2009 BootCampers

NOI's BootCamp 2009 will bring together an incredible group of talented organizers in Washington DC from July 4th to July 11th 2009.  Meet the 2009 BootCamp class below.

Helen Adeosun

Helen Adeosun is greatful to be attending the NOI Bootcamp as a 2007 Atlanta Teach for America corps member transitioning out of teaching and into politics, this summer is definitely the beginning of something beautiful.  Before teaching at Westlake High School, Helen attended the University of Notre Dame where she served as the College Democrats President,campus organizing on several campaigns in the South Bend community including Joe Donnelly for Congress IN-2.  In her hometown of Atlanta, GA she volunteered on several campaigns and worked towards promoting political awareness among students at Westlake High School through co-sponsoring the Law, Economic and Social Activism Club.  After leaving Bootcamp Helen will be working on TFA's Political Leadership Initiative.

LaKeecia Allen

LaKeecia Allen graduated Magna Cum Laude from American University in 2001, with a Bachelors’ degree in Political Science.  She then began law school at the University of Maryland.  After graduating in 2004, she began practicing law in Prince Georges County, Maryland.  Ms. Allen is a litigator currently representing the County, its agencies, and employees against lawsuits filed in both state and federal courts.  Ms Allen handles cases alleging Constitutional violations, employment issues and discrimination, and other claims filed against the County.  Ms. Allen was the Chair and member of the Prince Georges County Young Lawyers for Obama (PGYLFO), a volunteer group that aided different states during the Presidential campaign in numerous ways, such as providing voter protection, organizing trips out of state for canvassing, and fundraising.  Ms. Allen took a leave of absence from her career and went on the campaign trail as a staff member in Georgia.  She was hired as a Field Organizer in suburbs of Atlanta and subsequently asked to relocate to Florida where she became the Regional Director for Get Out the Vote (GOTV).  After the campaign, Ms. Allen returned to her job as an attorney; however, she is currently still involved in politics, as she has been hired as the Field Director for a local campaign.

Emile Aries

Emilie Aries graduated from Brown University in May with a B.A. in political science. Born and raised in South Windsor, CT, Emilie has worked on political campaigns in CT, VA, RI, and NH, with a variety of roles and responsibilities.  Throughout her political experiences, Emilie has become most passionate about communications and new media and is currently interning on the content/ research team at Blue State Digital in Washington, D.C.  During her time at Brown, Emilie designed and led the first-ever communications division for the Brown Daily Herald business staff and co-founded a new networking group on campus, Brown Women in Business.  She played on the varsity volleyball team her freshman year and as a sophomore, studied abroad at University College London in England.  Emilie loved her time spent abroad during which she traveled to France and Spain and was inspired to further her education in both French and Spanish upon returning to Brown. Besides politics, Emilie also loves the outdoors (hiking, biking, beach volleyball, running), cooking, and old TCM flicks.
Madeline Blodgett

In May, Madeline Blodgett graduated from Reed College in Portland, OR; now, she’s learning as many new skills as she can, playing the ukulele, and trying to figure out what The Future holds. Her calculations on this last question are informed by her six years of organizing for LGBTQ rights and gender equality, as well as by her experience in liberal, radical, and nonpartisan organizations working for national and international social justice of all kinds. As a Bus Project Politicorps Fellow in 2008, Madeline successfully organized a field campaign to oppose a mandatory minimum sentencing measure, studying organizing with noted political figures during the day and running a field campaign at night; after a year of thesis writing and community-based activism, she’s excited to once more throw herself fully into the world of activism. As a former English major, she feels self-conscious about her use of the third person in this biography.

Josh Bolotsky

Josh Bolotsky is National Program Coordinator for Living Liberally, a 50-state network of progressive social groups that work to affect local change while building friendships among activists. When not working with chapters around the country to promote liberal thinking at the grassroots, he's a regular contributor on the politics of cinema and popular culture for OpenLeft.com, and has also written for The Huffington Post, AlterNet.org and Future Majority. Previously, he served as a Leadership Academy Fellow with Young People For, and as President of College Democrats of New York, where his efforts were covered by The Nation magazine as an example of effective campus organizing during the Bush years. He currently lives and works in New York City.

Dan Borntrager

Dan Borntrager briefly studied international business at Tulane University before ultimately settling for the more coveted and valuable B.A. in English literature. As an undergraduate, he worked as a cub reporter in the bayou, covering odd crimes, failing welfare-to-work programs, and the parish’s “world famous” fish rodeo. He also wrote for Popular Mechanics, MTV, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. After college, a big shot editor (a 28-year-old guy with venture capital) called and offered Dan a travel editing job for a Web site based in New York. He jumped at the chance and spent the next few years couch surfing across the world for worthless stock options and very little money. Not one to let a bubble pass him by, Dan managed to turn his piece of Internet pie into two successful real estate companies that he later sold. In search of new adventures that would actually change the world for the better, he then joined the New York City Teaching Fellows Program and taught high school English to at-risk youth. The experience fueled an already burgeoning interest in public service and policy and led Dan to pursue work in progressive politics. Last election cycle, he worked as an editor and operations manager for Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15) in an extremely competitive open-seat race.

