Belle Townsend

Belle Townsend is the Communications Director for the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, leading media relations, digital strategy, and messaging to uplift working people and strengthen union power across Kentucky. She is also a dues-paying union member of Local 4 BAC KY/IN. Originally from Robards in Henderson County, Belle now lives in Franklin County. With over a decade of experience in field organizing, research, and communications across ten election cycles, she combines youth insight with expert fluency in social media and digital culture.

She started organizing at 15 and has managed communications for multiple campaigns simultaneously with strong results since then. A Boston University graduate with a BA in Political Science (Pi Sigma Alpha), Belle’s research includes a funded project on global migration policies under multilateral systems. She was a 2024–2025 Youth Organizing Fellow with Americans United for Separation of Church and State and received the 2024 YPAL Award from the Young Professionals Association of Louisville. Belle also completed the New Leaders Council Kentucky institute, served as Recruitment Chair on its board (2023–2025), and finished the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange two-year cohort.

Belle is a multi-published poet and founder and editor-in-chief of Backwoods Literary Press, a nonprofit project amplifying diverse, working-class voices from rural communities. She regularly curates panels, leads creative workshops, and hosts events.

Known for blending bold advocacy with cultural savvy, Belle is a rising voice in Kentucky’s political and cultural landscape, using storytelling as a tool for education, community building, and change.

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