Sustaining Our Movement: A Tribute to Barb Paradiso (1956-2021)

Barbara (Barb) Ann Paradiso, 65, died suddenly in her home on July 27, 2021. The gender-based violence field mourns her loss and we at Soteria Solutions send condolences to her family and loved ones, including her partner Kimberly Smith and children Isabella and John. Several of us have had the privilege to work with Barb on capacity building projects in our shared mission to end gender-based violence.

Barb founded and led the Center on Domestic Violence for over 20 years and worked to end violence for over 40 years. You can read Barb’s obituaries here and here to see the many ways that she shaped the movement to end gender-based violence. 

Every time I encounter a new colleague in the gender-based violence field, it typically takes only a few minutes to see how our networks converge through Barb. Although Barb was certainly personable and hilarious, she was also thoughtful and strategic. Barb’s work focused on building the leaders and networks necessary to sustain gender-based violence prevention and advocacy work. 

Barb was incredibly gifted at finding a gap and building or utilizing a network to fill it. My own career was forever changed from attending the Program on Gender-Based Violence which was designed to provide leadership and organizational strategy training to individuals passionate about ending gender-based violence but whose training had focused on providing services and educational programs. Through this program, Barb has built a national network consisting of 20 years of graduates who are putting the skills they learned into action. We lost Barb far too soon, but she is also a rare person who spent many years building her legacy. I am but one of so many anti-violence professionals and activists who have been able to grow because of her unique ability to blend skill-building, critical thinking, and kindness. Barb not only saw challenges in our field like high turnover rates, burnout, and isolation, she intentionally and creatively worked to address them.

To quote Barb’s obituary written by her Center on Domestic Violence colleagues: “Centering our lives as advocates is part of [our] revolution, and change of this magnitude requires community. Ours is a call for compassion, for tending to our health, our spirits, and our loves as communal, revolutionary acts.” At Soteria Solutions, we hope that we can build on Barb’s legacy to foster a sustainable and effective movement to end gender-based violence. Barb has certainly gifted us with an incredible start. 

You can donate to the Center on Domestic Violence here or plant a tree in Barb’s honor here. If you have memories or photos of Barb you would like to share with her family, email cdv@ucdenver.edu. 

LB Klein is Director of Trainer Development and a Lead Trainer for Soteria Solutions and an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Klein is a 2016 graduate of the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs Program on Gender-Based Violence.