Sharon Risher to Speak at the Howard Center

Join us this Thursday, Jan. 11, at 11:30 a.m.

(Photo by www.greatblackspeakers.com)

This Thursday, Jan. 11, at 11:30 a.m., Sharon Risher will speak at the Howard Performing Arts Center. Risher lost her mother, two cousins and a childhood friend in the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Following that tragedy, she has become a public figure, speaking with candor about race, violence and forgiveness.

Admission to the event is free, and no tickets are required. Co-curricular credit is available for undergraduate students.

Risher is one of the national spokespersons for the grassroots advocacy groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She has appeared on CNN on several occasions and was interviewed by Time magazine, Marie Claire magazine and The Guardian on BBC radio. She has also visited President Barack Obama at the White House on several occasions and has been a guest speaker for Martin Luther King Jr Day events.

The Charleston, South Carolina, native graduated from Charles A. Brown High School and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. After discerning a call to vocational ordained ministry in 2002 while attending St. Paul Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, Risher received a Master of Divinity in 2007 from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas. She has worked in fulltime hospital chaplaincy since 2012.

Risher is a staff chaplain and trauma specialist with Parkland Hospital of Dallas, Texas. Until shortly after her mother’s heartrending death, Risher served Rice Chapel AME Church as associate pastor for congregational care where she preached and led women’s ministries.

Risher has two grown children, Howard Brandon and Aja Sharnee, who both live in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sharon’s hobbies include reading, cross-stitching, growing tropical plants, listening to a variety of music and being a mother to her fur-dog-child PuffDaddy.