Jessica Gordon Nembhard on collective courage, in conversation with Júlia Martins Rodrigues

Jessica Gordon Nembhard is an internationally recognized political economist specializing in community economic development, solidarity economics, cooperative economics, Black Political Economy, racial wealth inequality, community-based approaches to justice, and popular economic literacy. She is Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies, at John Jay CUNY. She’s also the Director of John Jay’s McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program; former Chair of the Department of Africana Studies; former chair of the Malcolm/King Student Leadership Committee; and inaugural Chair of the John Jay Faculty Senate Committee on Racial Justice and Inclusion. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard is an affiliate faculty member for John Jay’s Economics Masters Program; and for the Environmental Psychology Ph.D. Program (in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences), CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (Pennsylvania State University Press 2014 and 2024), and 2016 inductee into the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame.

Júlia Martins Rodrigues, PhD, is a Research Associate and the Associate Director of the Media Economies Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder. She also serves as a governor-appointed commissioner (vice-chair) on Employee Ownership at the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Her areas of expertise include cooperative law, multi-stakeholder cooperative networks, shared ownership and collective governance. Júlia earned her PhD in Legal and Social Sciences from the Università Degli Studi di Camerino, Italy. She also holds a Master of Law in Human Rights and Innovation from the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil, where she received her Juris Doctor and served as an Assistant Professor of Law. Additionally, she has obtained a professional certificate as a “Third Sector Operator: Serving Nonprofit Causes & Communities” from the Bottega del Terzo Settore in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. As a Latin woman born and raised in Brazil, she is dedicated to advancing economic democracy and social justice, viewing both as essential pathways to achieving shared prosperity and sustainability.