What is your work focused on?
The bulk of the work I do is focused around our elections we have every year in Virginia! From tracking bills during legislative sessions that may alter how elections are run to recruiting, training, and deploying hundreds of volunteers throughout the state to ensure people know what their rights are as voters during Early Voting and on Election Day! My favorite part is that I get to interact with so many partners, activists, and volunteers on a regular basis that make all of this work we do come together!

How long have you been doing this work? And what motivated you to do this work?
This is actually a hard question to answer! Professionally, I have been doing movement work for the last 5 years, but I’ve been volunteering within my community and with local election administrators for over 15 years! Prior to coming into this space, I worked in education for 6 years and seeing the inequities that our children experience first hand changed my ideology on where I felt like I needed to be to make the biggest impact for future generations. My Dad was always my biggest cheerleader when it came to me finding my place in this world. He is who initially sparked my interest in politics and opened my eyes to all of the inequities people face on a daily basis when I was a young child with our daily conversations about current events and issues affecting our world. Our shared passion for helping others may look different in practice but is what continuously motivates me on a daily basis to continue this work.

What is your theme song?

If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
Honestly, it is hard to pinpoint just one person since there are so many influential people who have shaped my life and the work I do now. I often wonder what it would be like to live in different eras of time…but I don’t know that I would glean what I would need to from trading places with someone for just a day! Maybe I would trade places with Jeff Bezos or someone else ridiculously wealthy (financially)…on that day, I would redistribute their entire financial portfolio amongst those most impacted by America’s systems of oppression and ensure communities have the financial resources needed to provide wrap-around services within the community.

What is the most exciting thing you have worked on or work you are most proud of?
Our Election Protection work in 2020 is definitely something I am very proud of! 2020 was by far the worst year for so many people and their families, including my own, for a variety of reasons. Despite all of the pain and hurt people faced, we still found it within ourselves to come together, show up and fight to protect our democracy. This was the largest program we have run at the table and included many new aspects to the overall work.

How has VAPLP impacted your leadership journey?
VAPLP has been a spotlight to my overall leadership journey! VAPLP is where I was first introduced to VCET, which has provided an opportunity for me to learn new things, take on different responsibilities and grow within my chosen career path! One of my biggest takeaways from VAPLP were the relationships that were built. Cohort 3 was packed full of AMAZING leaders throughout Virginia. It is awesome to see the dreams and visions of my fellow cohort members come to fruition and the ability to support and pour into those dreams when I can. My cohort and our trainers also pushed me to feel more confident within my individual power which overall has made me feel more comfortable with public speaking and sharing parts of myself that I compartmentalized and hid for so long. I am thankful and grateful for all of you.