Staff

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Brit Blalock brings 15 years of experience in brand development, nonprofit marketing/communications, and electoral campaigning across the advocacy, healthcare, and tech sectors. They previously served in strategic leadership roles for Southern Research, Innovation Depot, and the UAB Heersink School of Medicine. Brit is a longtime grassroots organizer and is the founder of two LGBTQ community support orgs. In 2022, they were a candidate for Alabama’s state house in district 54. They received a B.A. in Literature from Samford University and an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University. Brit is based in Alabama with their wife and their menagerie of rescue pets.

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Melinda Gibson is Managing Director of The Capacity Shop, where she supports nonprofits and campaigns working toward equity and social change. With over 20 years of experience in organizing, advocacy, and political strategy, she’s contributed to a wide range of efforts—from local field work to national legislative wins.

Most recently, Melinda helped lead a ballot initiative in Los Angeles County to address housing and homelessness, coordinating teams and partners to collect nearly half a million signatures. She has also supported independent expenditure campaigns focused on protecting democracy and uplifting underrepresented communities.

Earlier in her career, Melinda served as Deputy Director at the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, working with state and local partners to expand voting rights and help election departments respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Melinda’s work focuses on collaboration, thoughtful strategy, and building long-term power with communities across the country.

Christine has years of experience in leading strategic programming, advocacy efforts, and learning. She is a community-oriented and culture leader dedicated to systemic changes through emergent learning as a collective effort. Much of her work is informed by her years leading education initiatives and amplifying diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts in education and community outreach organizations. Christine is excited to bring her inclusive approach to facilitating learning opportunities to TCS. Based in Philadelphia but proudly Cleveland-born, Christine spends her free time exploring her local community, running, traveling, and relaxing with her cat, Gimlet.

Bethel Tsegaye is a strategist, trainer, and facilitator with over fifteen years of experience designing and leading domestic and international human rights and social justice programs. She has worked across the United States and globally—including in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Europe—supporting civil society organizations, grassroots organizers, and human rights defenders.

Bethel’s expertise lies in leadership and organizational development, operations, and capacity building. She supports individuals and organizations in scaling programmatic and operational effectiveness while building sustainable, values-aligned practices.

She holds an MA from the University of London in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration, and a BA from George Mason University in Global Affairs.