Karen Nussbaum has been an organizer for more than 50 years. She was an activist in the anti-war movement where she worked with Jane Fonda. Working as a clerk-typist, she realized she should be organizing on the job. She was a co-founder and the first director of 9to5, the organization for women office workers, co-founded its sister union, District 925. As president of SEIU 925, she was a member of the SEIU Executive Board in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1993, Nussbaum was named the director of the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, the highest seat in government devoted to women. In 1996, Nussbaum joined John Sweeney’s team at the AFL-CIO, creating a new Working Women’s Department. In 2003, she became the founding director of Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO reaching unorganized workers in working class communities across the country.  Nussbaum is a member of the board of Working America which has 3.5 million members. Nussbaum writes on women, labor, politics and culture.