NOW Officers

Latifa Lyles, Vice President - Membership

A passionate young feminist activist, Latifa Lyles was elected Membership Vice President of the National Organization for Women in July 2005. Lyles took office at the age of 29, making her the group's youngest-ever national officer. In addition to overseeing NOW's membership and fundraising departments, Lyles serves as a national spokesperson for the group on issues ranging from reproductive rights to Social Security.

Lyles attended her first NOW rally at age 16, when she and her classmates boarded a bus in New York City and headed to the 1992 March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. Since then, she has worked for women's rights as a community and political organizer, and holds a deep commitment to economic justice and mobilizing young feminists. Most recently, Lyles worked as a professional non-profit fundraiser, specializing in membership development.

Lyles served on NOW's National Board of Directors and was the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director before taking national office. She has served on the board's Budget and Fundraising Committees, and was the board liaison to the National Young Feminist Task Force. Additionally, Lyles has been a local chapter activist and leader in Washington, D.C.

Before entering the public interest arena, Lyles started her career in public relations as an account executive for a dynamic women-owned public relations firm in D.C. There she organized press events and coordinated media outreach for the firm's corporate clients.

As one of her first experiences working for the public interest, Lyles was the public policy associate and analyst for the Older Women's League (OWL), a national grassroots organization focusing on mid-life and older women. At OWL, she did research and analysis on economic policy and other issues, including Social Security privatization and pension policy reform. She also coordinated outreach and education to young activists on the impact of Social Security "reform" for young workers and women of color.

After leaving OWL, Lyles joined the staff of NOW's National Action Center, where she worked for four years on the fundraising team as a development planner and analyst, focusing on new-member development and direct marketing strategies. Also while at NOW, she did outreach and organizing for local and national events, as well as political campaign work, including working for the NOW/PAC on the 2000 Hillary for Senate and Carolyn McCarthy campaigns in New York.

For the last three years, Lyles headed up the membership department for the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Foundation, the largest public interest law firm in the nation.

A native of New York City, Lyles has lived in Washington for nearly 12 years, and now lives with her fiancée in downtown D.C.