Nayyirah Shariff is a grassroots organizer based in Flint, Michigan. Nayyirah was one of the co-founders of the Flint Democracy Defense League, a grassroots group formed to confront Flint’s emergency manager in 2011. She has nearly ten years experience organizing around local, state, and national electoral and issue campaigns. She has been featured on Democracy Now!, Move to Amend podcast, Al-Jazeera  and Netroots Nation speaking out about the problems with Flint’s water and with Michigan’s Emergency Management of local governments. She is currently the Director of Flint Rising, a coalition of Flint residents and community groups, labor, and progressive allies that formed in response to Flint’s emergency declaration.