Meet Courtney
Courtney M. McSwain is a writer, creator and social justice communicator. As a writer and advocate, Courtney seeks individual and community liberation for marginalized people through narrative advocacy and power building. Courtney grounds her work in the lineage of Black women writers and is particularly interested in the ways in which Black women use narrative to shape their personal and political identities in pursuit of radical self-love and creative freedom.
Professionally, Courtney works as a nonprofit communications strategists, social justice communicator and storytelling consultant for cause-driven leaders and entrepreneurs. Courtney has helped transformative changemakers clarify their organizational stories and create strategic communications towards education equity, youth development and youth justice, human trafficking prevention, diversity and inclusion, and philanthropic equity. Earlier in her career, Courtney applied her passion for writing, research, communications and social change as a research analyst for a national higher education policy think tank and as a development officer for a national community development nonprofit.
Self-identified as “multi-passionate,” Courtney curates writing and creative projects such as her personal essay blog, And Then I Turned 40, where she explores what it means to be a Black woman re-imagining herself in mid-life. In addition, she microblogs on her Instagram page (@courtneymcswain) and invites audiences into conversations on love, the power of owning one’s story, creative affirmation and activating one’s voice.
Courtney holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from NC A&T State University and a master’s degree in public policy from American University. Courtney currently resides in her hometown of Greensboro, NC after living in her adopted second home of Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia for over a decade.
“No black woman writer in this culture can write ‘too much’. Indeed, no woman writer can write ‘too much’…No woman has ever written enough.”
— bell hooks