TEAM
Trevor Smith
Co-Founder, Executive Director, Collective Member
Trevor Smith (he/him) is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the BLIS Collective. He is a writer, researcher, and strategist focused on racial inequality, wealth inequality, reparations, and narrative change. Previously, he was the Director of Narrative Change at Liberation Ventures, a field-builder accelerating the Black-led movement for reparations, where he launched the Reparations Narrative Lab, a creative and research space designed to build narrative power across the movement for reparations. He previously held program and communications positions at the Surdna Foundation, New York Civil Liberties Union, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and M+R Strategic Services. He currently resides in Lenapehoking what we now know as New York City.
Inspirations: bell hooks, Tupac, Bob Marley
What Does Solidarity Mean to You?: “Solidarity is radical love and altruism in action. It entails constantly placing ourselves in the perspectives of others and forming deep connections to push back against forces of domination to bring forth that beautiful and just world that awaits us.”
Savannah Romero
Co-Founder, Advisory Board Chair, Collective Member
Savannah Romero (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Advisory Board Chair of the BLIS Collective. She is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and serves as the Director of Communications at Tahoma Peak Solutions, a Native Woman-owned firm that tells stories and solves through an Indigenous lens. Previously, she was the Manager of Movement Building and Organizing at IllumiNative, a racial and social justice organization whose mission is to build power for Native people by amplifying contemporary Native voices, stories, and issues. She has previously held program and policy positions at the National Indian Education Association, Cause Strategy Partners, and in the U.S. House of Representatives. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, a Master’s in Public Affairs and Policy from New York University, and a Master’s in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is also a storyteller, writer, poet, and film producer. Her creative work explores the confluences of colonialism, capitalism, land-body relations, and memory. She is an editor for Chapter House Journal, an online literary journal operated by the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA students. Her work has been featured in Abalone Mountain Press and Outside Magazine, and she was recently accepted to the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop.
Inspirations: Fred Hampton, John Trudell
What Does Solidarity Mean to You?: “Solidarity means correctly identifying our adversary and joining together to overcome it.”