SHANNON WATTS — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Founder emerita of Moms Demand Action, a gun violence prevention organization with chapters in every U.S. state and over 6 million supporters nationwide.
Author of the New York Times bestseller 'FIRED UP'.
Author of 'Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World' (2019).
National Board Member at Emerge America since 2016 and serves on the board of Advance Peace.
Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People, a Forbes 50 over 50 Changemaker, and a Glamour Woman of the Year.
Served as a 2025 Visiting Scholar at The George Washington University and a 2024 Barbara Boxer Fellow at the University of Southern California.
Graduated from the University of Missouri in 1994.

Biography

Shannon Watts is an American gun violence prevention activist and the founder emerita of Moms Demand Action. She established the organization in December 2012, the day after the Sandy Hook School shooting, by starting a Facebook group to unite women against the gun lobby. Under her leadership, Moms Demand Action grew into a grassroots movement with chapters in every U.

S. state and over 6 million supporters nationwide.