New featured speaker: Ruby Sinreich @Ruby, founder & editor of OrangePolitics.org

As we get closer to Ignite Raleigh we’ll be making a few announcements about music, featured speakers and other entertainment for you. Today we’re excited to announce Ruby Sinreich is the founder and editor of OrangePolitics.org, a progressive multi-author weblog with a vibrant community discussing local issues around her hometown of Chapel Hill, NC.

Ruby Sinreich is the founder and editor of OrangePolitics.org, a progressive multi-author weblog with a vibrant community discussing local issues around her hometown of Chapel Hill, NC. Professionally, she specializes in strategies that connect people to each other, sometimes known as “network-centric advocacy,” “social media,” “Web 2.0,” or “grassroots organizing,” depending upon what type of geek one is.

“Ruby is one of the most smart and principled people I know, and a real force in the community.”
- Doc Searls

Ruby is the Director of New Media Strategy at HASTAC, an innovative interdisciplinary project that works to build the field of digital media and learning. She previously served as the Co-Director of Communications at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith organization working for peace and justice through active nonviolence since 1914. Her previous professional experience includes social network analysis, blogger outreach, organizer capacity-building, web site design and development, online communication strategy, and all manner of trainings. Ruby has helped hundreds of progressive nonprofits use technology more effectively in service of their educational, movement-building, and political missions. She has worked with organizations of all sizes and scopes including local women’s centers, statewide advocacy organizations, and national and international institutions such as Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Greenpeace International, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“She’s a natural agitator.”
- Ed Batista

Ruby is also an engaging and informative public speaker and workshop facilitator. She has led sessions or served on panels at South by Southwest Interactive, Harvard’s Berkman Center, NetSquared, IPDI’s Politics Online Conference, N-TEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, and many other events for nonprofits and advocacy organizations.

Ruby earned a BSPH from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1993, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University in 2000. She has served on a variety of nonprofit and local government boards and commissions including the Chapel Hill Planning Board, which she chaired for two years. Ruby practices Engaged Buddhism. She lives in a townhouse on the edge of Bolin Creek with her husband Brian, son Izzy, and two cats.