Meet the Moodie-Mills’

DRESSED UP IN LOVE

Aisha Mills & Danielle Moodie began a conversation in a friend’s windowsill eight years ago, and they’ve been finishing each other’s sentences ever since. It truly was love at first sight, and in no time the “aha!” moment set in—apart they were good but together they’re exceptional, as was their wedding. Two brides, twice the glamour, double the sass, made for quite the fabulous affair. ESSENCE thought so too, and featured the wedding online, a first for the popular lifestyle magazine. With 5,000 Facebook “likes” and hundreds of comments, it’s clear their readers agreed.The feature also won a 2011 GLAAD Award!

TRAILBLAZERS

The “Polinistas” are living their lives authentically, in color, and out loud in a city that is known for grey suits and clutched pearls. The pair are rising stars in Washington where they labor together in their passions and politics. In the past few years they’ve made numerous headlines as the key spokespersons for the campaign that brought marriage equality to the nation’s capital. The dynamic duo also launched FIRE (Fighting Injustice to Reach Equality), a policy initiative at the Center for American Progress which works to eliminate the social, economic, and health disparities experience by LGBT people of color.

CHANGE AGENTS

Aisha Moodie-Mills has been recognized as one of the top “Forty Under 40” national LGBT leaders by The Advocate magazine, and as an honoree of THE ROOT 100’s 2010 list of emerging and established leaders in the African-American community.  She is currently an Advisor at the Center for American Progress and appears regularly as a political commentator on MSNBC, Fox News, and Current TV, among others. Over the past decade she has served as a political advisor, private-sector liaison, and fundraiser to more than 40 members of Congress including six senators and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Danielle Moodie-Mills is a lobbyist in the best sense of the word. From the classroom to Capitol Hill she’s spent her career promoting social justice and actively lobbies for inclusive policies that enhance the lives of all Americans. She currently works for the National Wildlife Federation and previously served as an aide to Mayor Michael Bloomberg (NYC) and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY-11). Danielle’s writings are frequently published in The Atlantic, Essence.com and HuffingtonPost and she has been recognized as one of the THE ROOT 100‘s top African American trailblazers in 2012.

Contact them at moodie.mills(at)gmail.com.