section_path: Personal life
section_name: Personal life
paragraph_text: Personal life
  
  Flack was a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition, which advocated for artists to have the right to control their creative properties. She was also a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA); her appearance in commercials for the ASPCA featured "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". The Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, NYC, (now called Leaders In Our Neighborhood Charter School) ran an after-school music program called "The Roberta Flack School of Music" to provide free music education to underprivileged students in partnership with Flack, who founded the school. Flack was also an advocate for gay rights, stating that "Love is love. Between a man and a woman, between two men, between two women. Love is universal, like music."
  
  From 1966 to 1972, she was married to Steve Novosel. Flack was the aunt of professional ice skater Rory Flack. She was also the godmother of musician Bernard Wright, who died in an accident on May 19, 2022. For 40 years, Flack had an apartment in The Dakota building in New York City that was right next door to the apartment of Yoko Ono and John Lennon; their son, Sean, grew up calling her "Aunt Roberta". She also counted among her friends the activists Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis, as well as Maya Angelou, who co-wrote the song "And So It Goes" for Flack's 1988 album Oasis.
  
  Flack was a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition, which advocated for artists to have the right to control their creative properties. She was also a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA); her appearance in commercials for the ASPCA featured "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". The Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, NYC, (now called Leaders In Our Neighborhood Charter School) ran an after-school music program called "The Roberta Flack School of Music" to provide free music education to underprivileged students in partnership with Flack, who founded the school. Flack was also an advocate for gay rights, stating that "Love is love. Between a man and a woman, between two men, between two women. Love is universal, like music."
  
  From 1966 to 1972, she was married to Steve Novosel. Flack was the aunt of professional ice skater Rory Flack. She was also the godmother of musician Bernard Wright, who died in an accident on May 19, 2022. For 40 years, Flack had an apartment in The Dakota building in New York City that was right next door to the apartment of Yoko Ono and John Lennon; their son, Sean, grew up calling her "Aunt Roberta". She also counted among her friends the activists Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis, as well as Maya Angelou, who co-wrote the song "And So It Goes" for Flack's 1988 album Oasis.