Nkechi Taifa is a civil and human rights attorney, scholar-activist, and author. She is president of The Taifa Group LLC, director of the Reparation Education Project, Inc., and serves as Senior Fellow for the Center of Justice at Columbia University. A visionary thought leader and nationally recognized expert and speaker on race and justice issues, Taifa has worked for the Open Society Foundations, Howard University School of Law, the ACLU, Women's Legal Defense Fund, National Prison Project and as an attorney in private practice. She was in the leadership of the Justice Roundtable Coalition which successfully mobilized the passage of both the Second Chance Reentry legislation (2008) and the Fair Sentencing Act crack disparity legislation (2010), and helped gain inclusion of strong sentencing provisions in the First Step Act (2018). She helped fuel mobilization of the Obama Administration's clemency initiative, which resulted in the early release from unjust imprisonment of over 1,700 people.

Taifa has served as an appointed Commissioner and Chair of the DC Commission on Human Rights. She is founding member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, and an inaugural Commissioner on the National African American Reparations Commission. A native Washingtonian, Taifa is the author of the bestselling memoir, "Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice," as well as several books for children. She has an upcoming book, "Reparations on Fire: How and Why It's Spreading Across America." Taifa has testified before the United States Congress, the DC City Council, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, the Maryland Legislature, and the California Reparations Task Force.

She is the author of scores of scholarly works, including law review articles, book chapters and white papers. She has been featured in People's Magazine, as well as in major print and electronic media, and has received numerous honors and awards for her social justice work, including Essence Magazine's WOKE 100 Black Women Advocating for Change.

Lawyers, Law, Diversity, Women, Black Heritage, Civil Rights, Social Justice, Social Activism, Authors, Education, Literary, Children's Authors, DEI, Culture, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Humanitarians, Philanthropy, Black History Month, BLM, Racism, Women's Rights, TED, Prison Reform, Criminal Justice