Simone Barron is a former Visiting Fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum. She’s used her 30+ years of experience working in Full-Service restaurants to advocate for the industry and its workers. She is the co-founder of the Full Service Workers Alliance, representing restaurant workers in the protection of their freedoms and flexibilities through legislative advocacy. She is also an original board member of the Restaurant Workers of America, a non-profit promoting the tipping compensation model, tip credits, and higher back-of-house wages.
Simone has testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Education & Labor during the 2018 Raise The Wage Act hearings concerning the impacts of raising the federal minimum wage on the restaurant industry in addition to legislative testimonies at various state and local levels.
Simone is a Fox Business News contributor and printed in multiple publications including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Crain’s Detroit, Washington Examiner, and Everett Herald. Her educational video for Prager University produced earlier this year on the impacts of minimum wage mandates on the restaurant industry has garnered over 3 million views.