Nia Johnson

Nia is a labor organizer and economic policy researcher who centers racial equity and intersectionality in her approach to policy development. At Next100, Nia works to increase labor bargaining power and uplift corporate accountability movements that center racial and social equity. Driven by her early exposure to the Occupy Oakland demonstrations and participation in the Fight for $15 campaign as a youth activist, Nia is unapologetically taking the fight to corporate villains and standing up for the workers left in their wake.

Previously, Nia supported the federal political strategy of the Homes Guarantee campaign as a political and policy coordinator with Liberation in a Generation (LibGen). At LibGen, Johnson worked with tenant organizers, legal advocates, and policy experts to research affordable housing programs, emphasizing racial equity issues, tenant protections, real estate speculation, housing commodification, and federal regulation. Before joining LibGen, Johnson worked as a policy analyst with the American Economic Liberties Project (AELP), where she researched anticompetitive practices in the journalism, restaurant, banking, and tech industries. At AELP, Nia interviewed and cataloged stories from workers and small business owners who navigated unfair contract terms. Nia’s work on affordable housing and market competition has been featured in NextCity and MarketWatch.

With laws and policies favoring corporate entities and consolidation at the expense of workers and communities of color, Nia works to reshape the narrative to uplift corporate accountability as an intersectional pathway to racial and social equity. She received her bachelor’s in political science from the California State University of Los Angeles. Nia cultivated her passion for advocacy, economic policy, and community organizing as a youth in Oakland, California.