Staci "Stosh" Cotler (born 1968) is an American activist. She served as Chief Executive Officer of Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish political organization that blends advocacy, community organizing, and leadership training.

Biography

Born in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

, Cotler became involved with advocacy work while living in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. In Portland, she founded an organization which offered self defense, violence prevention and empowerment training for girls and women. She was also involved with advocating for Palestinian rights and protested Israel's treatment of Palestinians during the

Second Intifada The Second Intifada (; ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its Israeli-occupied territories, occupation from 2000. Starting as a civilian uprising in Jerusalem and October 2000 prot ...

. In 2005 she began working for

Jewish Funds for Justice Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in New York, which merged with the Progressive Jewish Alliance in 2011. Cotler became Bend the Arc's Executive vice president in 2011 and CEO in 2014. When Cotler became CEO, The Forward noted that she was "one of the few women leading a national Jewish group of its size." In 2014, ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'' named her one of its 14 Jewish Women To Watch. In 2015, she was named one of the “15 progressive faith leaders to watch” by the

Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy think tank, research and advocacy organization which presents a Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal viewpoint on Economic policy, economic and social issues. CAP is headquarter ...

. In 2017 she became a Senior Fellow at

Auburn Seminary Auburn Theological Seminary, located in New York City, teaches students about progressive social issues by offering workshops, providing consulting, and conducting research on faith leadership development. The seminary was established in Auburn, ...

. In 2022, Cotler transitioned out of the CEO role at Bend the Arc and became Senior Advisor to the organization. Cotler has often been quoted by the media regarding immigration, in response to violent attacks on Jews and regarding issues of racial justice. Geoffrey Claussen describes Cotler as contributing to

musar literature Musar literature is didactic Jewish ethical literature which describes virtues and vices and the path towards character improvement. This literature gives the name to the Musar movement, in 19th century Lithuania, but this article considers such ...

, citing her writing about courage. Cotler identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

. She has a black belt in

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotler, Stosh Jewish American community activists American community activists Jewish women activists Queer feminists American queer women LGBTQ people from Washington (state) LGBTQ Jews 1968 births Living people Jewish American feminists American feminists Jewish American anti-racism activists American anti-racism activists American women activists American wushu practitioners People from Olympia, Washington Activists from Washington (state) 21st-century American Jews Jewish LGBTQ women