Why I Serve...
Ruby has built her career making sure good work in the South has what it needs to happen.
Raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, Ruby made Memphis her home and her proving ground. Her early years were spent inside the hardest questions in public education, staffing classrooms at TNTP, The New Teacher Project, then helping open the Achievement School District leading school operations. She went on to join the regional leadership team at Teach For America Memphis, leading recruitment and student leadership across seven college campuses and running school operations for the regional training institute. Everywhere she went, the same lesson surfaced: the best ideas in a community go nowhere without someone willing to fund them.
Who I am...
She became that someone. As a senior nonprofit leader she has built development functions from the ground up and raised millions for organizations across the South and nationally. She holds the CFRE credential, an MBA from the University of Memphis, a master's from Southeastern Louisiana University and a bachelor's from the University of Florida. In 2018 she was named to the Memphis Business Journal's 40 Under 40 and honored as the Fogelman College Outstanding Young Alumnus.
Her civic life runs on the same conviction, that leadership is built rather than born. At Education Reform Now she led the Leaders of Color Initiative nationally, coaching Fellows preparing to serve in public office. She came through New Memphis as a Fellow, chairs the Adult Establishment Orientation Board as a Shelby County mayoral appointee, and has belonged to the Junior League of Memphis since 2014. She is a Leadership Tennessee Next Class IV alumna.
Ruby knows the work of running first hand. She was the Democratic nominee for Tennessee State Senate District 31 in 2022.
She lives in Cordova with her husband James and their family.