Sesha Joi Moon (born September 20, 1983) is Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion with the United States House of Representatives. She has served since June 2022, appointed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Axios named her and her sister, Enjoli Moon, as the second "Most Powerful Richmonders of 2022" and she was named "Top 40 Under 40" by Style Weekly in 2023. [5] [6]
Moon was born in Richmond, Virginia. Her father, August Moon, born Alexander Randolph and also known as Mr. Wiggles, was a social activist and music producer. [7] [8] [9] He is best known for producing "Seven Minutes of Funk" by The Whole Darn Family, which is one of the most sampled instrumentations in hip hop music and most notably referenced on "Aint No N****" by Jay-Z on his debut studio album Reasonable Doubt. [10] Her mother, Dr. Michon Moon, served as the Director of the Victim Witness Program for the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney's Office for the City of Richmond. [11]
Moon attended Virginia Commonwealth University in her hometown, where she earned a M.S. from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs and B.A. in African American Studies. [12] In 2023, she became the first Black queer woman to establish an endowment at her alma mater, known as the Dr. Sesha Joi Moon Endowed Scholarship, along with endowments in tribute to her maternal grandparents, George and Inez Jaudon Johnson, at nearby Virginia Union University and Virginia State University. She also holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration & Urban Policy from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. [13] [14] [15]
Moon is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and was appointed to the Commonwealth of Virginia's Criminal Justice Services Board by the 73rd Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam. [16] She also serves as executive director of The JXN Project, a grantee of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's "Monuments Project" and recipient of the American Association for State & Local History's 2022 Leadership in History Award. [17] [18] [19]
Kay Coles James is an American public official who served as secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2022 to August 2023, and as the director for the United States Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Previous to the OPM appointment, she served as Virginia secretary of health and human resources under then-Governor George Allen and was the dean of Regent University's government school. She is the president and founder of the Gloucester Institute, a leadership training center for young African Americans.
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August Moon was an American R&B singer known as Mr. Wiggles, a songwriter, producer, record label owner, and community activist.
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