Last November the Jefferson County Memorial Project (JCMP) brought on longtime local advocate Gina Mallisham as their new executive director.

Prior to her role at JCMP, Mallisham served as marketing manager for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and as LGBTQ outreach coordinator for Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival.

Throughout this year she has been working to complete the design of a lynching memorial that will be placed in Birmingham’s Linn Park to commemorate victims of racial violence throughout Jefferson County’s history.

In a recent Q&A with the Lede Mallisham stressed the importance of racial history education throughout Jefferson County and detailed other exciting projects JCMP is working on in the coming years.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.