Joi O. Chaney
Joi O. Chaney is a domestic legal policy expert, a political strategist, and currently the Executive Director of the Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President, Policy and Advocacy at the National Urban League. The National Urban League (NUL) is an historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice for African Americans and other underserved communities. The Washington Bureau represents the League before the Legislative and Executive Branches, leads policy discussions that advance economic and social equality for the communities we serve, and engages the Urban League movement in advocacy campaigns aimed at achieving policy wins.
Prior to joining NUL, Joi was Chief of Staff to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York before relaunching her consulting firm J.O.I. Strategies, which develops strategies for organizations and companies seeking to achieve Justice, Opportunity, and Inclusion for America's underserved communities, beginning with women and persons of color.
In her over twenty-year career, Joi has served as Director of Equal Pay Today and Senior Policy Counsel at Equal Rights Advocates, where she focused on strategies to close the long-standing gender and racial wage gap and engage new constituencies in the fight for equal pay. She has also held senior roles in the Obama Administration, as a senior advisor to the Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee (Senate DPC), and the American Constitution Society for Law & Policy. Joi began her career at the former Baach Robinson & Lewis PLLC and the Democratic National Committee.
Joi is a native of Orlando, FL but is an active member in her adopted community of Metropolitan Washington, DC, where she lives with her family. She currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Girls, Inc. of the Metropolitan Washington, DC Area, as a Board Member of Equal Rights Advocates, and as a Board Member of Fair Elections Center. She is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and the Metropolitan DC Chapter of the Links, Incorporated.
She is a graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School.
Catch her on the biweekly State of Black America Podcast, the official podcast of the National Urban League. Follow her on Twitter at @joitweets and the National Urban League across all social media platforms at @NatUrbanLeague and @NULPolicy.