A CEO and history-making elected official in the same age demographic as many UVA Batten students shared her experience, strength, and hope from the perspective of a young leader during Monday’s Batten Hour. A’dorian Murray-Thomas took to the podium in a dialogue session that was equal parts inspiring and inquisitive, exploring the power of youth storytelling, service, and transforming trauma into fuel for social change.
A native of Newark, Murray-Thomas is the founder and CEO of SHE Wins Inc., a New Jersey-based leadership and mentoring organization for girls who, like her, have lost a loved one to gun violence. She is also the youngest woman ever elected to Newark’s Board of Education, the second largest school district in the state. In another history-making move, she was recently elected to the Essex County Board of County Commissioners as the youngest serving member, at 28 years old.
“Sometimes you don’t choose the work, the work chooses you,” she told the audience in the Great Hall. Despite being told she was too young and inexperienced to run for office, “I ran anyway, and I was able to make history, not once but twice.”
Much of her message to future leaders was about embracing the “brilliant but ordinary” and difficult work of showing up as your authentic self, sometimes “reluctantly, but always on purpose.”
As someone who lost a family member to gun violence — her father was murdered when she was seven — Murray-Thomas’ lived experience catalyzed her work with middle- and high-school girls to make opportunities accessible to them through the lenses of restorative justice and trauma-informed care across systems and communities prioritizing values over violence.
“Trauma-informed care work starts with listening to people’s stories,” she said, using her experience in the school system as an example. “Often our adults are as traumatized as the young people in our communities, because hurt people hurt people, but healed people can heal people. When we confront the fullness of our stories, the open wounds that haven’t turned into scars yet, we learn we’re actually far more connected to each other than apart.”
When students asked how to claim a seat at the table when so few policymakers seem to be under the age of 35, Murray-Thomas encouraged them to continue asking questions and making space. “Start small, start scared, start now,” she said, noting that the idea for her first nonprofit came about when she was a teenager, creating a free SAT prep program with her friends. “It sparked this realization in me that I didn’t need a degree to make an impact.”
That ideology is a throughline in her work today, as she advocates for initiatives that give high school students the right to vote in school board elections, based on her belief that those affected by decisions should have a say in choosing the authority figures who make them. “Start nervous! But start real,” she said.
UVA Batten professor Brian Williams turned the same question on its head, asking how older generations can signal to younger people that their voices are needed and that they want to help remove barriers that may prevent younger people from participating. Murray-Thomas replied that it’s important that older generations demonstrate their seriousness about engaging youth.
Murray-Thomas ended the program optimistically, sharing her recommendation for Toni Morrison’s book, The Source of Self Regard. She implored the audience to embrace joy, particularly when current events seem bleak, and the work is tiring.
“Anytime I do something with youth and young adults I bring music. Find that spirit, fun, joy that lives in art and creativity,” she said. “It’s always music accompanied by the soundtrack of service. It’s easy to be out of your body and in your head so much. Recently I’ve just been getting back into my body. Trauma and service even can get you away from the visceral.”
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