Skye Perryman was a sophomore at Baylor University, working toward a bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy, when, early on the morning of September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. Her experiences on that day have stayed with her, shaping her work today.
“For many of us, the events on 9/11 inspired the pursuit of careers in public service or international relations or public policy, and drove home the fragility of the period of peace and prosperity that the United States had experienced during our childhoods leading up to that day,” Perryman said. “For me, September 11 and its aftermath instilled a greater urgency to the work for justice. It reminded us all that the work to oppose extremism of any kind and the work for civil rights, civil liberties, and the ability of people to live peacefully together is urgent work that must be done.”
Twenty-four years later, Perryman is the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. This national nonpartisan organization defends democracy and progress in the United States of America through litigation, regulatory engagement, community education, and research. Democracy Forward has filed 85 legal actions and counting, and launched more than 100 investigations into the new Trump administration, and they’re just getting started.
And most recent in her string of accomplishments–though the list grows daily–on April 16, Perryman was named one of the “TIME100: Most Influential People of 2025” by Time magazine. An innovator, she sits among the list beside Simone Biles, Mark Zuckerberg, Ed Sheeran, and so many other greats.
Early Days at Baylor
Born and raised in Waco, Perryman followed in the educational footsteps of her parents: her father, Dr. Ray Perryman, a Texas economist, Baylor University alumnus, and Nobel Prize in Economics nominee; and her mother, Nancy Perryman, a former Baylor faculty member. Both her mother and father were students of Dr. Vivienne Malone-Mayes, Baylor’s first Black professor, and Perryman noted that growing up she’d hear stories of Dr. Malone-Mayes’ persistence in the face of racial injustice, which inspired her.
“I was in the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, which is a phenomenal program for students to receive their general support and general studies requirements through an interdisciplinary lens,” she said. “I was also on the Model United Nations team, and we won a range of competitions at Harvard and elsewhere.”
During her time at Baylor, Perryman also worked on Project Democracy, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s GEAR UP Waco grant. The GEAR UP initiative committed to promoting post-secondary education for high school students in underserved areas and those who were at risk of dropping out of school.
“I coordinated that program in middle schools across Waco public school systems, which really led me to enhance what had already been an interest in a commitment to public service,” she said.
Perryman was named one of 64 Truman Scholars by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, a national award for between 55 and 65 students in the nation who have distinguished themselves in the areas of public service, leadership, and academic excellence.
“The late Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan is a hero of mine, as is former Congressman Chet Edwards, who represented Waco when I was growing up and in college,” Perryman said. “At Baylor, I was inspired by so many faculty members—Dr. Robert Baird, who chaired the philosophy department when I was at Baylor, has had an incredible influence on my life and career, as has former Associate Dean Elizabeth Vardaman, and so many others.”
Stepping Up the Legal Ladder
At first, Perryman thought she would go into a type of policy work. “But as I reflected on what I was doing with youth in Central Texas through the GEAR UP program, I realized the power that the law had had on creating opportunities for people across the country and education across the country,” she said.
After graduating from Baylor, she worked at a policy think tank in Washington, D.C., then pursued a law degree. Perryman received a juris doctor degree with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she was on its moot court team, and served as an editor for the American Criminal Law Review and editor-in-chief for the ACLR’s Annual Survey of White Collar Crime.
“I began my career at Covington & Burling, a global law firm in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “Lawyers carried out important private sector work representing large companies on complex problems, which is something that I really enjoy doing as a litigator. But the firm also had an enduring commitment to public interest and public service and encouraged—and even expected—all of their lawyers to do some pro bono work.”
Working at Covington & Burling allowed Perryman to work alongside some of the best lawyers in the country while still being able to prioritize her commitment to public interest and public service.
“One of my earliest cases at Covington on the public interest side was supporting the team representing detainees that were being held by the George W. Bush administration in Guantanamo Bay without due process,” she said. “Which, of course, has some parallels to the work that I’m doing today at Democracy Forward with those that the current administration has removed from the country without due process.”
