Kelli R. Gill and Vee Lawson to Co-lead Lead Coalition Social Media & Outreach
The Coalition is excited to announce that Drs. Kelli R. Gill and Vee Lawson will co-lead the Coalition’s social media and outreach as Digital Media and Outreach Directors (DMOD) starting from June 2025. We wholeheartedly thank our selection committee Drs. Gavin Johnson, Jennifer Nish, and Nisha Shanmugaraj, who collectively suggested the idea of CO-DMOD.
The selection committee also thanks our President, Dr. Rebecca Richards, and our Executive Board have collectively endorsed the suggestion of the committee to have Drs Gill and Lawson as Co-DMODs for CFSHRC.
We are all very excited as both Drs Gill and Lawson bring such great strength to transform our social media presence.
The selection committee noted that they were extremely impressed by both candidates. Here’s what they said:
“As a committee, we believe that the Coalition could benefit from having Kelli Gill and Vee Lawson as Co-DMODs. We endorse the idea of Co-DMODs because Gill and Lawson’s experience is equally matched, and their ideas for how to forward the Coalition’s digital outreach complement each other extremely well. Additionally, we are aware that the duties have outgrown the labor of a single DMOD and believe Co-DMODs would be a meaningful investment in the long-term vision of expanding our Coalition”
Dr. Nish noted that Lawson’s specific suggestions for moving the Coalition to platforms more aligned with our values and enhancing accessibility in the content offer an actionable, global vision that addresses recent political shifts in social media. Dr. Shanmugaraj and Dr. Johnson noted that Gill’s vision of addressing long-term racial disparities within the Coalition and creating digital campaigns that deliver on Coalition goals offers a granular approach that is also much needed. Together, Gill and Lawson offer a comprehensive vision for the DMOD position.
New Co-DMOD Bios
Image 1: Head Shot of Kelli Gill in front of brick building.
Dr. Kelli R. Gill (she/her) is a rhetoric and composition scholar currently serving as a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at The Georgia Institute of Technology where she works and teaches at the intersection of culture, power, and technology. Her current project examines digital food communities in order to better understand how internet spaces replicate white supremacy and how users navigate these spaces in order to survive, dissent, and resist. In addition to cooking and enjoying good food, in her spare time she enjoys crafting, playing video games, and hiking with her two pups.
Her vision as Co-DMOD: I recognize the power of digital media to erase, address, or uplift the bodies which make up our communities and as co-DMOD, I will work to create inclusive spaces which serve and advance the mission of CFSHRC to cultivate and sustain all who do feminist work.
Image 2: Head shot of Vee Lawson front of a red and green wall
Vee Lawson is an assistant professor at San José State University where they teach courses in professional writing. With roots in feminist digital rhetorics, Vee researches how feminist, queer, and trans communities navigate online spaces that are often not designed for them. Their current project focuses feminist storytelling and complex empathy as a pro-social response within forums formed to snark on fundamentalist Christian influencers.
Their vision as Co-DMOD: I hope to expand the CFSHRC’s presence to emerging platforms that align with the Coalition’s values (such as Bluesky), following our members’ lead in platform adoption while ensuring accessibility across channels.
With Deep Gratitude and Respect
After four years of serving as DMOD, Dr. Sweta Baniya takes the leave and hands it over to the next generation of scholars. Dr. Baniya says she is very excited to handover the duties of DMOD in such great hands and can’t wait to see the new ways that they will uplift the CFSHRC’s communication. Moreover, Dr. Baniya has been an excellent steward of the CFSHRC these past four years during major upheavals and transitions. Thank you, Sweta, for your astute leadership, communication, and expertise! We all benefitted from your efforts and care.