Laura Russello

Laura Marie Russello (born May 18, 1978) is a community organizer, activist, development consultant, and filmmaker. She is best known as the Executive Director of Michigan Peaceworks and as creator of an award-winning film, Meanwhile.

Biography

Early years

Laura Marie Russello was born to Louis and Mary Russello in Ypsilanti, Michigan on May 18, 1978. She is one of two children.

Russello graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in sociology in 2002. She began pursuing her masters in social work at University of Denver and soon transferred to the University of Michigan where she received a Master's degree in 2006 in social work with a concentration in community organizing.

Career

Russello first worked as the environmental health organizer for Clean Water Action in Ann Arbor. She has also been involved in two international projects: Project South Africa in 2005 and research into Teen [...] and Tobacco Use Trends in Santiago, Chile in 2007.

Recently, Russello worked as Executive Director of Michigan Peaceworks and is a community organizer and activist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Russello involves the arts in her activism, helping to coordinate the Ann Arbor "Peaceworks Through Art" public mural with artist Mary Thiefels, working with the Main Street Area Association of Ann Arbor and the city's Downtown Development Authority, and creating an award winning film, "Meanwhile," for the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Other projects that Laura Russello has facilitated include the Youth Activist Network (2005-2010), Armistice zine (2007-2010), local participation in the Iraq Water Project (2008-2009), and "Fire I.C.E.: Stop Immigrant Raids in Washtenaw County (2009-2010).

On March 16, 2009, the mayor of Ann Arbor, John Hieftje, issued a proclamation in support of Laura Russello's candidacy for The Washtenaw County Bar Association's "Liberty Bell" Award, which she subsequently won.

Russello was included in the 2010 panel discussion "What Is It?" at the Bring it Back Take it Forward Activist Conference in Ann Arbor, MI which also included veteran activists Bill Ayers, Rick Feldman, Ron Scott and Bob Zellner.

In August, 2010, Russello established her blog - Calescent Paradigm: Igniting Social Change Through Thought, Action and Art. The blog is a place where outside-the-box thinkers come together to share not only their IDeaS, but also the concrete actions they are taking to create social change.

Works

• "The Reach of a Youth-Oriented Anti-Tobacco Media Campaign on Adult Smokers." With N. Dietz and J. Delva. [...] and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 93, no. 1-2 (January 11, 2008), pp. 180-184.

Films

• Meanwhile. (2008)

Awards

• University of Michigan School of Social Work Scholarship, 2005
• University of Denver Project South Africa Scholarship, 2005
• Washtenaw County Bar Association "Liberty Bell" Award, 2009