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Meet the Newest Anthem Awards Judges 

In continuation from our inaugural season, we collaborate alongside our judging body, the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS), to honor the best of purpose & mission-driven work being created by both nonprofit and for profit organizations. For the 2nd Annual Anthem Awards, we have welcomed over 100 new jurors into the Academy, further adding to the diversity and breadth of experience present in our judging body. Our newest judges are leading impact work across their various industries and causes: advertising, business, criminal justice reform, podcasting, media, consumer goods, healthcare, gaming and more. 

To celebrate this, we’re showcasing a few of our new judges below and will highlight more throughout the season. 

Meet a few of our new judges below. See the full list of Anthem Judges who will review The Anthem Awards entries, and enter before the Early Entry Deadline on Friday, July 29th, 2022.

Tarana J. Burke, Founder & Chief Vision Officer at me too. International

For more than 25 years, activist, advocate, and author Tarana J. Burke has worked at the intersection of sexual violence and racial justice. Fueled by commitments to interrupt sexual violence and other systemic inequalities disproportionately impacting marginalized people, particularly Black women and girls, Tarana has created and led various campaigns focused on increasing access to resources and support for impacted communities, including the ‘me too.’ Movement, which has galvanized millions of survivors and allies around the world, and the me too. International nonprofit organization, founded in 2018. Her New York Times bestselling books You Are Your Best Thing and Unbound have illuminated the power of healing, vulnerability, and storytelling in the movement to end sexual violence.

Nicholas Thompson, CEO, The Atlantic

As a “fierce advocate for journalism and innovation,” Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic, a magazine and multiplatform publication that has been challenging assumptions and pursuing truth since 1857. 

There, Thompson leads the magazine’s business strategy, working with the teams overseeing corporate services; advertising; and product, engineering and growth. He also drives the magazine’s pursuit of digital subscriptions and consumer revenue. Thompson has been in the Condé Nast sphere for 15 years. Prior to The Atlantic, helped lead two magazines’ digital-subscription strategies, first at The New Yorker, and more recently at Wired. During his tenure, readership at NewYorker.com rose almost sevenfold. At Wired, digital subscriptions have risen by roughly 300 percent under his leadership. He helped launch the Get Wired app and podcast as well as the magazine’s fast-growing affiliate-revenue business and its annual Wired25 event. His reporting on Facebook was a finalist for a 2020 Loeb Award.

Zarna Surti, Global Creative Director, Nike Purpose

A creative powerhouse, Zarna Surti is the Global Creative Director of Nike Purpose. There, she has led the invention and execution of new global purpose collections for Black, Asian, Latinx, Native and LGBTQIA+ communities. Surti is also the founder of Tonal Studios, a Los Angeles-based creative studio that offers creative direction, branding, graphic and web design and content strategy services. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Tonal Journal, an independent book celebrating women of color.

Jennifer Lotito, President & Chief Operating Officer, (RED) 

Jennifer Lotito is the President and Chief Operating Officer of (RED), a division of the ONE Campaign, a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases. 

At (RED), “Lotito oversees short and long-term priorities that continue to build the (RED) brand and generate critical and sustainable funding and awareness to help end the AIDS and now COVID-10 pandemic.” She has driven successful relationships with (RED) partner brands, like Apple, Bank of America, Beats by Dre, LVMH, Salesforce, Starbucks and others. Prior to joining (RED), Lotito was a Senior Partner at Ogilvy Worldwide, where she was responsible for overseeing the global IBM and American Express accounts.

Shaniqua McClendon, Senior Political Director, Crooked Media

Shaniqua McClendon is a political strategist, and the Senior Political Director for Crooked Media, which is home to popular podcasts like Pod Save America, Keep It!, What A Day, and more. She is also currently a fellow at the USC Center for the Political Future. At Crooked Media, McClendon leads their political strategy and civic engagement program (Vote Save America), and also created their successful 2020 volunteer engagement and fundraising program (Adopt a State).

Prior to Crooked Media, McClendon served on Capitol Hill as a policy advisor to Senator Kay R. Hagan and Legislative Director to Congresswoman Alma S. Adams. While working for Rep. Adams, McClendon spearheaded the creation of the first-ever Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus.

Christina Swarns, Executive Director, Innocence Project

Christina Swarns is the Executive Director of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that works within the criminal justice system to free individuals who have been wrongfully convicted, and “create fair, compassionate and equitable systems of justice for everyone.” 

Prior to her work with the Innocence Project, Swarns served as the President and Attorney-in-Charge of the Office of the Appellate Defender, Inc. (OAD), one of New York City’s oldest institutional providers of indigent appellate defense representation. She was also the Litigation Director for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice; as a Supervising Assistant Federal Defender in the Capital Habeas Corpus Unit of the Philadelphia Community Defender Office; and as a Staff Attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Division in New York. 

In 2017, Swarns argued, and won Buck v. Davis, a challenge to the introduction of explicitly racially biased evidence in a Texas death penalty case, in the US Supreme Court. She earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Howard University.

Maurice Mitchell, National Director, Working Families Party 

Maurice Mitchell is a “nationally-recognized social movement strategist, a visionary leader in the Movement for Black Lives” and a community organizer. 

He is currently the National Director of the Working Families Party, where he is working to grow the multiracial political organization, and build a working class movement across the U.S. Their focus is on divesting power from the two-party system, corporations and the elite to provide economic and social justice for working class people. Prior to WFP,  Mitchell relocated to Ferguson, after Mike Brown was killed by police, to support organizations on the ground. There, he saw the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for Black Lives activists across the country, so he co-founded and managed Blackbird.

Dinah-Kareen Jean, Senior Manager of Social Innovation, Etsy 

As the Senior Manager of Social Innovation at Etsy, Dinah-Kareen Jean spearheads philanthropic efforts. 

Prior to joining the Etsy team, Jean leveraged her social impact expertise as an Impact Program Manager at Twilio Inc., and as the Giving Partnerships Partner for TOMS.  She’s a believer in wielding the power of business to do good.

Ashley T Brundage, Founder and President of Empowering Differences

Ashley T Brundage is the Founder and President of Empowering Differences, a career development organization that uses leadership-based training to empower and inspire organizations and diverse individuals.

Gender, education, ability, and religion have played key parts in her journey of empowerment. Starting her second career as a part time teller she rose to National Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion in less than 5 years. She captured this 4-step process of using empowerment to cultivate change in her new book and online leadership course both called Empowering Differences. She volunteers for numerous organizations most notably as the Vice Chair for the GLAAD National Board of Directors, which works to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ+ Community.