The board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation are pleased to introduce Laura Hughes (she/her) as our inaugural Narrative Fellow.
Laura is a strategic leader rooted in the belief that beauty and joy are transformative mindsets for persuasive storytelling and driving systemic change. Laura’s professional experience spans housing justice, birth justice, global LGBTQ+ justice, homelessness and runaway services, democracy, equity, water affordability, and climate resilience—each centered on themes of solidarity, belonging, and abundance.
She has held leadership roles as Director of Narrative Strategy at PolicyLink, Senior Director in the Technical Assistance Unit at Casey Family Programs, Program Officer at The Skillman Foundation, Vice President of Communications & Community at Strategic Staffing Solutions, and Executive Director of the Ruth Ellis Center. She has also worked closely with the Center for Cultural Power, Birth Center Equity, and The Aspen Opportunity Youth Forum to build and align narrative and cultural strategies.
Laura holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, with High Honors, from Brown University. She was a Marshall Memorial Fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Art of Philanthropic Leadership program, and she brings this interdisciplinary training and leadership experience to advancing MRBF’s mission across the South.
In this role, Laura will support the Foundation’s narrative alignment efforts and help advance Southern storytelling as a core strategy for justice and equity.
