Roderick Smith
Field Representative, Georgia
Roderick is an architect of strategy and purpose, a movement-builder with over a decade of experience turning people power into lasting change.
From the church basements of Detroit to the Capitol steps of Georgia, his career has been a constant call to action, a chance to challenge the status quo with intention, build coalitions with purpose, and open doors that never should’ve been closed. He has organized across battlegrounds like Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, and Georgia, ensuring that the voices most often pushed to the margins are not only heard, but centered in decision-making. His work has spanned reproductive justice in the Southwest to civic engagement in the Deep South, and he brings that same deep commitment to justice to the fight for our oceans and our planet. Environmental justice is inseparable from racial and economic justice, and he’s proud to bring his organizing roots to Oceana’s mission. In Georgia, he helped build the civic infrastructure that shifted the state’s political landscape, recruiting more than 12,000 volunteers, organizing across all 159 counties, and launching youth-led climate and voting rights initiatives on campuses across the South. His leadership is rooted in trust, shaped by community, and guided by a belief that equity isn’t a buzzword, it’s a baseline. From mobilizing frontline communities to holding decision-makers accountable, he sees environmental advocacy as a vital extension of the work he’s always done: protecting the people and places we love. The work is personal. The stakes are global. And he’s just getting started.
