Vicki Shabo (she/her)

Founder and Director, Entertainment-Related Narrative and Culture Change Practice
Better Life Lab at New America

Vicki Shabo is a gender equity expert, policy strategist, and coalition builder, who has helped to win paid leave, paid sick time, equal pay, and pregnancy fairness policies affecting tens of millions of people. Shabo also recently founded an initiative called Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care, which marries policy, research, and narrative expertise to resource TV, film, and pop culture creators with the information they need to tell more authentic and aspirational stories about work-family justice, gender equity, caregiving, and an inclusive economy. 

Shabo has testified in the Senate and House of Representatives, state legislatures, and before the Democratic Party’s platform committee. Her opinion pieces have been published in outlets including the Boston Globe, CNN.com, The Hill, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Romper, Roll Call, and USA Today and her observations have been featured widely in national, regional, and state news stories. She holds degrees from Pomona College (BA, summa cum laude), the University of Michigan (MA in political science), and the University of North Carolina School of Law (JD, high honors), where she served as editor-in-chief of the North Carolina Law Review. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, teenager, and two cats.