Carol McGruder is a seasoned veteran of California’s tobacco control experience. Carol is a senior project director, activist, researcher, and writer. She is experienced in the fields of public policy, social marketing, media advocacy, global tobacco control, health education, community capacity/power building, and leadership development. She is a proud co-founding member and Co-Chairperson of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC). Created to inform the direction of tobacco control policy, practices, and priorities, the AATCLC works at the intersection of public health policy and social injustice. They have fought resolutely against the decades of racialized tobacco industry targeting of the Black community and the resulting 45,000 Black lives lost each year from tobacco-induced diseases. www.savingblacklives.org The AATCLC has been at the forefront of the national movement to restrict the sale of mentholated tobacco products, assisting municipalities across the country. In 2020, the AATCLC, ASH, the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association filed an administrative lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for its failure to take mentholated tobacco products off the market. The lawsuit prompted the FDA to declare that it will begin the arduous rule-making process in 2022 to finally take deadly menthol and little cigars off the market. Carol has received honors from many organizations including the San Francisco and Berkeley Branches of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She served as NAACP Branch President for Berkeley, CA for two terms. She received the prestigious Biddy Mason “unsung shero” award in 2021.