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Yorri Berry
Poet & Children’s Rights Advocate
Yorri Berry
Poet & Children’s Rights Advocate
Biography
Yorri Berry is a New Orleans native who grew up with a deep appreciation for Creole cuisine, art, jazz, and diverse cultures.
A vibrant spirit who has paraglided in Switzerland, hiked Balinese volcanoes, skydived in New Zealand, ridden horses through Egypt’s deserts, and piloted planes on Long Island, she considers herself a global citizen, having explored more than 70 countries across six continents. She attended Spelman College and is a graduate of Loyola University and Howard University, holds a doctorate from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education & Psychology, and professional certifications from Northwestern and Harvard universities. She has served on the advisory boards of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Futures Without Violence, and the Research Alliance for Child Trends.
A skilled orator, published writer, and poet, she has delivered keynote addresses at Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters, performed spoken word at the NCAA College World Series, and has inspired and empowered audiences at the historic Washington National Cathedral. In 2023, she was presented with the Essential Voice Award by the National Safe Place Network for her advocacy and leadership-development work with youth experiencing homelessness.
Her superpower lies in amplifying marginalized voices, particularly those of young leaders. She is a passionate mentor and youth advocate, responsible for the strategic design and operational development of mentoring programs in secondary schools and universities across the country, work that earned her recognition as a Changemaker at the inaugural White House Summit on the United State of Women. Nominated by the Governor of Maryland, she was the youngest member appointed to serve on the Children’s Justice Act committee, which is dedicated to improving child-abuse-and-neglect investigations. She worked with such organizations as the American Bar Association, Baker McKenzie, NN4Y, the Children's Defense Fund and the National CARES Mentoring Movement; directed a national policy fellowship that trained survivors of sex trafficking and homelessness across four continents to use their lived experience to advocate for children’s rights and managed dozens of educational programs serving thousands of children, college students, and families across the country. In 2025, she will launch & host A Podcast Called LIFE. Inspired by the audacious resilience of matriarchs before her, she endeavors to live by the life-affirming proverb, “Fall down seven times, get up eight."
Speaker Videos
Children’s Right Summit 2020
CARES Mentoring Gala 2022
What If We Partnered with Youth to Change the Policies That Shape Their Lives?
Speech Topics
The Audacity of Inclusivity
A brave conversation and a call to challenge ourselves to be more audacious and authentic in our quest to elevate diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations and society. Yorri poetically journeys through childhood and experiencing blatant racism in college for the first time to frame the inclusion conversation. She explores how being bodacious enough to genuinely embrace ourselves and be honest regarding the dangers of ‘othering’ serves as a bridge and an opportunity for us to think about how we will act and show up differently to help build a more equitable + inclusive world for others.
A Seat at the Table: Partnering with Gen Z for Change
Drawing from years of experience partnering with young leaders to advance public policy and improve organizational practices for vulnerable children in this country, she explores the transformative power of intentional intergenerational collaborations within businesses and communities as we innovate to effect social change. She utilizes real-life examples of the endless possibilities and multi-dimensional benefits of authentically investing & empowering younger generations to have a seat at the table.
The Beauty of Blackness
When life unexpectedly came crashing, Yorri suddenly found herself living on the African continent. Being alone in a new city, country and continent, yet feeling more at home than she felt at home illuminated a sense of invisibility and erasure experienced as a Black woman living in the United States. Upon returning home, she ultimately realized we cannot help, nor can we heal, what we do not love and cannot see. This conversation commemorates & celebrates the beauty of Blackness across generations, and how a journey to love the skin we’re in and an unrelenting embrace of our whole selves paves the way for freedom.
Do You Know What It Means to Be Brave?
Do you know what it means to be brave? These were the first words spoken to over 20,000 humans gathered in a stadium for the College World Series. What was a young Black woman doing speaking about racial injustice and the power of one at the biggest games in college baseball? Yorri takes audiences through a poetic journey of what it means to consciously leap beyond our comfort zones and audaciously brave uncomfortable spaces to manifest our dreams for ourselves and the world beyond us.
The Power of Failure
After experiencing many defeats in life, Yorri took several journeys around the world to reflect, meditate and catch her breath. In the silence, a new perspective birthed regarding failure and defeat in life and leadership. In a society that often teaches us to choose perfection instead of wholeness, she gives a firsthand account of the power of whole-heartedly embracing failure and defeat, and using the lessons to propel us deeper into ourselves and closer to our destiny.
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