Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Bakary Tandia And Sean Tenner - Co-Founders, The Abolition Institute - Stopping Slavery Now!
Mr. Bakary Tandia is a well-respected and dynamic human rights advocate with an extensive background in promoting human rights and social justice causes and Co-Founder of The Abolition Institute, a group working to promote awareness of, and dedicated to ending, the practice of slavery in the west African country of Mauritania. Mr. Tandia is a graduate of the Global Masters Program in International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University and holds bachelor degrees in International Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice City University of New York and Criminology from the University of Abidjan (Ivory Coast). In addition to that, Mr. Tandia is a graduate of the Human Rights Advocates Program, Columbia University where he served as an Advocacy Workshop facilitator helping to educate and empower human rights activists around the world. Mr. Sean Tenner, the other co-founder of the Abolition Institute, is President, KNI Communications, and as a graduate of Georgetown University, has spent his career working for organizations and officials dedicated to social justice and the public interest. Mr. Tenner served on President Obama’s campaign staff during both his U.S. Senate and Presidential campaigns and has held leadership roles in a wide variety of innovative non-profit organizations addressing both local and global issues. Mr. Tenner helps lead Illinois public policy for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the world’s leading anti-hate groups; was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in 2012 – and reappointed in 2015 – to the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission; was an early leader in the Save Darfur movement in Illinois and works closely with refugees from the violence in Darfur and South Sudan who have built new lives in Chicago. Mr. Tenner also works with Chicagoans who fled Apartheid in South Africa, serving on the Board of Color Me Africa Fine Arts which brings Apartheid-era protest artists to Chicagoland to share their stories and their lessons in perseverance. Mr. Tenner has done work related to post-conflict reconciliation in both Rwanda and Northern Ireland, and has also been profiled by CNN for his work co-founding the Abolition Institute. Mr. Tenner is also former President of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Chicagoland Affiliate and has also worked to address the epidemic of youth suicides through his work on the Board of Directors of Hope for the Day / Sip of Hope -- one of the nation’s most innovative mental health organizations.