Raise your hand if you love Ananda Robie

This month, we said “Au Revoir” to one of our very best, the incomparable Ananda Robie.

Ananda first joined the Invisible Children team in 2011 as a National Tour “roadie.” She arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, wearing her now-infamous homemade roadie sweatshirt — a memorable entrance for which we will forever tease her….and forever love her. She embodied dedication and enthusiasm from day one, and it’s never faded.

Ananda in 2011 wearing her home-made roadie sweatshirt (which she still has today).

Ananda has worn a host of hats during her time at Invisible Children — and she’s worn them all with class, sass, and tenacity. Over the past five years, Ananda has contributed to Invisible Children’s mission as a Roadie, a National Tour Team Leader, a Tour Booking Assistant, our first-ever Civic Engagement Coordinator, our Supporter Engagement Manager, and finally as our Director of Supporter Engagement & System Administrator throughout all of 2015.

Ananda and her Roadie team pose with their tour van in 2011.

She has organized and presented at hundreds of Invisible Children community screenings — introducing tens of thousands of people to the LRA conflict and providing them with an opportunity to take action. She has organized hundreds of local lobby meetings and has been a friend, mentor, cheerleader, and teacher to literally thousands of Invisible Children activists. She has labored over hundreds of blogs, dozens of videos, and thousands of social media posts — all to ensure that the stories and names and faces of LRA-affected families in central Africa would be seen and known. (We are so thankful that Ananda finally had the chance to visit central Africa last fall and meet the Invisible Children staff, local leaders, and communities she has worked so hard to support for the past five years!).  

Ananda meeting some of our partners in central Africa in 2015.

Her hard work in all of those roles has contributed to the passage of multiple pieces of U.S. legislation supporting an end to Joseph Kony’s violence, the inclusion of tens of millions of dollars in the U.S. budget to support LRA-affected communities, and to the millions of dollars fundraised by Invisible Children supporters which sustain our lifesaving programs and community partners in central Africa. And those are just a few of her accomplishments! In the midst of all of that, she’s also been a generous, compassionate, and loyal friend to each of us.

Ananda collaborating with her Communications teammates, Hailey & Angelo in 2014.

Ananda wrapped up her time at Invisible Children a couple of weeks ago, and headed off to New Mexico, where she is joining the stellar crew at the Center of Action and Contemplation as their in-house Salesforce Guru (we’re pretty sure that’s her official title). While we definitely shed a tear or two as we watched her drive off into the sunset in Polly the Prius, we’re  over-the-moon excited for all that’s next for her, and that she’ll be joining the ranks of the community she absolutely adores: Invisible Children supporters.

Ananda, we’re thrilled for you and this new chapter of life for you. We could not be more grateful that we’ve had you within these walls for the past five years, and that you’ll be sticking around as a dedicated Invisible Children supporter for years to come.

Stop at nothing, friend.

P.S. If you’re one of the thousands of people Ananda impacted during her time at Invisible Children and you want to show your support for all she’s done, consider making a gift today to support programs like our CITIZEN Advocacy efforts which she helped to build and continues to support.