Howard University

Operations and Policy Associate at National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL Women)

RH Impact is one of the nation’s leading experts and an advocate for change in the Black maternal health and infant mortality crises.

As an organization focused on the sexual reproductive health and wellbeing of Black women and birthing people world-wide, RH Impact creates transnational solutions that optimize Black maternal, infant, sexual, and reproductive wellbeing. We shift systems and culture through training, research, technical assistance, policy, advocacy, and community-centered collaboration.

 The Policy & Advocacy team uses a reproductive justice lens to make recommendations to elected officials, key stakeholders, and community-based advocacy groups in an effort to advance birth equity through policy, practice, and programs.

Reproductive Health (RH) Impact

Senior Policy Analyst

National Birth Equity Collaborative

In this position I lead NOBEL Women's effects to meet their overall objectives, which is to create programs and platforms that advance Black women in the fields of public policy, public service and civic engagement; To serve as a network and support system for Black women in elected office, public policy and organizational leadership; To serve as a venue for thoughtful dialogue on issues of public interest between elected officials and stakeholders; and To train and educate a class of cultivated and experienced Black women to assume both governmental and corporate leadership roles.

As the sole full time employee for the majority of my time at NOBEL Women, my responsibilities were vast. I was responsible for implementing the organization’s political agenda. I did this by sustaining over 50 partnerships, including bringing in at least 20 new national and state partners to the network. From this work, I positioned NOBEL Women as a leading stakeholder in Reproductive Justice, Racial Equity and Progressive Governance and passed the most resolutions addressing issues that affect Black Women, Femmes and Girls. 

I also managed the National Headquarters operations. This included implementing the board of director's long-term strategic plan, creating tangible day to day operations and programming, team management, accounts payable and receivable, national membership recruitment, social media campaigns, and political communications.

During my time at NOBEL Women, I fundraised the 6-figures annual budget for the organization’s general operations,  Annual Legislative Conference and the Annual Legislative Breakfast through partner sponsorships, corporate sponsorships, and individual giving.

National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women (NOBEL-Women)

Operations and Policy Associate

Founded by a group of emerging leaders in 2006, IMPACT is an organization whose purpose is to:
(1) enhance knowledge of the political and legislative processes; (2) foster civic engagement, and; (3) enhance economic empowerment opportunities for other emerging leaders, ages 21 to 40. Whether these leaders have joined corporate America, became CEOs of their own companies, work on Capitol Hill, lead non-profits, or are officials elected to lead their cities, states, or our Nation to greatness – the mission of IMPACT is to strategically link these leaders with one another to help in accomplishing their goals. To that end, our primary means of accomplishing this mission is to host a range of events catering to young professionals including forums,workshops, receptions and galas.
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In this position, I was responsible for assisting the Board of Directors with the strategic vision to guarantee the organization's relevance and longevity. This included making sure the values of Civic Engagement, Political Involvement and Economic Empowerment were present in our programming. I also managed the IMPACT Intern Leadership Program. As the lead, I organized 3 Interns of Color Networking Receptions per year, created the recruitment strategy for the internship program, and planned professional development for Interns of Color in the Washington DC Area.

I am responsible for coordinating event logistics for  annual programs with the IMPACT Team. This included programs like the Elected Official Roundtable, Emerging leaders series and our annual PREVIEW event during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference.  This also included supporting justice-related discussion events, like our #VoteReady Campaign that targeted young people around  voter education and aimed to address voter suppression issues.

Krystal Leaphart