DAMARIO SOLOMON-SIMMONS, ESQ., M.ED.
“Law is his Ministry and Justice is his Passion!” best sums up Damario Solomon-Simmons.
Growing up in a single-mom household, Damario struggled for years to “find himself” as a Black man in America. He graduated at the bottom of his high school class and was a college dropout before becoming a University of Oklahoma football letterman, graduating with honors with his Bachelor's Degree in African & African-American Studies, Masters in Adult & Higher Education, and becoming University of Oklahoma’s College of Law's 1st African-American recipient of the Joel Jankowsky Award for most outstanding law graduate.
He has been a practicing attorney for almost 17 years and currently is the Managing Partner of SolomonSimmonsLaw, an Oklahoma-based law firm where he specializes in Civil and Human Rights, Wrongful Death, Employment Discrimination, Public Policy, and Sports Law.
Damario has a nationwide practice and has represented dozens of high-profile clients and causes including advocating for reparations for the survivors of the 1921 Greenwood Massacre, citizenship rights of Black Creek Indians, and managing the business and legal affairs for several NFL and Olympic athletes.
Currently, he serves as lead counsel for the 3 known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, 13 Black former University of Iowa football players against the State of Iowa, several families of unarmed Black men unjustly killed by police, and for 7 Black female Rape Victims of convicted Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw.
In addition to being a 2014 National Booker T. Washington High School Hall of Fame Inductee, in 2015 the Oklahoma Bar Association named Damario its recipient of their Ada Lois Sipuel-Fisher Diversity Award, in 2016 the National Bar Association named Damario one of the top "40 under 40" lawyers nationally, and in 2017 Tulsa People Magazine named Damario Tulsan of the Year. Recently he was named to Ozy.com’s 25 Rising Stars to Track in 2021, a list that includes U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Hip-Hop Superstar Saweetie.
Outside of law, Damario is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Justice For Greenwood Foundation whose mission is to obtain justice and reparations for the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre through innovative legal strategies, public education, and advocacy. He is also co-founder of the MVP Foundation whose mission is to inform, inspire, and empower 8th grade boys from single-mom households. In addition, he is on the Board of Visitors of OU's Clara Luper African & African-American Studies Department Program. Damario is a highly sought-after speaker and a frequent media guest that has been featured on such media outlets as CNN, The View, 60 Minutes, MSNBC, ESPN, The New York Times, The Root, and Roland Martin Show.
Damario is passionately in love with his high school sweetheart, wife, and business partner Mia and they live in Tulsa where he is a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church and the Xi Omega Graduate Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.