Laura Ricketts is an active member of the Chicago community. She is involved with several Chicago area community organizations and social causes. She is Chair of the Leadership Council for Housing Opportunities for Women, Inc. (“HOW”), a non-profit organization that provides permanent supportive housing and comprehensive case management to homeless women and children in the Chicago area. Before chairing HOW’s Leadership Council, Ricketts served on its Board of Directors for eight years assuming leadership positions of Treasurer and Development Committee Chair. Ricketts also serves on the Board of Directors for GayCo Productions, a non-profit theatre ensemble founded as an outreach of Second City that produces intelligent and thought-provoking lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) themed sketch comedy as well as training workshops and creative expression programming.
Ricketts is a member of U.S. Representative Mike Quigley’s LGBT Advisory Council and recently joined the Cook County State’s Attorney’s LGBT Advisory Council, which serves as a link between the LGBT community and the State’s Attorney’s Office. Ricketts also serves on the Board of the West Edgewater Area Residents Association and has volunteered for and contributed to several other Chicago community organizations including Howard Brown Health Center and Equality Illinois. She served as event chair of the 2008 Justice for All Gala and co-chaired the 2009 Justice for All Gala.
Beyond the Chicago community, Ricketts serves on the Board of Directors for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national non-profit organization that litigates, educates and engages in public policy work on behalf of LGBT civil rights. Ricketts Co-Chairs the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Leadership Council. She is also on the Board of Directors for Opportunity Education, an international charitable foundation that endeavors to make educational opportunities accessible to children in developing nations so that they can attain the skills required to improve their standard of living. Opportunity Education currently provides educational programming and technological tools to help train teachers in over 900 schools across Africa and Asia.
Ricketts earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and an A.B. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago. She practiced law at the Chicago law firm of Schiff, Hardin & Waite (now Schiff Hardin LLP) where she was an associate in the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Ricketts is President and Co-Founder of Ecotravel, LLC, a company dedicated to fostering and promoting ecotourism worldwide.
Equality Illinois salutes Laura Ricketts for her commitment to justice for all.
