Rev. Sharon Risher
Speaker & Author, Sharon Risher Speaks; National Volunteer, Everytown for Gun Safety; Emanuel AME Church shooting survivor
2025
Rev. Sharon Risher, from Charleston, SC, is a sought after respected preacher, public communicator passionate about social justice. She was catapulted into the limelight, after her beloved Mother, 2 cousins and a childhood friend was killed in the Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, SC, June 17th, 2015. With experience in leadership, chaplaincy, and authorship (For Such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness After the Charleston Massacre, 2019), Sharon energizes and enlightens every space she enters. She is known for linking faith to action, inspiring others to think big and act with purpose, as a National Spokesperson for MOMS Demand Action for Gun Safety/Everytown Survivor Network, past Chair of the Board for one of the largest grassroots organizations to abolish the death penalty, Death Penalty Action.
At the Summit
The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
