About avry

Avry jxn is an interdisciplinary storyteller and cross-sector impact strategist. The x is an intentional rejection of the Jackson plantation from which they receive their name. As a descendant of Louisiana sharecroppers and Southern horsemen avry's work continues a legacy of leading from the land and the herd. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa as a grandchild of the Great Migration, avry holds sacred the preservation of cultural technology. They hold a B.A. in Sociology from Morehouse College and an academic research background in the state-sanctioned and economic violence of the American judicial system and the cultural responses it generates. Their commitments are to exploring alternative systems of design, wealth redistribution, conflict navigation and relationship. At WildTalk avry is activating narrative and design strategy as a pathway for decolonizing our systems.

Avry is committed to changing the material conditions of Black families whose legacies are stained by the indigenous genocide of American plantations. Through their work with fundraising, resource development, and wealth redistribution; avry stands firmly on the frontlines of decolonizing philanthropy to aggressively redirect resources from entities that hoard, to communities.

Avry facilitated the development of the youth-led cooperatively-owned social enterprise that used grassroots organizing to challenge municipal systems of extraction, ATLisREADY. They’ve used their land-based practice to illuminate the intersections of environmental justice and racial equity with organizations like the Partnership for Southern Equity. Their ability to tell the stories of resource systems has made them a critical asset in philanthropy. This led them to partner with the Southern Partners Fund to deepen their analysis of a Southern-centered strategy by providing technical and financial assistance to rural grassroots organizations. Fundraising for collective power-building is a core component of avry’s experience. Avry strategically advises innovative models for impact ventures like Gangstas to Growers, an urban agribusiness training program funded by Sweet Sol Hot Sauce, their social enterprise cooperative. As a Storyteller, avry’s work is to preserve Black Southern Farms and Land-bases. By working with farmer collectives like the Southeastern African American Farmer’s Organic Network (SAAFON) to leverage content, narrative, and creativity to realize the visions of farmers. Avry’s skills were proven useful for solving tech-based challenges and optimizing digital products; through their work with Think Shout using content strategy and information architecture to optimize user experiences for public/private for-good clients.

These days avry is working aggressively to shift national philanthropic and donor industries. Currently pushing the environmental justice movement deeper as the Co-Director of Resource Mobilization with the Climate Justice Alliance and embodying radical fund development as the Co-Director of Resource Redistribution at Resist; arguably one of the most forward-think grant-making institutions in the country.

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