I am Christopher E. Williams, a Black-queer family historian, social impact consultant, and speaker, and the status quo simply doesn’t work for me. Honestly, I don’t think it works for any of us. Everyone’s needs are different and it is the role of each of us to hear each other and address those needs together.

My work as a family historian for over 15 years has proven to me that the status quo has never worked. I have gotten to know the stories of Black-American families in the Gulf Coast and Upland South as far back as the 1800s who posthumously revealed to me just how important it is for each of us to be heard, have a voice, be true to our authentic selves and adapt to an ever changing world together.

This is the very same lesson that launched my work, trainings  and leadership in grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and businesses with social impact goals. Notable organizations include the financial technologies company, Worldpay by FIS, the international NGO, Alight (formerly The American Refugee Committee), and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph’s nonprofit, The DIVA Foundation. These experiences lead me to an expertise in diversity, equity, inclusion, & justice (DEIJ), strategic change management, scaled agile framework (SAFe), human-centered design (HCD), and trauma-informed financial wellness (TOM - Trauma of Money framework).

As one of the founders of COWRIE (Cooperative Wealth, Reinvestment, & Empowerment) 501c3, Home of BankBlackUSA, an organization committed to Black financial connectivity, partnership, data and frameworks; as a founding advisory board member of Beyond Trenches, a grassroots carceral abolitionist and mutual-aid organization; and as a former advisory board member of TransTech Social Enterprises, a transgender and gender-nonconforming professional resource organization, I have built, launched, and promoted programs and initiatives that empower people and groups who aim to reshape our world into one of safety, healing, and unity for the very people history will try to erase. 

In addition to my background, research and training, I have formed impactful coalitions from my time as an Aspen Ideas Festival Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a Financial Activism Fellow at the Just Economy Institute, and from my HBCU home, Morehouse College.

I have formed a community of dead folks, nerds, &“sissies”; the “dead”, both literal and figurative, who are the very context of who we are today, “nerds” who is anyone dedicated, knowledgeable, and passionate about what they love, and “sissies,” a title used to belittle the very people who know the most about breaking the status quo and forging new pathways.

With this community, I am dedicated to doing the work of remembering our histories, advancing our movements, and amplifying our voices; doing good work together.