Renowned political strategist, commentator and author Symone D. Sanders will join Earlham College, Indiana University East and the Richmond chapter of the NAACP for a virtual event to reflect on the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Sanders’ appearance will take place at 7 p.m. Sunday, January 15 on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Registration for the free event can be found on Eventbrite at iuemlkcelebration2023.eventbrite.com.

Joe Green, the director of Earlham’s Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, will moderate the 90-minute event.

“Symone Sanders is a trailblazer in the world of politics, a powerful voice in the pursuit of equality and a fierce advocate for juvenile justice reform,” Green said. “As we prepare to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, I am honored to join Symone for an evening of reflection in the context of the challenges we still face today.”

Sanders rose to prominence in 2016 as the national press secretary for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign. At 25, she became the youngest presidential press secretary on record and was named to Rolling Stone’s list of 16 young Americans shaping the 2016 election.

In 2020, she published her first book, No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America, and served as a senior advisor for President Joe Biden’s successful presidential campaign. Sanders was appointed as a senior member of the Biden administration serving as deputy assistant to the President and senior advisor and chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Sanders served as the national chair of the Coalition of Juvenile Justice Emerging Leaders Committee and a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice before joining Senator Sanders’s campaign.

Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration, Sanders was principal of the 360 Group where she helped clients find solutions to tough political and social problems.

Sanders is a former political commentator for CNN and resident fellow of both Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School and the University of Southern California’s Center for the Political Future.

For more events at Earlham College, visit earlham.edu/events. Upcoming events at IU East can be found at iue.edu/events.