Tabatha Pilgrim Thompson

Director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives

Tabatha has a background in community organizing, leadership development, and political campaigns. As the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives for The Horizons Project, Tabatha cultivates and strengthens meaningful relationships among pro-democracy activists, organizers, and peacebuilders. Her work includes developing and operationalizing key initiatives to support a broad-based movement that challenges rising authoritarianism and advances just, inclusive, and pluralistic democracy.

Before Horizons, Tabatha served as the acting director for the Program on Nonviolent Action at the United States Institute of Peace. There, Tabatha worked with grassroots activists and peacebuilders to develop greater knowledge and practical skills for how nonviolent action and peacebuilding approaches can be used together to mobilize communities, build power, and address the grievances and injustices that can drive violent conflict. She also helped donor organizations, including the U.S. government, UN agencies, and foundations, better understand how they can effectively support social movements by amplifying lessons learned from the field and exploring the power dynamics of external support. Her field experience includes capacity building and research work in West and East Africa, Latin America, Tunisia, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

Prior to USIP, Tabatha served as a field researcher with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, focusing on community engagement and inclusivity in the peacekeeping process and on the women’s outreach and foreign policy teams for Secretary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. She also managed leadership development programs at the Partnership for Public Service and led DC’s largest all-volunteer anti-human trafficking nonprofit, DC Stop Modern Slavery, where she worked to raise awareness and promote community action to combat trafficking in the greater Washington area.

Tabatha holds a master’s degree in human rights, humanitarian policy, and conflict resolution from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and modern languages from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Go Jackets!). She is a member of the Truman National Security Project, Foreign Policy for America’s NextGen Initiative, and Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS). She has published articles and developed content for The Washington Post, Inkstick, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. She enjoys backpacking, reading, watching movies, and wine-tasting (having worked in the tasting room at one of VA’s many great vineyards!).