Melanie Willingham-Jaggers

Melanie Willingham-Jaggers (they/she) is the Executive Director at GLSEN, a national non-profit that works to ensure K-12 education is safe and affirming for all students, including LGBTQ+ youth. Their vision for GLSEN’s work is rooted in the belief that education can and should be an experience that is safe, affirming and liberating – and that we can achieve that goal only when we build in racial, gender and disability justice into our education system as a key indicator of success. Before joining GLSEN in 2019 as Deputy Executive Director, Melanie served as the Program Associate Director of The Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. As a part of the leadership team there, Melanie worked to ensure the strategic, programmatic, and operational excellence of the Institute. From 2016-2019 Melanie served as board chair of The Audre Lorde Project, the oldest center for community organizing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color, in the New York City area. Melanie’s work on the ALP Board was rooted in the belief that as long as there are organizations connected to our freedom movements – those organizations must be internally safe, healthy and vibrant spaces, on which movements can rely if they so choose.