Consuela "Sway" Gaines is an organizer for Voice of the Experienced/VOTE in the Lafayette, LA chapter for the past seven years. She currently serves on the Louisiana Task Force for Safe Alternatives to Segregation. She holds an associate degree in business administration and is currently enrolled in Strayer University pursuing her BA in Business Administration, with a concentration in Management. She's also a graduate of the Baton Rouge Community College where she earned a technical diploma in Welding.
In 2022 the African American Heritage Foundation in Lafayette, Louisiana, named her as one of their Honorees for Outstanding Community Leadership. She was in the second cohort for the 2020-21 Women Transcending Collective Leadership Institute out of Columbia University, New York; she received certification as a Life Coach for Justice-Involved Individuals through Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, in 2022; she became a certified doula through the Ladies of Hope Ministries.
Most recently, Consuela was recognized as a Wavemaker for her outstanding leadership and dedication to her community in Lafayette and was awarded the Undercurrent Award.
Consuela is a proud registered voter who votes in every election. She prides herself on being a voice for incarcerated women who’ve been silenced by fear of repercussions for speaking up and out.
She dreams of opening supportive housing for justice-involved women, veterans, and victims of domestic violence.