OBI's former Director of Communications and Narrative, Cecilie Surasky, develops partnerships at the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) where she connects OBI's research and frameworks with networks committed to making belonging without othering a norm. She brings to this work a lifetime of bridging and movement-building rooted in growing up in South Philadelphia, and decades of experience mobilizing marginalized communities, building coalitions, and crafting narratives that inspire.
Her career spans a wide range of roles: filmmaker, columnist, one of the country's first LGBTQ+ commercial talk radio hosts, and founding communications and later deputy director of Jewish Voice for Peace, where she helped build a co-liberation movement and led campaigns to grow support for US policies respecting Palestinian human rights. She also speaks openly about her family's journey with traumatic grief and belonging. Based in Berkeley, CA, Cecilie actively cultivates a community grounded in the values she has spent a lifetime championing.
