about
Shannon Elder is a writer, editor, and designer based in Austin, Texas. Her work combines the political, the creative, and the human. Her advocacy focuses on issues related to immigration, racial & gender justice, and representation in media.
She is currently the Managing Editor & Designer at Native Agency, an organization diversifying documentary photography and the journalism industry. She also works as the Field Writer for Texas AFT, a union advocating for effective public education policy.
She graduated from Denver School of the Arts with a degree in Creative Writing in 2013. She received her BA in Cultural Studies & Creative Non-Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago in 2017. Her thesis examined colonial issues in photography, specifically in coverage of the refugee crisis, and the importance of ethical visual storytelling as a tool to disrupt racist ideologies.
She was selected for the Arena Academy Digital Director political training program in 2019 and the Inaugural Supermajority Leaders program in 2020.