Team

Leadership Team

Rev Yearwood is the President and Founder for Hip Hop Caucus

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr.

President and CEO

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. is the President & CEO of Hip Hop Caucus, a minister, community activist, U.S. Air Force veteran, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life.  He entered the world of Hip Hop Politics as the Political and Grassroots Director for the Hip Hop Summit Action Network in 2003 and 2004, and as a key architect of P. Diddy’s “Vote Or Die!” campaign in 2004. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he established the award winning Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign where he led a coalition of national and grassroots organizations to advocate for the rights of Katrina survivors. In 2008, he led Hip Hop Caucus’ launch of Respect My Vote!a campaign and coalition that works with Hip Hop artists to engage young people in the electoral process. As a national leader and pacemaker within the Green Movement, he works to bridge the gap between communities of color and environmental advocacy. He is a leader in campaigns calling for divestment from fossil fuels causing climate change, increasing diversity in the climate movement, ensuring everyone has clean water and air, and international efforts to address climate change. In 2018, he helped launch Think 100%, Hip Hop Caucus’ award-winning climate communications and activism platform.

Liz Havstad
Managing Director and COO

Liz is Hip Hop Caucus’s Managing Director and COO, leading the diverse team, grassroots leaders, and cultural influencers that make Hip Hop Caucus one of the nation’s most dynamic 21st century civil and human rights organizations.

Full Bio

Dr. Cynthia Swann
Chief of Staff and Interim Senior Director, Operations and HR

Dr. Cynthia Swann is Chief of Staff and Interim Senior Director, Operations and HR at the Hip Hop Caucus. She is concurrently President & CEO of Swann Group Global.

Full Bio

Tanya Clay House
Executive Vice President, Government Relations and Public Policy

Tanya Clay House is the Executive Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy at the Hip Hop Caucus and the Hip Hop Caucus Action Fund. She most recently was the Senior Program Officer for Voting Rights at the State Infrastructure Fund.

Full Bio

National Team

Russell Armstrong
Senior Director, Campaigns and Advocacy

Russell Armstrong is the Senior Director of Campaigns and Advocacy at the Hip Hop Caucus. He works on federal policy that provides environmental justice and for marginalized communities most impacted by environmental racism.

Full Bio

Brittany Bell Surratt
Senior Director, Storytelling and Communications

Brittany Bell Surratt is the Senior Director of Storytelling and Communications for Hip Hop Caucus.  Brittany takes pride in creating strategic integrated communications plans to tell stories that position brands and organizations favorably with stakeholders across agency, corporate, non-profit and academic environments.

Full Bio

JaRel Clay
Associate Senior Director of Digital and Production

JaRel Clay is the Associate Senior Director of Digital and Production at Hip Hop Caucus, overseeing its digital organizing and online strategy. He is an activist, entrepreneur, and expert in digital engagement and brand development.

Full Bio

Stephone M. Coward II
Economic Justice, Justice Paid in Full Campaigns Director

Stephone Coward is the Economic Justice Director at the Hip Hop Caucus. He has worked in the banking industry for the last two decades, and has spent that time as an economic empowerment advocate for underserved communities.

Full Bio

Lamar Gibson
Development Director

Lamar Gibson is the Development Director of Hip Hop Caucus, a community organizer, and a coach for fundraising professionals and nonprofit organizations. 

Full Bio

Joseph Pate
Media Communications Director

Joseph Pate is an experienced communications strategist with a background in media relations, digital communications and public affairs. Joseph has developed creative and effective PR campaigns for nonprofits, Fortune 500 companies, entertainers, elected officials, restaurants, higher education institutions and startup companies.

Full Bio

Dawn Richard
Cultural Producer and Artist Relations Director

DAWN RICHARD has been one of music’s most distinctive voices and songwriters since 2004, as a member of Danity Kane and then Diddy-Dirty Money, releasing the cult R&B classic Last Train to Paris. However, it’s as a solo artist that she’s really soared. 


Full Bio

Calvin Spann
Director of Events Management

Calvin is the Director of Events Management of Hip Hop Caucus, driving the organization’s engagement strategy of cultural leaders at the national and regional level. He has garnered over 14 years of experience in cultivating organic relationships and an expansive network within the music, media and entertainment industry.

Full Bio

Reggie Weaver
Democratic Policy, Respect My Vote! Campaigns Director

Reggie Weaver is the Respect My Vote! Campaigns Director for Hip Hop Caucus. In this role, he guides the organizing strategies to move the Caucus’ democratic policy, through the Respect My Vote! Campaign.

Full Bio

Christopher Walton
Respect My Vote! Campaigns Assistant Director

Chris Walton is the Respect My Vote! Campaigns Assistant Director for Hip Hop Caucus. Chris has over a decade of experience ranging from local, state, and federal election campaigns. He has gained extensive knowledge on foreign affairs having liaised with several diplomatic corps in his capacity as Chair of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County.

Full Bio

Marsha Gosier
Campaigns Manager

Marsha N. Gosier is the Campaigns Manager for Hip Hop Caucus. Born in East Point, GA who proudly hails from Fort Valley, Ga., Marsha is a whole lot of country and a little bit of rock and roll. She pays homage to her parents for grooming her for “this work” and planting an unbossed and upbrought seed of Black Excellence within her.

Full Bio

Antonio Hernandez
Digital Video Producer

Antonio Hernandez is a digital storyteller and the Digital Video Producer at the Hip Hop Caucus. Previously he worked as an editor at WUSA9, the D.C.-affiliate of CBS News. For six years, he worked in various roles, including producer, editor, and master control technician at the D.C. Office of Cable, Television, Music, Film & Entertainment. 

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Malikah French
Development Associate

Malikah French is the Development Associate at the Hip Hop Caucus, a passionate learner, and a mentor for underserved youth. She has worked in education for the last ten years, advocating for access to information, curriculum modification, and systemic scholar-centered revitalization.

Full Bio

Terence Muhammad
Events and Field Coordinator

Terence “TC” Muhammad has been a community activist and organizer for over two decades. His experience spans voter mobilization campaigns, issue advocacy, and coalition building in African American communities, faith communities, on college campuses, and among civil rights and progressive organizations.

Full Bio

Dejuan Cross
Producer of The Coolest Show & #ClimateFriday

DeJuan Cross is an American record producer, audio engineer, songwriter, arranger, and DJ. He has amassed platinum and gold selling records, millions in streams, billboard #1 chart placement, and film & television credits, while working with top talent in the entertainment industry.

Full Bio

Destiny Hodges
Think 100% PODCASTS Assistant Producer

Destiny Hodges is a junior School of Communications Interdisciplinary major at Howard University from Birmingham, Alabama. Her mission is to educate and uplift the stories of marginalized communities–specifically the Black community — impacted by issues of environmental justice by using media as a form of narrative organizing.

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City Coordinators

Linzy Jackson
Baltimore Coordinator
Natasha White
Boston Coordinator
Bijou Star
Cleveland Coordinator
LaRonn Harris
Detroit Coordinator
Kumasi
Los Angeles Coordinator
Mike Hooks
Memphis Coordinator
Asa
Miami Coordinator
Sess 4-5
New Orleans Coordinator
Umar Muhammad
Raleigh-Durham Coordinator