Menna Demessie ’02 flexed her political science savvy in the halls of Congress before switching gears to work in the music business. A senior vice president at Universal Music Group, she currently serves as the executive director of UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change, where she leads initiatives related to disparities in the music industry, as well as criminal justice reform, food insecurity, voting rights, and public health. “When I told my Obie friends, ‘I’m leaving Capitol Hill to go into the music industry,’ they said, ‘Makes sense. Of course—that’s what we do,’” she says. Demessie and her colleagues have partnered with artists, athletes, and actors to create the Alliance for Criminal Justice Reform in support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the Senate. She also oversees the task force’s Pull Up to the Polls Campaign, where UMG works with civic organizations such as Voto Latino and the NAACP to provide voter education resources and support. And she also led an...