Opal Tometi

Opal Ayo Tometi co-founded the Black Lives Matter Global Network alongside Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors in 2013 — building the digital infrastructure and organizational framework that transformed a hashtag into the largest social movement in American history. As a writer, strategist, and human rights advocate, Tometi brought her experience in immigration justice and international human rights to a movement that too often focused solely on domestic policing.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1984, to Nigerian immigrant parents, Tometi graduated from the University of Arizona and worked as the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), an organization focused on the intersection of racial justice and immigration policy. She understood that Black liberation could not be separated from the broader struggle for human rights worldwide.

Tometi built the online platforms and organizational tools that allowed Black Lives Matter to scale from a social media hashtag to a decentralized movement with chapters across the globe. She has been named to Time's 100 Most Influential People, received the BET Humanitarian Award, and continues to advocate for Black communities worldwide through the lens of human rights. Her work ensures that the global dimension of anti-Black racism — from police violence in America to structural discrimination across the diaspora — remains central to the movement's vision.