2024 Vermont Statewide Housing Conference Speaker

Heather is an author, national political contributor, educator, and public policy leader. For nearly two decades, Heather helped build the "think and do" tank Dēmos, a non-profit public policy organization working to build a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy and economy. She served as the organization’s president for four years.  

Heather is the author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, which spent 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was longlisted for the National Book Award and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The Chicago Tribune said, “Required reading to move the country forward...”. It was the Washington Post and TIME Magazine Must-Read Book of 2021. The book was adapted into a Spotify podcast by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama, in June 2022. A young adult readers’ version of The Sum of Us was released by Random House Children’s in 2023 and was selected as a Best Teen and Young Adult Non-Fiction book of that year by Kirkus Reviews.