Opal Tometi, now known as Ayọ Tometi, is a human rights activist, writer, and community organizer who co-founded Black Lives Matter alongside Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors in 2013. She built the digital infrastructure that transformed the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag into a networked movement with a national and international reach.

Early Career and Immigration Advocacy

Community Organizing (2000s-2013) Tometi earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Communications from the University of Arizona in 2005 and a Master’s in Communication Studies from Arizona State University in 2010. She became the executive director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first national immigrant rights organization in the United States focused on people of African descent. She served with BAJI for over nine years, developing campaigns at the intersection of immigration policy and racial justice.

Founding Black Lives Matter

Building Digital Infrastructure (2013) Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Alicia Garza wrote a Facebook post containing the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” Patrisse Cullors turned it into a hashtag, and Tometi built the digital infrastructure to support the growing conversation. She registered the domain blacklivesmatter.com and created the movement’s official accounts on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, establishing the online presence that would allow the phrase to develop into a coordinated movement.

Ferguson and the Freedom Ride (2014) Following the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Tometi organized the Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride, mobilizing approximately 500 community activists for demonstrations. The event, coordinated largely through social media, marked a turning point in expanding Black Lives Matter from an online conversation into a national movement with on-the-ground organizing capacity.

Digital Organizing Strategy

Platform Building (2013-2016) Tometi’s approach to digital organizing emphasized creating infrastructure rather than simply posting content. By establishing official accounts across multiple platforms and registering the movement’s domain, she created centralized coordination points that allowed decentralized chapters and supporters to align their efforts. This model of building digital infrastructure for social movements influenced subsequent organizing efforts.

Cross-Platform Communication Tometi used different platforms for different purposes: Twitter for real-time communication and rapid response, Facebook for longer-form community building and event coordination, and Tumblr for sharing stories and educational content. This multi-platform strategy helped the movement reach diverse audiences across different demographics and online communities.

Broader Advocacy Work

Immigration and Human Rights Drawing on her experience at BAJI, Tometi has worked to connect racial justice organizing with immigration advocacy. She has supported organizations including the Pan African Network in Defense of Migrant Rights and the Black Immigration Network, focusing on the experiences of Black immigrants in the United States.

Public Recognition Tometi has been recognized by TIME Magazine, Forbes, and other publications for her role in founding Black Lives Matter and her broader human rights work. She has spoken publicly about the intersection of digital organizing, racial justice, and immigration policy.

Digital Political Impact

Tometi’s influence on digital politics includes:

• Building the foundational digital infrastructure for the Black Lives Matter movement
• Registering blacklivesmatter.com and creating the movement’s first social media accounts
• Demonstrating how digital infrastructure creation can be as important as content creation in movement building
• Organizing the Freedom Ride through social media coordination, bridging online activism and in-person mobilization
• Developing multi-platform communication strategies adopted by subsequent social movements

Organizing Approach

• Focus on building digital infrastructure and institutional presence rather than individual personality-driven platforms
• Multi-platform strategy tailored to the strengths of each social media channel
• Integration of online organizing with on-the-ground mobilization
• Connection of multiple issue areas through shared digital infrastructure

Tometi’s work demonstrated that building digital infrastructure and institutional presence for movements could be as consequential as creating viral content, establishing a model for how activist organizations structure their online operations.