Our Team
Elizabeth Grossman
Elizabeth Grossman is a lawyer, democracy advocate, nonprofit leader, and newly hatched stand-up comedian based in Chicago, Illinois. She is passionate about drawing connections between the arts, local infrastructure and small businesses, and democratic vitality. Her career has spanned government agencies, political campaigns, nonprofits, and corporate law firms.
Most recently, Elizabeth served as Executive Director for Common Cause Illinois, where she advocated for voter accessibility throughout the state and championed government transparency. She brought the democracy lens to police accountability, partnering with the Invisible Institute to host a screening of Oscar-nominated documentary short, Incident, about a police murder in Chicago.
As Associate Policy Director for the Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, Elizabeth led the democracy, criminal justice, immigration, racial justice, and climate policy teams and organized volunteers in Iowa and California. In March 2025, when Elizabeth’s former law firm capitulated to an illegal executive order, Elizabeth organized alumni of the firm to respond collectively and stand up for the rule of law. Her advocacy was covered in the New York Times, Huffington Post, CBS Evening News, Politico, and Above the Law.
Co-founder
Nick Mayer
Co-founderNick Mayer is a stand-up comedian, writer, instructor, and community organizer. He has performed internationally at esteemed clubs such as Zanies, The Laugh Factory, and Yuk Yuks, and most recently hosted for Sam Tallent.
As an instructor at Lincoln Lodge Comedy Club (Voted #1 Comedy Club in The Chicago Reader), Nick teaches adult and teen programs. He was involved with the pilot project partnering with EMBARC to bring comedy programming to under-resourced high schools and was a featured speaker at the Uncharted Learning National Summit in 2025.
Since 2018, Nick has run a mutual aid benefit show, raising over $10,000 for Chicago organizations including The Chicago Abortion Fund, The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and Brave Space Alliance. He is also a co-founder of the Health Alliance for Chicago Comedians.
