Meet Jotaka Eaddy, the Founder of “Win with Black Women”
Sometimes, your work uplifting others is what brings you into the spotlight. That’s precisely how Jotaka Eaddy ended up seated at the 2020 Presidential inauguration.
A career guided by the question, “How can I take people pushed to the margins and put them at the center?” Took Eaddy from humble beginnings in rural South Carolina to an illustrious career as a C-Suite strategist known as the ‘Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley.’ It drove her to launch Full Circle Strategies, a social impact consulting firm where she’s been behind the scenes of many pivotal moments empowering marginalized communities. These days, she’s front and center, and so is her impact.
In 2020, Eaddy placed a call to action that was born from frustration with the toxic rhetoric spewed about then-presidential potentials VP Harris, Stacy Abrams, Val Demmings, and Karen Bass. The same rhetoric that has long been weaponized against Black women, but in that moment, she chose to embody Frmr. Rep. Shirley Chilsom’s words, “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” Eaddy called on her friend Minyon Moore (political strategist & activist) to utilize her organizing network (The Colored Girls) to address the issue. Moore reminded Eaddy that she was a powerful organizer in her own right.
While her Rolodex holds impressive contacts, what stands out is how she fostered and maintained relationships with mentors and colleagues who answered the bat call when she sent it. Eaddy took up the gauntlet Moore passed her and emailed 50 contacts, subject line: “Black Women – this VP narrative – Not on Our Watch.” What followed was an organic mobilization of over 3,000 women through Zoom calls, friend referrals, collective letter writing, and an email list.
How a Zoom Call Rallied a Nation
On July 21st, 2024, Win With Black Women (WWBW) facilitated a trailblazing Zoom call of 44,000 Black women less than 24 hours after the announcement that VP Kamala Harris was endorsed as the new Democratic candidate for the 2024 election.
While the recent financial and cultural impact of WWBW’s Black Women for Kamala Harris Zoom is received by mainstream media as an overnight success or example of #blackgirlmagic, Black-led publications provide much-needed context on the work behind the scenes. Recognizing that this moment and momentum stand on the shoulders of decades of political organizing by women like Shirley Chisholm and Fannie Lou Hammer and collectives like “The Colored Girls,’ helps us acknowledge the ways Jotaka Eaddy utilized the range of lessons taught by her predecessors to facilitate this moment.
Win with Black Women: A Movement
The urgency and efficiency of the July 21st call are underlined by an understanding that the rhetoric and misrepresentation of Black women in media relies on tropes that prevent the public from fairly assessing a Black female candidate. It was impressive that Black women were prepared for a moment like this, a viable candidate to protect and promote. It’s also incredibly disappointing that we collectively knew a target would be on her back.
The announcement of VP Harris’s candidacy triggered many emotions from Black women — renewed optimism in a candidate who might potentially address their policy needs to palpable anxiety about the impending media onslaught on its way. Black Women observed the treatment of Michelle Obama during President Obama’s presidency. They monitored the calculated campaigns against Stacey Abrams and Justice Ketanji Brown. Watched the undermining of Representatives Maxine Walters, Jasmine Crockett, and Cori Bush; Black women understood that when a Black woman runs for office, society puts all Black women on trial.
Since 2020, Win With Black Women has operated with the belief “that no matter your political affiliation – you should have been outraged by the treatment of Black women in that process.” In many ways, WWBW is mobilizing Black women to support fair and unbiased elections, whether a Black woman is victorious or not. The initial group’s objectives focused on eliminating racist and sexist attacks on, electing, and elevating the representation and collective power of Black women. Many notable celebrities and activists have joined meetings or become members.
WWBW embodies the wisdom of Fannie Lou Hammer’s advice: “We have to build our own power. We have to win every single political office we can., where we have a majority of Black people.” The infrastructure they’ve built to organize on behalf of Black women running for reelection in the US Senate or the Georgia runoff can be applied to various causes and candidates as they see fit. Ultimately, Win With Black Women created a safe political space for Black women. In Eaddy’s words, “This is a love letter to women. Our investment. A place where we all believe we can and will win.”
What’s Next For Win With Black Women
Win With Black Women will face many challenges organizing in support of VP Harris’s election campaign this election season. WWBW is prepared to combat the engendered and racialized attacks directed towards VP Harris and other Black women running for election in State and local elections.
Within her first month of campaigning, media assaults on VP Harris’s character and qualifications have already pulled from harmful tropes about Black women. Accusations of ‘sleeping her way to the top‘ or unfairly prosecuting Black men have drawn on Jezebel and Sapphire tropes to discredit her. Luckily, they’ve prepared for these kinds of attacks. While the public was surprised by the magnitude of Black women’s mobilization for VP Harris, Eaddy was not. In an interview with Essence, she stated, “We always get what needs to be done, done. I stand on the shoulders of powerful Black women that came before me, fighting for the change we all want to see.”
Furthermore, after all the discourse on Black women as the saviors of US democracy or Democratic candidates’ entitlement to Black women’s organizing without prioritizing their social concerns, it’s refreshing to witness Black women mobilizing power in support of one of their own—someone who consistently represented their community requests instead of pandering or paternalizing rhetoric.
Win With Black Women’s Example
Centering this moment around Jotaka Eddy and Win With Black Women is an opportunity to learn from their organizing example and revisit the lessons previous generations of Black political organizing left for us. Their preparation, community building, and mobilizing triggered renewed surgency and engagement with our political system, inspiring multiple identity groups to organize direct action themselves.
Regardless of the election’s outcome, Win With Black Women’s dedication to creating a safe political space for Black women primed them to effectively mobilize as soon as VP Harris’s announcement. Their success comes from a long lineage of female-led Black organizing that is equally inspiring.
About the Author
Kathleen Ananza
Kathleen ‘Kat’ Anaza is a multi-genre storyteller, organizer, and entrepreneur whose works center on narratives and experiences of the Black Diaspora. She has been featured in Vogue Magazine, Lonely Planet, Viator, and more. Connect with her work at https://linktr.ee/Kat_Anaza.
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