprehensive immigration reform, gun violence prevention, climate change, women's equality, and healthcare protections and insurance reform.
Before coming to NBJC, they served six years in senior roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force managing the organization’s faith, organizing, and public policy campaigns and staff. V.K.Y. also spent several years leading electoral campaigns, including managing 100 staff members in the 2014 Florida gubernatorial campaign and organizing the most consequential region in the nation for President Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. She was the inaugural Florida Director for Organizing for Action (O.F.A.), the nonprofit formed to support President Barack Obama's legislative agenda. She worked briefly in government as the Outreach Director for U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. While in graduate school, she created and was selected to serve as Howard University’s first Presidential Fellow. In this role, she founded the university's social media program, co-led its first sustainability program, and launched a Presidential Commission on LGBTQ+ Campus Inclusion. When the Harvard Kennedy School of Government LGBTQ+ Policy Journal published her commentary, The Black Closet: the Need for LGBTQ+ Resource Centers on HBCU Campuses, she created a resource used to start HBCUs LGBTQ+ resource centers across the country. Finally, they worked through undergraduate school by supporting the conference editorial team at Aviation Week Space & Technology (an aerospace trade publication formerly owned by the McGraw-Hill Companies).
V.K.Y. is a highly sought-after public speaker, board member, and recognized and awarded leader. She is a board member of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council for Search for Common Ground. In her work with NBJC and as a patient advocate with the Hypersomnia Foundation and the Fibromyalgia Network in her spare time, her mission is to encourage marginalized and excluded people to take up space by viewing our differences as our superpowers - necessary perspectives required to make our world a better place for all of us. She was recognized as one of NBJC’s 100 to Watch Black LGBTQ+/SGL leaders, was a 2011 Metro Weekly Next Generation awardee, a top 30 under 30 leader by Florida Politics, and Women You Should Know by GO Magazine.
Mrs. Kirby York has also served as a member of the Human Rights Campaign’s National Diversity & Inclusion Council, the National Black Justice Coalition’s Leadership Advisory Council, the first openly gay member of the Howard University Board of Trustees; and a board member for the Center for Black Equity, the Next Generation Leadership Foundation, and the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center Foundation. She served two terms as the Vice Chair of the DC Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee.
She has been featured on CNN, MSNBC’s Today Show, FOX, the Washington Post, and several other national and international media outlets.
Mrs. Kirby York holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Culture and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in education policy from Howard University.
Speaking At
