Eddie Ahn has served as an environmental attorney for over 15 years, and he is also the writer and artist of Advocate, a graphic memoir published by Penguin Random House in 2024. While working as the executive director of Brightline Defense, a San Francisco–based environmental justice nonprofit, he has led and expanded the organization’s work and staff in environmental education, air quality monitoring, and advocacy for equity and clean energy. In December 2021, Eddie was inducted into the State of California’s Clean Energy Hall of Fame for this work. Prior to being a nonprofit attorney, he was an AmeriCorps member, teaching public speaking and arts workshops in Oakland’s Chinatown.
In addition to his nonprofit work for Brightline, Eddie has served on three commissions for local and state government agencies related to environmental policymaking: the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and Bay Conservation and Development Commission. He is a self-taught artist who has been recognized as a Cartoonist-in-Residence by the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. His art has been publicly installed as large art installations and on ten utility boxes throughout San Francisco.
Eddie has received his J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and his B.A. from Brown University. He is also a member of the California State Bar.
“Gorgeously illustrated . . . Ahn’s dual journey as a self-taught artist and fierce advocate of environmental equality for disadvantaged communities forms the foundation of his insightful new book.” — Zack Ruskin, San Francisco Chronicle