Shannon Watts (born January 1, 1971) is an American gun violence prevention activist and the founder of

Moms Demand Action Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was created in 2013 when Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America joined force ...

. Watts has campaigned for a number of gun control candidates across the country, including President Joe Biden. In 2016, Watts became a board member of

Emerge America Emerge America is a non-profit national political organization based in San Francisco with the mission to increase the number of Democratic women leaders from diverse backgrounds in public office through recruitment, training and providing a powe ...

. Watts also serves on the board of Advance Peace and Urban Peace Institute.

Early life and education

Watts was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, and graduated from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in 1994. After college, she worked in the

Missouri House of Representatives The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 37,000 residents. House members are elected for two-year terms during general elections ...

and for former Governor

Mel Carnahan Melvin Eugene Carnahan (February 11, 1934 – October 16, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st Governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in a plane crash in 2000. A Democrat, he was elected posthumously to the ...

. Watts then built a career as a communications executive, including

FleishmanHillard FleishmanHillard Inc. (formerly, Fleishman–Hillard) is a public relations and marketing agency founded and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was acquired by Omnicom Group in 1997, becoming part of the Diversified Agency Services (DAS) division. T ...

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

GE Healthcare GE HealthCare is a subsidiary of American multinational conglomerate General Electric incorporated in New York and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. As of 2017, it is a manufacturer and distributor of diagnostic imaging agents and radiopharma ...

and WellPoint. In 2008, she left her corporate career to focus on her family.

Moms Demand Action

On December 14, 2012, a gunman had opened fire in Sandy Hook School in

Newtown, Connecticut Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...

, killing 26 children and educators. The next day, Watts started a Facebook group to unite women against the gun lobby in the way

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada and Brazil that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and strive for stricter impaired drivi ...

had united mothers against the alcohol lobby in the 1980s. The Facebook page grew into a grassroots movement after volunteers contacted Watts about forming Moms Demand Action chapters in their own communities. Moms Demand Action now has chapters in every state and over 6 million supporters nationwide. For over eight years, Moms Demand Action volunteers have stopped the NRA’s priority legislation in statehouses more than 90 percent of the time, and helped pass hundreds of gun safety laws across the country, changed corporate policies, and educated Americans about secure gun storage. In the 2022 election, 140 Moms Demand Action volunteers were elected to public office. Volunteers wear red t-shirts emblazoned with the Moms Demand Action logo to show their support and stand out at legislative hearings, protests and other events. In 2013, Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns joined forces to become Everytown for Gun Safety. In March 2020, Watts campaigned with presidential candidate Joe Biden in Ohio. Watts has given speeches at places such as

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...

and Mountain Calvary Lutheran Church. Watts announced that she will be stepping back from her leadership role at Moms Demand Action at the end of 2023.

United Airlines

In 2017, Watts spoke out against

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

after witnessing an agent deny boarding to two teenage girls wearing

leggings Leggings are several types of leg attire that have varied through the years. Modern usage from the 1960s onwards has come to refer to elastic close-fitting high-rise garments worn over the legs typically by women, such as leg warmers or tights. ...

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , locally known as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , it is the largest airport in ...

. Watts added that the girls' father was allowed to board without incident, despite wearing

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the human pelvis, pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" b ...

. United later stated that the two teenagers were pass riders under the airline's company travel perk program who were subject to a stricter dress code, whereas leggings or yoga pants are acceptable for regular passengers.

Writing

Watts is the author of the 2019 book ''Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World''. The book’s foreword was written by actress

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, a ...

, who is also the founding chair of the Everytown Creative Council. Watts also blogs on Medium about her work and the victories achieved by Moms Demand Action volunteers. Watts is also active on

, where she has more than 500,000 followers. She has also appeared as a commentator on MSNBC, CNN, CBS and NPR and written opinion pieces for Elle, Refinery29, Time.com, Newsweek and Marie Claire, among others.

Personal life

Since starting Moms Demand Action, Watts has lived in Indiana, Colorado and California. She and her husband now live in the Bay Area. She is the mother of five children. In her book, Watts wrote that she was enrolled in a

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

teacher training course when she founded Moms Demand Action. She is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

who practices yoga and meditates at least once a day.

Awards and recognition

* 2008: PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 * 2014: People Magazine's 15 Women Changing the World Right Now * 2018: Bloomberg Philanthropies, award in recognition for work to reduce gun violence * 2018: Instyle, Badass Woman * 2018: People Magazine, 25 Women Changing the World * 2018: YBCA 100 Honoree, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco * 2019: University of Missouri Griffiths Leadership Society “Spirit of Martha” Award * 2020: Peacemaker of the Year Award from the Houston Peace and Justice Center * 2020: Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Medal for Distinguished Service * 2021:

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, Honorary Doctorate of Humanities * 2022: Glamour Women of the Year * 2022:

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman Sharon I. Waxman (born c.1963) is an American author, journalist, ...

Power Women Summit Changemakers of the Year * 2023:

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

100 Most Influential People in the World

References

External links

Moms Demand Action official website
* for ''

The Opposition with Jordan Klepper ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'' is an American late-night talk and news satire program that aired on Comedy Central from September 25, 2017, to June 28, 2018. The show was hosted by comedian Jordan Klepper, a former correspondent on ''The ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Shannon Living people 1971 births Activists from Rochester, New York University of Missouri alumni American gun control activists American women company founders Women founders