Sarah Parker has always wanted to create change. Even as a child, she collected quarters to give to animal relief organizations. But it was the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 that galvanized her. “I knew what was happening on Wall Street wasn’t right, but I couldn’t get to New York to protest,” she says. “I thought, ‘When is something going to happen here?’ And then Occupy Columbia [South Carolina] popped up.”

Parker was living in North Carolina at the time, and she decided to travel south to participate and sleep outside like other activists. “I realized I was sleeping under a statue of a Confederate soldier, and I saw a Confederate flag,” she says. “It lit a fire under me in the best way possible.”

Today, Parker is the executive director of the nonprofit Voices of Florida (formerly the Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida Fund). The group, which has just four employees, including Parker, focuses on defending reproductive freedom and human rights through a grassroots approach to education, outreach and direct action. The group was also at the forefront of last year’s “Yes on 4” initiative. The citizen-led effort was a response to Florida’s six-week abortion ban and resulted in the Amendment 4 ballot measure, which aimed to limit the state’s interference in abortion procedures.

Voices of Florida was part of a coalition of organizations known as Floridians Protecting Freedom, which was responsible for getting Amendment 4 on the ballot.  The group included much larger organizations like Planned Parenthood Action Network, the ACLU of Florida, Florida Rising, 1199 SEIU Florida and the Florida Women’s Freedom Coalition.

Parker says getting the request to join Floridians Protecting Freedom was a life-changing moment. “Black women suffer from this imposter syndrome—we don’t understand the power we have,” she says. “I didn’t understand why Floridians Protecting Freedom wanted us. We were the smallest organization that sat on the executive committee.” But, she says, Voices of Florida was able to effect real change. A particular point of pride was when Floridians Protecting Freedom agreed to change its language for people receiving abortions from “women” to “patients.” “Trans people need abortions, too,” Parker says. “There’s no point in not being inclusive.”

Parker and Voices of Florida threw themselves into the work, collecting petitions, building infrastructure for the campaign and working with partners both in-state and around the country to get the word out about Amendment 4. While
the measure failed to reach the required 60 percent threshold to pass, 57 percent of Floridians, more than 6 million voters, voted in its favor—a clear majority.

On election night, Parker was tasked with giving one of the evening’s final speeches. “I had to talk about how we lost, but not allow people to be defeatist,” she says. “That’s not what we do. We replace fear with action. If you want to change something, you consistently work to change that thing. Even when you’re scared, you push harder.”

Parker’s passion and tenacity are so strong that talking to her feels like an intense exchange of energy. It’s a quality she uses to her advantage and one that hasn’t come without its share of hardship. When Parker was 14, her mother went into a coma and passed away 16 months later. Parker was unhoused at 16. She has two young children, ages 3 and 5, one of whom is special needs. Her best friend died of a drug overdose in Sarasota. She says she thinks a lot about “little Sarah” and what she might have wanted or needed as a child. “It’s all made me resilient and caused me to push through,” she says. “If I had given up, what would that have looked like?”

Going forward, Parker says Voices of Florida will focus on advocating for those in need by protesting in Tallahassee, monitoring upcoming legislation, attending school board meetings and hosting direct action and de-escalation workshops for people who want to get involved in activist work. Voices of Florida also recently spearheaded a menstrual product supply drive for students at Booker High School, and the group has actively supported hurricane victims by organizing supply and food drives.

Parker admits that she’s worried about the consequences the Trump administration may have on the rights of minority populations, but says she remains hopeful because of her community and her Voices of Florida team. “It all starts at the local level,” she says. “Good leaders make other people want to run through a wall for them. They give power back to the people.

“This country was never for me,” she continues. “It was built by my people, but it wasn’t built for me. But I love Florida, and I’m not leaving. Our community is amazing. And nothing happens overnight—it takes 10, 20, 30 years to create change. My children depend on me continuing to fight for a free and equal Florida. At the end of the day, I owe it to the next generation to keep pushing.”