In the wake of the 2016 election, Perryman was a litigator at another global law firm, WilmerHale, which she describes as being very committed to the law as an enterprise, both for its private paying clients and also its public interest clients.
“I don’t consider my work political—it’s really about people and it’s about serving people,” she said. “And in a democracy, of course, the way our democracy is supposed to function, we want our government to work for all people. And when it doesn’t, people must demand that it does better and that people defend their rights in court, which is what I’ve done throughout my career.”
As a matter of record, both Covington & Burling and WilmerHale have been accused by the current Trump administration of weaponizing the judicial system. Neither legal firm has capitulated to the accusations.
Starting Up with Democracy Forward
“I really loved the work I was doing, but in the early months of 2017, we started seeing the earlier version of ‘shock and awe,’ the Muslim ban, and the abrupt cancellation of essential federal services,” Perryman said. “I became a mom in 2015, and I was concerned about the world my son would be growing up in.”
A senior lawyer she admired was leading a startup organization, Democracy Forward, and asked if Perryman would consider coming onboard to use her litigation skills to carry out public interest work full time. Perryman left a job she loved—with all the associated benefits and prestige—and became a founding member of the litigation team at Democracy Forward, where she developed and filed cases challenging unlawful activities pursued by the 45th presidential administration.
A year into her work at Democracy Forward, one of her long-term public interest clients, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)—the nation’s leading association of physicians dedicated to the care of women—asked her to join its leadership team. While at ACOG, she served as the organization’s chief legal officer and general counsel.
“They could see the writing on the wall about the challenges that medical professionals were going to face concerning women’s health care,” she said. “The maternal mortality rate was rising, and there was a rash of anti-abortion and anti-reproductive rights laws that were percolating at the state level. And so I said yes. While I was at ACOG, the COVID-19 epidemic began, and people were still having babies and needing to be treated for cancer and other health care needs, and the organization had a critical role in supporting the health care profession during that crisis. This was a significant part of my career development being there.”
Perryman not only developed extensive executive leadership skills but also led a large team that included not just lawyers but also communications specialists, policy advocates, and others. She was able to see how all the pieces fit together.
Taking the Lead at Democracy Forward
Following the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Perryman was asked to return to Democracy Forward as president and CEO. She took that role before the age of 40.
“My task was to expand and deepen the work to state and local communities, to hire more lawyers, and work on our strategy,” she said. “What we’re seeing in this country is not the result of a single election or a single individual. It’s a movement that has been building for some period of years that profoundly threatens so many of our foundational values.”
Under Perryman’s leadership, Democracy Forward has taken hundreds of legal actions and works with more than 600 clients and partners to file cases and engage in strategies to protect individual rights, advance reproductive health care, protect the freedom of speech and religious liberty, defend civil rights, and preserve the crucial checks and balances in our system of government.
“It was an incredible honor to be named to Time’s 100 Most Influential People 2025 list and join others on the list that I admire, but it’s really a testament to the commitment of the incredible people I get to work with every day at Democracy Forward,” Perryman said. “Our work is making a significant difference to the world. The team at Democracy Forward inspires me every day. Throughout my career, I have been most inspired by the people who took on hard fights, who tried things that seemed impossible or improbable, and went for it anyway. And that’s what our team does.”
Over the years, Perryman has received many compliments for her work, “But my favorite was that I was tougher than a $2 chicken fried steak,” she said. “I liked that distinction.”
Fighting for the Future
Perryman noted that the fear of standing up for democracy is real, and that feeling like a spectator and not being able to make a difference might discourage anyone from trying.
“Just do it. This is the day you’ve been waiting for. If you’ve ever wondered what you would have done in earlier times in our history—during the abolition movement, during the civil rights movement, as fascism ravaged Europe before and during World War II—you don’t have to wonder anymore. Because what you are doing today will tell you what you would have done then,” Perryman said.
“This moment is every bit as significant as those prior ones, and the world is waiting and watching—as is history—for what you will do. So use your voice and all the tools you have in this moment.”
