Join us for a conversation between Marguerite Casey Foundation's President and CEO Dr. Carmen Rojas, Faiz Shakir from A More Perfect Union, and Anand Giridharadas, author of The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy.
This event is part of our MCF Book Club: Reading for a Liberated Future series. The MCF Book Club shares the ideas of leaders who encourage us to imagine how we can radically transform our democracy, economy, and society.
Anand Giridharadas is a writer.
He is the author of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World, The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, and India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking. A former foreign correspondent and columnist for The New York Times for more than a decade, he has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Time, and he is the publisher of the popular newsletter The Ink.
He has spoken on stages around the world and taught narrative journalism at New York University. He is a regular on-air political analyst for MSNBC.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised there, in Paris, France, and in Maryland, and educated at the University of Michigan, Oxford, and Harvard.
His writing has been honored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale, the Porchlight Business Book of the Year award, the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanism in Culture from Harvard, and the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Award. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Priya Parker, and their two children.
Faiz Shakir is the Founder and Executive Director of More Perfect Union, a progressive nonprofit advocacy journalism organization devoted to advancing economic justice and restoring democracy by telling the stories of the working class, holding corporations accountable, and connecting these fights to the need for strong democratic institutions.
Shakir continues to serve in his capacity as Chief Political Advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders after leading the charge as campaign manager for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign. Under Shakir’s leadership, the Bernie 2020 campaign changed the political landscape in this country, bringing progressive policy discussions to the forefront of the national narrative.
Prior to working for Bernie Sanders, Shakir was the National Political Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from January 2017 – March 2019. As National Political Director, he oversaw the ACLU’s National Political Advocacy Department, which houses the organization’s Washington Legislative Office and State Advocacy and Policy departments. In his role, Shakir developed and implemented strategies to advance the organization’s priorities at the federal and state levels.
Shakir worked as one of the most senior advisers to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, prior to joining the ACLU. He directed policy and communications work for Senator Reid while also coordinating with Democratic members and staff, key interest groups, and press to organize issue campaigns. Prior to that, Shakir served as Senior Adviser and Director of Digital Media for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.
