ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: La’Nasa Clarkson

As part of our 30th Anniversary celebration, we’re shining the spotlight on our amazing alumni! We’re proud to feature La’Nasa, an AAST alumna!

La’Nasa Clarkson: Connecting African American Studies to Advocacy and Nonprofit Leadership

La’Nasa Clarkson ’19 has built a career centered on understanding systems, advocating for communities, and addressing inequities. A graduate of Political Science and African American Studies, Clarkson continues to draw on her undergraduate education in her work in reentry, criminal justice reform, and nonprofit leadership.

Today, Clarkson is based in Washington, D.C., where she serves as Chief of Staff at Voices for a Second Chance (VSC). Her professional interests span organizational strategy, civic engagement, racial equity, community-based program development, and public policy.

Understanding the Systems Behind the Stories

For Clarkson, African American Studies provided a framework for examining the relationship between individual experiences and the institutions that shape them.

“The African American Studies Program shaped both my personal and professional trajectory by giving me the language and analytical framework to understand how history, policy, race, and institutions intersect.”

The program encouraged her to look beyond immediate circumstances and consider the systems that create and sustain inequities. That perspective remains central to her work in reentry and advocacy, where incarceration, housing, employment, and economic opportunity are connected to broader histories of racial and structural inequality.

Rather than approaching these issues in isolation, Clarkson considers their historical context and the ways institutional decisions can affect communities across generations.

Bringing Historical Context Into Community Work

Clarkson credits African American Studies with strengthening her research, writing, and communication skills. Just as valuable, she says, was learning to approach communities with historical understanding rather than assumptions.

In her professional work, she continues to ask who systems were designed to serve, who may be excluded, and how their effects extend beyond a single moment or individual.

Those questions inform her interests in nonprofit strategy, coalition engagement, grant writing, fund development, and organizational effectiveness. Across these areas, her education continues to shape how she understands the people and communities her work serves.

“Above all, African American Studies reinforced the values of community, advocacy, and responsibility that continue to guide how I approach both my professional work and community involvement,” she says.

An Education With Personal Meaning

The program’s influence on Clarkson extends beyond her career. Studying Black history, culture, and intellectual traditions deepened her understanding of herself and strengthened her commitment to meaningful work within Black communities.

She describes African American Studies as a source of historical and cultural context for understanding her own experiences as a Black woman, as well as the systems that shape the lives of others.

Even as her education and career have expanded into public policy, cybersecurity, organizational strategy, and leadership, that foundation continues to influence the questions she asks and the issues she prioritizes.

Why African American Studies Matters

For current students, Clarkson emphasizes the program’s ability to develop both practical skills and a deeper understanding of the world. Critical thinking, thorough research, and intentional communication have followed her throughout her professional life.

“African American Studies is more than learning Black history; it is studying Black thought, culture, resistance, creativity, and possibility.”

Her experience demonstrates how an African American Studies education can inform leadership across fields while remaining closely connected to personal identity, community, and a commitment to advocacy.