Liberation Ventures accelerates the Black-led movement for racial repair.

Liberation Ventures is building a multiracial democracy that works for all of us — by making racial repair a reality in the United States. We are realizing a dream in our name, where reparations for Black people unlocks true belonging for us all.

Our Core Beliefs

LV is guided by the following five beliefs. We use these principles to check ourselves, our relationships, and our work. Read more detail about our beliefs here.

We are accountable to Black healing and thriving.

For this country to become whole, a transformation of our systems and culture is required. We have to start at the root: the pain and devastation of chattel slavery, and the legacy of exploitation and devaluation that Black folks continue to face today. There is no America without Black resilience; there is no repair without Black healing. And when Black people thrive, America thrives.
This journey requires a broad coalition.

We’re a bridging organization that supports learning and belonging for all people on this path, because we know racial repair benefits all of us. We believe non-Black people – both white and non-Black people of color – must be active Agents of Repair, and able to see themselves in the work of repairing the harms of slavery and its legacy.
We operate in the liminal space between our current reality and the future we envision.

We transform the present to accelerate movement towards liberation. We recognize that by engaging in the world, we are forced to participate in white supremacist systems – and, we have agency regarding how we participate and must hold ourselves accountable to critique and subversion. We build organizational structures and processes that reliably distribute power and promote equity. In addition, we are unapologetic about using the tools of power that are required to propel our movement forward.
We hold the complexity of many perspectives because our movement is not a monolith.

Our operative word is and. We know the harm of chattel slavery and its legacy; we use lived experience and research/statistics; we make strategic plans and hold space for adaptation and emergence. In doing so, we build something new. We create space for all our multitudes to be seen, held, and accepted – and this keeps us from falling into binaries that divide and distract us.
We have the courage to make the impossible possible.

We are unapologetic about the audacity of our mission. We are doing what we know is right – as learners – and we are trying to do something we don’t yet fully know how to do.

Our Team

We’re a team of strategists, storytellers, and organizers, who believe that Black power, joy, and resources are a precondition to collective prosperity.

Aria Florant

Co-Founder & CEO

(she/her/hers)

Aria is a conduit, constantly bridging worlds; Black and white, movement and mainstream, ethnic studies and finance. She holds multitudes of them all, and the essence of her work is creating for others that which she wants for herself: a world where all people’s whole selves belong. Aria believes that building trust and transformational partnership across differences is the key that can unlock that world, and that building a culture of repair is the path to true belonging for Black people, and all people, in America. Aria loves trekking at high altitude with just a backpack and no cell service, enjoying a Brooklyn (Lenape Land) speakeasy with the fullest-bodied glass of red wine they have, and long, lively dinners with her people.

Trevor Smith

Director of Narrative Change

(he/him/his)

Trevor is a writer, researcher, and strategist focused on uprooting anti-Black narratives, and transforming perceptions of Black people across the world. He’s interested in exploring how we build power within the intersections of culture, media, and policy in service of a more just world. On the other side of reparations, he envisions a more altruistic world, where the color of your skin has no effect on future life outcomes. He is an avid reader, taker of walks, food buff, and joke-teller. He currently resides in what he considers the best neighborhood in New York City, the Lower East Side (Lenape Land).

Jennie Goldfarb

Director of Operations & Strategic Engagement

(she/her/hers)

Jennie is a daughter and a friend — born on Lenape land (New York City), she is a student of power, paradox, and pleasure. Jennie is exploring what it means to be in right relationship with ourselves, each other, and the natural world. She believes that radical redistribution of resources, heart-centered communication, and joy are preconditions for dismantling white supremacy and building a culture of repair. Jennie loves ripe fruit, the sun, being loud and quiet, and cooking for loved ones.

Vikas Maturi

Chief of Staff

(he/him/his)

Vikas is a strategist, researcher, and organizer dedicated to building a more just world — one in which all people have what they need to live, heal, and be joyful. He’s curious about how we can learn from the movements of the past — their successes, their conflicts, and their tactics — to strengthen the movements of the present. He enjoys bringing together data and a critical view of our institutions in ways that help us to make sense of injustice and chart new paths forward that are rooted in compassion and care. He loves exploring the hidden trails along the California coast, swimming in the ocean, and wandering through bookstores in search of a great story. He lives in San Mateo, CA, on Muwekma Ohlone land.