Adriane Brown

Adriane Brown is a Senior at Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts where she is currently pursuing a B.A. in Political Science.  Her passion for progressive politics and public policy runs deep, as she has been involved in several political campaigns in addition to having worked in progressive political media.  Since 2008, Adriane has interned with Campaign for America's Future, as well as the The Huffington Post, Air America Media and the 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee.  She is currently working for the Connecticut Working Families Party and interning in the office of Senator Chris Dodd in Connecticut.   Most importantly, she is looking forward to participating in this Summer's NOI Bootcamp!

Forrest Brown

Forrest Brown is a rising senior in the International Baccalaureate Diploma program at Central High School in Springfield, Missouri, and maintains a 5.0 GPA.  While a relative newcomer to politics, Forrest has been involved in social and community activism since the age of 13, serving as president of Students Taking Action Today since his freshman year.  An active member of his high school’s competitive speech and debate club, Forrest won numerous regional tournaments, and is a two time qualifier to National Forensic League nationals.  As state coordinator of Missouri High School Students for Barack Obama, Forrest organized more than 200 students statewide and gained insight into the challenges faced by those seeking to organize youth.  Currently, Forrest is an organizing fellow for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, recently leading the development of the PCCC’s approach to volunteers.  In addition to politics, Forrest is an avid follower of global affairs accompanied by an interest in international relations theory.  Forrest also volunteers for the American Cancer Society as co-chair of the Springfield All-Youth Relay for Life, the largest high school relay in its division. In February, Forrest became an Eagle Scout, capping off a decade in scouting.

Beatriz Caballero

Beatriz Laura Caballero’s most recent organizing efforts were through the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ New American’s Democracy Project 2008.  The campaign’s goal was to increase civic participation through voting, citizenship, and volunteerism in order to build power for the immigrant community in regions of high Latino, Asian, Arab, and Polish populations in Chicago and neighboring suburbs.  Beatriz successfully coordinated and mobilized voters in four key Latino neighborhoods in the South Side of Chicago: Little Village, Brighton Park, McKinley Park, and Back of the Yards.  She currently works with Instituto del Progreso Latino, a non-profit agency in Pilsen, helping local community members realize their own sense of power in order to effect change within their community.

Stephanie Chin

Stephanie Chin was born and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a fourth generation 100% Chinese woman.  She double majored at UC Berkeley in Political Economies of Industrialized Societies and English.  In over-simplified terms, she believes that the path to changing the world for the better is grounded in human capital development and individual choice.  Her long-term career goal is to be a philanthropist and executive manager of movements to equalize opportunity in the world.  She is currently a JD/MBA student at Emory University, and will graduate in 2011.  She has worked in nonprofits across the country in a variety of roles.  At Mary’s Center for Maternal and Childcare in Washington, D.C., she worked with data and grant reporting. In San Francisco, at Wu Yee Children’s Services, she managed a child care subsidies program.  She was the primary full-time staff member responsible for the Out of the Darkness Overnight in New York City, a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention that raised over $2.7 million during her tenure.  At Green Dot Public Schools in Los Angeles, she worked with the stakeholder surveys as an Education Pioneer fellow.  This summer, she is working at Mental Health Advocacy Services.

Pamela Coleman

Pamela Coleman is a NYU grad. She attended law school at night, and became disillusioned at Park Avenue law firm. She left to coach Division I college fastpitch, then left to help NH pie company founder with national dreams but on verge of bankruptcy. Their collaboration turned the business around. They expanded their product line, started national mentor recruitment program, ran national media campaign and grassroots marketing program, toured America on the “44-foot Piebus.” The business sold to public company (sounds $exier than it was.) and Pamela started own consulting company in NH where she volunteered for local organizations. She started Writing Studio in small art college. She lobbied her partner Lori to sell house and travel the world. They compromised with 3 months in India, where she learned to meditate.  She sold everything in 2006 so Lori could study classical figurative sculpture in Italy, where she developed Italian clients. Pamela followed 2008 Elections closely from abroad and donated politically for first time—to Hillary. She supported Obama’s nomination. Pamela watched Palin’s acceptance speech and immediately signed up for Camp Obama. She relocated to Florida for last 7 weeks of campaign where she worked full-time and volunteered as Campaign Field Office Manager in East Orlando. She reluctantly returned to Italy and later went to Albania as a volunteer to the youth party. She is persistently networking and applying for progressive jobs and excitedly returning to the US for Boot Camp!

