Fiona Oliphant

Fiona’s personal mission is to create a world which centers those living in the margins of society by valuing their lived experiences, amplifying their voices and realigning current systems of power. To actualize that mission, she co-founded Healing Equity United after working in the domestic/sexual violence sector for almost two decades. Fiona has a BA from Wellesley College, an MA from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

Fiona has been an intern, legal advocate, program manager, staff attorney, trainer, public speaker, and director. Each position has been a fundamental building block priming her for sustained social impact work. Fiona is the current Board President of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence and has been on the board for 8+ years. She is also on the Legal Resource Center’s Board and was a Board Member for the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She was the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement for the DC Coalition to End Sexual Violence in 2018. Prior to that, she was Acting Director of the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP) for over two years. Before relocating to the DC metropolitan area, Fiona was the Director of a legal advocacy program for survivors in New York City, where she extensively engaged Caribbean, African, Asian, and Latinx communities and provided direct immigration representation.

Regardless of her role, Fiona was always mindful of how race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, income, language etc. formed formidable barriers to equitably accessing services. Consequently, she began to specialize in cultural humility, racial equity, anti-oppression, and culture change work. She supports main stream service providers to better engage marginalized communities. Fiona also works to empower culturally specific communities striving for equitable access to power and resources. Fiona’s approach to racial equity and culture change work is that it must be firmly rooted in honest, self- reflective, and challenging communications. Building on that foundation, Fiona encourages participants to develop their cultural humility skills, understand the dynamics of oppression (particularly racism), become more conscious of their biases, have a stronger understanding of how to work with marginalized communities, and have the skills to deliver higher quality, equitable services.

Finally, Fiona firmly believes that our identities, ALL of our identities, are sources of strength, ingenuity and connection. Some of her most valued identities are: mother; spouse; first generation Jamaican- American; avid reader and perpetual globe trotter. Fiona is also an unwavering optimist who believes that collectively we can end violence and oppression.