Nina Blackwell is the Executive Director of the Firelight Foundation which she joined in 2015. Nina came to the Firelight Foundation from Humanity United, a leading human rights foundation, which is part of the Omidyar Group of philanthropies. As Senior Strategic Advisor and Head of External Affairs at Humanity United, Nina led the Communications, Policy, and Partnerships teams to support and leverage the organization’s strategic work in the prevention of conflict, mass atrocities and modern slavery.

Prior to joining Humanity United, Nina spent several years at Yahoo!, Inc., where she led two global teams as Senior Director of Americas Communications and Senior Director of Global Public Affairs. In the latter role, Nina was responsible for developing global communications across a broad range of issues including privacy, data governance, online safety, human rights and freedom of expression. Nina joined Yahoo! after seven years working for U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, first as Special Advisor and then as Press Secretary and Spokesperson. Her work with Senator Clinton began in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks and spanned the successful 2006 Senate reelection campaign and the 2008 Presidential Campaign.