Beverly Gooden

Beverly Gooden
Beverly Gooden receiving the Inspire A Difference Everyday Hero Award in New York, NY
Born	November 24 Cleveland, OH, United States
Alma mater	Hampton University
Website	http://www.beverlygooden.com

Beverly Gooden is an award-winning social advocate and speaker, known for her work on relationship dynamics, victimology, and women's health. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, the U.S. Office on Women's Health, and NBC's TODAY.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Beverly was a ward of the state in foster care until being adopted by the Gooden family. After attending several high schools, she graduated with honors from St. Peter Chanel High School in Bedford, Ohio. As a sophomore at Hampton University, Beverly was selected as a media scholar with the Summer Research Opportunities Program at the University of Iowa, and researched the connection between alcohol advertisements and teen drinking & driving. During her junior year, Beverly interned with the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire as a reporter on Capitol Hill, covering the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal and NCAA recruiting reform. In 2005, Beverly graduated with a bachelor's degree in Journalism & Communications. She went on to attend Loyola University Chicago, and graduated with a master's degree in Social Justice. Beverly was a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens Homes (Chicago, Illinois), focused on stress-related health issues. Following the Financial crisis of 2007–08, Beverly worked for various government and nonprofit agencies to secure or administer resources for those affected by the crisis. As a grant recipient of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 housing funding, Beverly worked with organizations to find stable and affordable housing for families facing housing insecurity in Hampton Roads, Virginia and Northwest Georgia.

On September 8, 2014, Beverly created the hashtag #WhyIStayed in response to the Ray Rice video released by TMZ. A survivor of domestic violence, Beverly tweeted several reasons why she remained in an abusive marriage as a direct response to widespread victim blaming of Janay Rice.