2023 Annual Report

S PEAKER /E NTERTAINER
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Sara Beth Myers
Sara Beth Myers is Deputy General Counsel for the Southern
Poverty Law Center, a historic nonprofit that seeks racial justice in
the South and beyond by working with community partners to
dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements,
and advance the rights of all people. She is a former Assistant
United States Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee where
she served as the Civil Rights Coordinator and Human Trafficking
Coordinator. Prior to serving as a federal prosecutor she was an
Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney in
Nashville. In all these roles Sara Beth specialized in investigating and prosecuting hate
crimes, excessive use of force, human sex and labor trafficking, domestic violence, and
sexual assault. She has also worked to educate prosecutors and law enforcement about
identifying and successfully working cases involving the most vulnerable victims.
During her time working in the court system Sara Beth realized, “there wasn’t a progressive
issues-based organization in Tennessee that advocates specifically for women’s and
children’s issues.” To fill that gap Sara Beth founded AWAKE, Advocates for Women’s And
Kids’ Equality in 2013. It’s an issue-based and grassroots nonprofit. Under the AWAKE
umbrella she has drafted and successfully lobbied ten Tennessee laws in collaboration with
women’s groups throughout the state by fostering public policy to “improve the wellness,
safety, opportunity and equality for women and children in Tennessee.” In addition, AWAKE
launched a state-wide educational campaign to prevent child abuse, developed a truancy
intervention program, designed middle and high school programs to help students learn
about healthy relationships and financial independence and served hundreds of youth and
survivors with the I Am an Advocate curriculum.