Rodney Davis is a communications, marketing, events strategist, lgbtqia/social justice/human and civil rights activist, and artist who was born and raised in Newport, RI. In the early 1990s he left “the island” to begin a new life in Providence after being disfellowshipped from the ministry with Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is here where he began his work as a social justice and civil rights activist. Rodney had the privilege to serve as president and vice president of the RI Alliance which led the charge for LGBTQIA+ civil rights, however, his 20+ years as co-chair and then president of Rhode Island Pride is what many identify him with. After stepping down from leadership with Pride at the end of 2013, he was tapped to lead the organization once again in 2021 to help reorganize the group and along with his team was able to produce the largest RI PrideFest and Night Parade ever in June 2022. Davis is an active member of the African American Ambassadors Group with the City of Providence and recently was a co-facilitator/artist for the All Black Lives Matter mural in Kennedy Plaza. He is honored to serve as chair of the Providence Municipal Reparations Commission. He is a graduate of College Unbound where he was a Diversity Leadership Scholar and now serves as an instructional alumni mentor. He is also a graduate of the Alpha II class of Leadership Rhode Island. Davis had previously worked as the communications director for Big Picture Learning, the organization which created the Met School and 200 similar schools based on that design nationally and around the world. Recently, Rodney was excited to join the team at United Way of Rhode Island as their Senior Content Strategist in Marketing and Communications.