Executive Director – You Can Play Project
Wade Davis is an advocate, writer, speaker and educator. Davis is a former NFL football player who played for the Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks, as well as two different teams within the NFL Europe league. He’s currently the Executive Director of the You Can Play Project, an organization dedicated to ending discrimination, sexism and homophobia in sports through the creation of curriculum, programming, trainings and conversations focused on inclusion and diversity. In 2013, he co-founded the You Belong Initiative with Darnell L. Moore, an organization that offers LGBTQ and straight-allied youth a series of 3-day comprehensive sports instruction and leadership development clinics; as well as the creation of a Speaker’s Collective aimed at providing support, promotion, and community for LGBTQ professionals of color.
Since retiring from the NFL, he’s owned a media business through a partnership with the New York Times called InMotion Media. Wade worked as the former assistant director of academic enrichment and work readiness for the Hetrick Martin Institute, where he taught at-promise LGBT youth how to define success for themselves. While working as an advocate his writings and interviews have appeared in the LA Times, The Advocate, Huffington Post, The NY Times, The Guardian, and other media outlets, like President Obama’s Whitehouse blog. He has appeared on MSNBC, BBC, NPR, CNN, ESPN, and BET.
During the 2012 Presidential election, Wade worked as an official LGBT Surrogate for President Obama. Also, Wade has agreed to become a US State Department Speaker Specialist to travel nationally and internationally to speak on issues of gender, race, sexuality, class and sports diversity and inclusion. He has served as an adjunct professor at the School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University, Newark and is working with multiple national organizations like the Minority AIDS Institute to combat different intersectional issues such as sexism, racism, classism, HIV/AIDS, mass incarceration, poverty and youth homelessness.
He has lectured on the intersections of race, sexuality, gender and sports at universities nationally and internationally. Wade spoke at the 2014 NFL Owner’s Meeting and is helping to chart at course for the NFL and other sports leagues on how to effectively address issues of diversity and inclusive. Lastly, Wade has joined the ranks of John F. Kennedy, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Colin Powell and received an honorary degree from Northeastern University for his leadership and ongoing efforts to eradicate homophobia and sexism in athletics.