Ashlee Davis - Obama alum leading with PRIDE

Ashlee Davis began her journey with the Obama administration through a chance meeting with Brian Bond one summer.  Recalled Ashlee, “...He [Brian] shared his business card with me and gave me such encouragement on my goals to work in civil rights. Two years later I saw Brian at a program and rushed up to him to say hello. By then I was a graduating 3L preparing for the bar, and I was hungry to serve in the Obama Administration but didn’t know where the opportunity might be available. Brian and I connected shortly after that.” 

After taking the bar, Ashlee joined the White House as an intern in the Presidential Personnel Office which led to a political appointment in USDA’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights and serving as the USDA White House Liaison. While serving, Ashlee had the opportunity to launch and lead the National LGBTQ+ Rural Summit Series, a national program that connected LGBTQIA+ people and families in rural communities with federal government resources.

Through her work in the administration and in her community, Ashlee has been committed to increasing equity and diversity in all areas. After leaving the administration in 2016, Ashlee returned to her native Tennessee where she dedicated herself to making sure that LGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC, and people of other marginalized groups are given the same opportunities as everyone else.

“As a Black HBCU-educated lesbian from the south, there are several doors that have not just been closed on me, but completely locked all because my diverse identities are not always welcomed and at times they were feared.  I share this not because it’s ever been a source of sadness for me, but it is the reason why I know that unless someone with a diverse perspective is at the table, we won’t design with inclusion in mind and the stakes are too high for us to miss the mark.”

Today, Ashlee is the director of Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Ancestry while also serving on a number of national and local boards including YWCA and as the former chair of Nashville, TN’s Community Oversight Board. “President Obama would often remind each of us that he and the First Lady were depending on us to go back to our communities and make real and meaningful change…The assignment is clear – we’re all supposed to take what we’ve learned and create the necessary good trouble,” said Ashlee. 

Ashlee’s tenacity – one she attributes to her family’s support – is one she hopes to extend to LGBTQIA+ youth across the country. In her work building intersectional coalitions and inclusionary practices, Ashlee knows that there are thousands more following her.

“One thing that brings me joy is the resilience of our youth and their unmatched creativity and intelligence.  There is nothing more inspiring than the voice and strategic action I’ve witnessed Gen Z employ time and time again in the face of climate change, a sorely late racial reckoning and atonement that our country and world is embracing, at times with hesitation, and their commitment to cultivate a radically inclusive world that hopefully won’t seem that radical at all in the future.”