Nikkita Oliver (they/them) is an artist, community organizer, abolitionist, educator, and attorney.
Working at the intersections of arts, law, education, and community organizing Nikkita strives to
create experiences which draw us closer to our humanity and invites us to imagine what we hope to
see in the future. (Nikkita identifies as Black, multi-racial, queer, and non-binary.)
Nikkita, born and raised in Indianapolis, IN, moved to Seattle, WA in 2004 to attend Seattle Pacific
University where they graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Women’s Studies. They
lived in Seattle for 18 years and in that time earned their Juris Doctorate (2015) and Masters of
Education in Social and Cultural Foundations (2016) from the University of Washington.
Nikkita has been a bar licensed attorney in Washington State since October of 2015 and is currently
seeking admissions into the Michigan State Bar. They have served as a fellow with the Movement
Law Lab and are currently a Movement Law Lab Lawyer-in-Residence completing a project on
Democracy Defense. In Seattle, Nikkita organized with House Our Neighbors, Solidarity Budget, No
New Youth Jail, Decriminalize Seattle, Covid-19 Mutual Aid – Seattle, and the Seattle Peoples Party.
Prior to returning to the Midwest to join the Detroit Justice Center, Nikkita served as the executive
director and senior attorney at Creative Justice, an arts-based healing engaged space for youth and
young adults impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and other harmful systems and institutions.
As an artist and community creative, Nikkita has opened for Cornel West and Chuck D of Public
Enemy, featured on the Breakfast Club, KUOW’s The Week in Review, Cut Stories, and performed
on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert. Nikkita’s writing has been published in the South
Seattle Emerald, Yes! Magazine, Crosscut, the Establishment, Last Real Indians, The Seattle
Weekly, and The Stranger. They self-published a book of poems called “Pebbles in my Shoes” and hope to publish again soon.