Kristal Suggs is a former teacher, turned elected official, turned community organizer based in Eastern North Carolina. Kristal’s professional background has been in elementary and early childhood education, before fully devoting her time and energy to building power with her family, neighbors, and community to address issues around climate resilience, public safety, food insecurity, and youth development.
Suggs holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and led a career as an educator in the public schools systems of Lenoir and Greene counties. In 2016, she came out of the classroom to help build Kinston Teens—a nonprofit youth-led organization operating at the intersection of community development and youth empowerment. Suggs and her team have grown Kinston Teens into a global model for how young people lead efforts to revitalize neighborhoods, engage in government, and cultivate resilience in response to gun violence, natural disasters, and economic hardship.
Kristal now serves as Director of Civic & Community Engagement for the North Carolina Climate Justice Collective, a multi-racial, intergenerational grassroots movement ecosystem working to address the root causes of climate change. In this role, she works to build the capacity of their movement partners and regional hubs to utilize base-building, electoral engagement, and issue campaigns to enact systemic change.
Outside of Krystal’s civic and community work, she is the proud mom of two young adults and a grand-puppy.
