Elizabeth Méndez Berry

Elizabeth’s career has always been about the pursuit of a good story, from life-saving investigative reporting to the subtle delight of a character that resonates. She started her career as an editor at Vibe magazine; in his book Decoded, Jay-Z cited one of her essays as an inspiration for his song “Public Service Announcement.” And a Spanish-language op-ed she wrote helped spark the country’s first ever city council hearing on street harassment, in New York City. Before joining One World, she invested in the arts and journalism as a funder at the Ford Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. She cofounded Critical Minded, a philanthropic initiative that supports cultural critics of color. She is on the boards of A Long Walk Home, BlackStar’s Seen journal, the Library of Congress’s Connecting Communities Digital Initiative and Critical Minded. In 2022 she was selected for the Kennedy Center’s Next50, which celebrates 50 visionary cultural leaders on the center’s 50th anniversary.