Mia Birdsong

Mia Birdsong is a pathfinder, writer, and facilitator who steadily engages the leadership and wisdom of people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American life. The founding Executive Director of Next River, an institute for practicing the future, Birdsong moves conversations, culture, and resources to nourish people and communities toward a liberated future.

In "How We Show Up," her book about how we make family and community, Birdsong charts swaths of community life and points toward the promise of a collective vitality. In “More Than Enough,” her podcast miniseries from The Nation, she expands the guaranteed income movement by tapping into the voices and visions of low-income people.

She is the former Co-Director of Family Story and Vice President of the Family Independence Initiative, where she leveraged the power of data and stories to illuminate and accelerate the initiative low-income families take to improve their lives. Birdsong's writing, interviews, and public conversations, such as her TED talk “The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn’t True,” draw targeted attention to the stories of people who are finding their way despite myriad barriers.

Birdsong is a Senior Fellow of the Economic Security Project and a Future Good Fellow at Institute For the Future. She was an inaugural Ascend Fellow of The Aspen Institute, and a New American California Fellow.