Torie Osborn

TORIE OSBORN is currently an executive coach, political strategist and nonprofit consultant in LA. A former Senior Advisor on poverty and Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood and Community Services for former Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, she has served as Executive Director for the Liberty Hill Foundation, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. Considered an innovative leader and effective change agent who brings a community organizing approach to her work, Torie has been on the front-lines of social justice for over four decades. She was a national leader on LGBT rights and fighting HIV/AIDS in the '80s and '90s; produced 25 records, concerts and festivals working in "women's music" in the 1970s; organized against right wing campaigns such as Anita Bryant, California's anti-gay-teach Prop 6 in 1978, and, in 1986, was Southern California Campaign Coordinator on No on Prop 64 that would have quarantined people with HIV/AIDS. Her passionate, life-long commitment to social justice has roots in her childhood when, as the daughter of a State Department employee, she witnessed food riots in Franco's Spain, and she began a lifetime of organizing in the anti-poverty, civil rights, women’s and anti-war movements of the 1960s.

Torie has been a contributor to the Nation, New York Times and Los Angeles Times; she has made appearances on The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, Good Morning America, National Public Radio and CNN's Crossfire. Major profiles about her have appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. She was a monthly columnist for the Advocate for a year (1994), and her award-winning book, Coming Home to America (St. Martin's 1996), is about the LGBT communities’ contributions to the ongoing national debate on values and visions for America's future.

Ms. Osborn holds her B.A. from Middlebury College and her M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from UCLA's Anderson School of Management. She has lectured at over 100 colleges and universities, philanthropic groups, corporations, and communities, and been the recipient of over 50 awards, plaques and commendations from business, government and civic groups.