DeShawn, founder of AgQuity, leads the firm’s overall strategy and strategic support for policy and advocacy projects, partnerships, and campaigns. The descendant of enslaved people, farmworkers, and small farmers in rural South Carolina, he has dedicated his career to rural, food, economic, and environmental justice. He has over ten years of policy and advocacy experience, including building coalitions and strategic partnerships, advocating to Congress, government officials and their staff, and public policy analysis for both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Agriculture Committees. He obtained a bachelor’s in agricultural and environmental systems from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and a Master of Arts in public policy (philosophy and social policy) from The George Washington University.