This episode will be a conversation featuring amazing women of color who are leaders on the frontlines of the fight for justice, equality, and freedom for all. We seek to learn about what they face as they navigate the political landscape in Mississippi – a landscape designed to neglect the needs of the people these courageous women serve. Listen as our host Courtney Body leads this discussion with these dynamic women of color.

Guest Bios

Cassandra Welchlin,

Executive Director & Co-Convener of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable

Cassandra Welchlin is a daughter of the South, raised in Jackson, Mississippi. As a loving wife and mother of three beautiful children, she balances the work & family with grace. She holds an undergraduate degree in social work from Jackson State University (where she became a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority) and a Master's from Brandies University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. As a licensed social worker, an advocate, organizer, and agent of change, her work spans over twenty years reforming public policy and organizing for power. Cassandra has been featured in national, statewide and local media outlets such as Bloomberg Law and Mississippi Today. Cassandra is an active fellow in various programs & has been the recipient of several prestigious awards that include 2021 Whose Who Mississippi Women- Fannie Lou Hamer Award and most recently the Woman of Vision Award by the Ms. Foundation for Women alongside Ruby Bright of the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis, Bozoma Saint John, Maxine Waters, Pamala Buzick Kim and Deja Foxx. One of her favorite quotes-- “If you don’t love the people, sooner or later you will betray the people.” By late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba.

Michelle Colon

Co – Founder and Executive Director, sHERo MS

Michelle Colón is a lifelong grass roots, social justice activist and organizer, entrenched in the battlefields fighting for abortion rights, access and justice. She has been organizing throughout Mississippi fighting restrictive reproductive health legislation for over two decades, having worked the halls of the Capitol, outside and inside MS’s only abortion clinic; organizing large scale demonstrations, civic engagement events, major fundraising efforts and combating anti-abortion terrorist. As co-founder and Executive Director of SHERo Mississippi, a Black Women’s statewide reproductive justice collective, she continues to focus and highlight the struggles and experiences of Black women, girls and femmes by helping them find their path to liberation through community organizing and capacity building. An unapologetic abortion freedom fighter, lover of animals, and all things GoT, Michelle holds a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from Jackson State University.

Lorena Quiroz

Founder and Executive Director, Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity

Lorena Quiroz, is a 22-year Mississippi resident. Born in Ecuador, by way of New York, she’s an organizer and mother of three amazing girls; first generation Afro Latinas born in the beautiful Delta flatlands. She is the founder of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, an organization whose purpose is to amplify the voices of marginalized, multi-racial, and immigrant communities by active participation in civic engagement in deconstructing barriers that perpetuate racial, xenophobic, socio-economical, and gender identity and sexuality disparities and oppression.