Bio

Zerlina Maxwell is the Director of Progressive Programming at SiriusXM and a Political Analyst for MSNBC. She was formerly the Director of Progressive Media for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She worked in the campaign’s press shop pitching coverage to progressive media outlets and curating daily messaging for online influencers. She also acted as a campaign spokesperson for the Presidential Debates.

She is currently TV political analyst, speaker, and writer for a variety of national media outlets. Her writing focused on national politics, candidates, and specific policy and culture issues including race, feminism, domestic violence, sexual assault, victim blaming and gender inequality.

Zerlina has consulted with the United States Department of State to promote the use of social media by students in the West Bank and is a frequent speaker at colleges, universities, and organizations about rape culture and feminism. She was profiled in the New York Times as a top political twitter voice to follow during the 2012 election season. She was also selected by TIME as having one of the best Twitter feeds in 2014.

Her writing has also appeared in The New York Daily News, The Washington Post, JET Magazine, Marie Claire Magazine, on theGrio.com, BET.com, Feministing.com, CNN.com, and in other mainstream media outlets. She is also a weekly guest and fill in host for Make It Plain with Mark Thompson on Sirius XM Progress and democratic commentator on Fox News and MSNBC. Zerlina Maxwell speaks about about feminism, rape culture, race, diversity, breaking through in social media, blogging and politics.

In 2015, Zerlina was one of five journalists invited to travel on Air Force One with President Obama on his trip to Selma for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Also, in 2016, Zerlina joined pop superstar Lady Gaga on stage at the 88th annual Academy Awards as part of a special performance of her nominated smash, Til’ It Happens to You from the film The Hunting Ground. In January 2018, Zerlina was named as a member of the Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Ending Violence Against Women.

In her presentation, Zerlina will walk her audience through the definition and elements of rape culture that are perpetuated in our everyday experiences, in the media, and in popular culture. She shows them examples of media victim blaming, of cyberbullying and harassment, and a variety of examples of everyday rape culture that they likely didn’t know how to spot. By the end of the presentation, students will understand what rape culture is and how they can become a part of the movement to end it.

Articles, Publications, Appearances