A Fairfax resident who has championed diversity in organizations from Congress to the Girl Scouts will soon apply that experience to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Dr. Sesha Joi Moon has been appointed as Virginia’s next chief diversity officer and director of diversity, equity and inclusion, joining a growing list of local figures enlisted by Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger to serve in her cabinet.
“When every Virginian has the opportunity to reach their full potential, it benefits all of us. Virginia deserves leaders who will make sure our work to grow our Commonwealth’s economy keeps the needs of all Virginians in mind,” Spanberger said yesterday (Tuesday) in a press release announcing Moon’s appointment.
She added that Moon’s “experience across government, education, and the nonprofit sectors gives her firsthand insight into the ways in which we can build a stronger, safer, and more prosperous Virginia for every family.”
A native of Richmond who now lives in Fairfax with her dog, a cockapoo named Benji, Moon most recently worked as the chief impact officer for Girl Scouts USA, according to a bio provided by Spanberger’s transition team and her LinkedIn profile.
Before that, she served as chief diversity officer for the U.S. House of Representatives from 2022 to 2024, a tenure that saw her work under both Democratic and Republican speakers. She also co-founded the nonprofit JXN Project in 2021 with the goal of highlighting and preserving the history of Richmond’s historically Black Jackson Ward neighborhood.
Moon’s career has also included a stint as chief diversity officer at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.
More on her educational background from Spanberger’s transition team:
In addition to executive education programs at Harvard University, where she received the DEI Pioneer Award at the Harvard Sports, Entertainment, and Impact Summit, Dr. Moon holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration & Policy from Old Dominion University. She also earned a B.A. in African American Studies and M.S. from the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has received the VCU Black History in the Making Award and VCU Alumni Stars Award — and became the first Black queer woman to establish an endowed scholarship fund in university history. She also maintains endowments at Virginia State University, Virginia Union University, and Richmond Public Schools.
Moon said in a statement that she was “deeply honored” to be nominated as Virginia’s next diversity officer.
“As a proud Virginia native, I look forward to joining the cabinet of Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger as her historic administration works to advance a future in which all Virginians have access to opportunity — to include residents from some of the hardest-to-reach communities throughout the Commonwealth,” she said.
Moon will take office in mid-January at a time when the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion are under attack by the federal government, which has been rolling back anti-discrimination policies, laying off workers in cuts that have disproportionately affected Black women and gutting programs that handle civil rights issues in everything from education and housing to health care.
Reframing diversity initiatives intended to address discrimination as violations of civil rights law, the Trump administration has threatened to prosecute or withhold funding from states, localities and institutions, including schools and private companies, unless they eliminate any “DEI” programs.
Pressure campaign targets have included George Mason University and Fairfax County Public Schools, with challenges to the latter’s protections for transgender students and Thomas Jefferson High School admissions policy receiving support from outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Virginia’s stance in those cases appears likely to change under Spanberger — a Democrat elected in November over an opponent in Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears who campaigned on anti-transgender policies — and incoming Attorney General Jay Jones, who defeated Miyares and said he would protect the rights of all Virginians while believing policies on student name and pronoun changes should be made locally.
Moon’s predecessor in the state’s diversity officer role, Martin D. Brown, faced calls for his removal in April 2023 after he stated that DEI “is dead” and detracts from “pursuing merit or excellence or achievement” in a speech to faculty and staff at Virginia Military Institute.
With her appointment of Moon, Spanberger appears to be reinstating the Virginia Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s name after Youngkin rebranded the office by replacing “equity” with “opportunity” — a move that Democrats argued violated the state code.
Correction: This story initially said Youngkin rebranded the diversity office by replacing “equity” with “inclusion” in its name, rather than “opportunity.”
