Ewing stated that her interest in activism began when she went to the 1987 March on Washington, and politics became an important aspect of her comics. Ewing claimed that a defining moment of her life was when she was arrested during a protest at the Food and Drug Administration, and partly spurred her career in activism. Ewing was the volunteer coordinator for the Display of Names Project in Washington D.C. from 1988 to 1989 and on the National Steering Committee for the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in 1993. She served as president of the board of directors for the San Francisco AIDS Emergency Fund and a founder for the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. Ewing recently retired as the executive director for the Pacific Center for Human Growth in July 2019, where she served for over ten years.