How to Scale Your Passion And Build a Movement: Dialogues Across Difference

Join the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future for a conversation with activists Shannon Watts and Benji Backer, whose organizations have mobilized millions to push for social change. They will share lessons from leadership, organizing at scale, and driving progress on causes from gun safety to protecting the environment.

Though Watts is a Democrat and Backer is a Republican, both have turned their passion for change into something deeper. Part of the Dialogue Across Difference series, this discussion transcends partisanship, underscoring the importance of committing to a cause larger than yourself.

This discussion is part of CPF’s Dialogue Across Difference series and will also be featured on the Let’s Find Common Ground podcast, showcasing how leaders with different perspectives can turn passion into lasting change. Free lunch and signed books will be available while supplies last.

Run of Show:

• 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM … Lunch
• 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM … Moderated Discussion
• 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM … Book Signing

Panelists include:

• Kamy Akhavan (moderator) - Managing Director, USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future
• Shannon Watts - Founder, Moms Demand Action; author of Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age and of Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World
• Benji Backer - CEO & Founder, Nature is Nonpartisan; author of The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future

Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark Into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age is the newest book from Shannon Watts, and it tells her own story, as well as the stories of other women who have channeled their passions and beliefs into impactful movements. She argues that it is never too late to live your values and live purposefully. Fired Up shows you how to feed the fire inside of you to not only change your life, but the lives of others as well.

The Conservative Environmentalist: Common Sense Solutions for a Sustainable Future is the debut book from Benji Backer, and in it, he argues that the two perspectives on climate change provided to us by the mainstream political parties, doomerism and denial, are dead ends. Instead, he argues that there is a way to take care of the planet while also prioritizing American political interests. The book draws on science, a profound understanding of community needs, and Backer’s political experience to provide a compelling approach to securing a sustainable future.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Ronald Tutor Campus Center, 3607 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, United States