Michael Crawford

Michael Crawford is a community organizer and online political junkie based in Washington, DC.  He has a wide range of experience in political advocacy and online organizing including stints as an organizer of the 2000 Millennium March on Washington for LGBT Equal Rights, Associate Field Director for the Human Rights Campaign and Communications Director of Energy Action Coalition.  When not rocking the internet to create progressive change, Michael is chair of DC for Marriage, a grassroots campaign to win marriage rights for same-sex couples in the District of Columbia. He is a contributor at www.bilerico.com, one of the top sites covering LGBT politics and culture.  He is committed to being part of the new solution and not part of the old problems.  Friend him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dmcrawford

Ashleigh Crocker

Ashleigh Crocker is a student at American University, where she plans to study political science. A resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, Ashleigh has spent the last four years working on political campaigns in central Virginia in a variety of capacities, most recently on Congressman Tom Perriello's race as Volunteer Coordinator and Deputy Data Director.  As a high school student, Ashleigh was the president of her school's chapter of the Young Liberals, a group that connected students from six different area high schools to work on local campaigns and volunteer for organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Ashleigh was responsible for organizing this group to work on a House of Delegates race, and they conducted 75% of the voter outreach for the campaign.  Ashleigh is currently working as a campaigner for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an organization dedicated to providing strategic advice and creating an infrastructure that exists to help progressive candidates run excellent campaigns and win.  Through her political work, Ashleigh has discovered a passion for rural organizing, and she hopes to continue with that work in the 2010 election cycle.

Sara Deneweth

Sara Deneweth was born and raised in Michigan, where she was on staff of several campaigns.  She earned a BS in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan and served on the national board of the College Democrats and was the Co-Chair of the statewide coalition.  In 2000, Sara moved to San Francisco.  She worked for a direct mail politcal consultancy for two election cycles  there. She has been the Post-Production Manager at Remedy Editorial, a boutique film/video editorial studio since 2004.  During the last election, she spent 3 weeks in Chicago working with the Obama New Media Video department, an experience that motivated her to reconsider politics as a career.

Joy Ding

Edgar Guzman

Edgar Guzman graduated from Roosevelt University in 2008 with a B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis on Latin American politics and a minor in African American History.  Growing up in a working-class immigrant home, an interest in politics was a natural thing for Edgar.  Living through the many disadvantages that his family faced because of their status in our country planted a deep interest in changing the way our political system works.  His involvement in the political system has been minor up to this point.  Edgar served as an election judge during the 2004 presidential primaries and the lack of voter turnout in his community only increased his desire to work towards political education in my community.  This past summer he canvassed in Gary, Indiana and Dayton, Ohio for President Obama’s campaign.  Being part of the historic presidential run and witnessing the power of new media during the Obama campaign really sparked an interest in learning more about the topic.  His professional experience thus far has been in the business world, but he is hoping to learn as much as he can at NOI’s BootCamp and hopefully begin a fulfilling career in the political process.  He is a current employee of Standard Parking Corporation and work in the Chicago Headquarters in the Procurement and Risk Management departments.  He is really excited about this great opportunity and hope this is my chance to begin a career in a field that he is very passionate about. 

Lonnee Hamilton

Bryan Hockaday 

Bryan Hockaday currently lives in Portland, Oregon where he works as the Scholarship Program Manager with the Black United Fund of Oregon. As an Air Force brat, he had the opportunity to travel throughout Asia while attending high school in Japan. He came to Portland five years ago to study Political Science at the University of Portland.  His background in progressive politics includes a position as policy analyst with Portland’s first openly gay Mayor, Sam Adams and an internship with Senator Ron Wyden. He had my first campaign experience this past election cycle with the Oregon Bus Project. His time with this progressive, grassroots non-profit was both thrilling and exhausting, and he hopes to work for another progressive campaign in the future.  Though he has loved his time in Portland, Bryan is ready for a change of scene and looks forward to relocating to New York or D.C. within the year. Other than his interest in politics and technology, he enjoys long walks on the beach, romantic candle-lit dinners, and crying after a good movie.

Asher Huey

Asher Huey was born and raised in southern California and has worked/volunteered on numerous political campaigns including Villaraigosa for Mayor, Abbe Land for State Assembly, and Davis for Governor. He graduated from American University in Washington, DC with a degree in Theatre and Political Science. As a student he was active with many issues and clubs. He was a member of his student government. Since graduation in 2007 he has worked as an editor at a political publishing company. On the side he has remained active as a volunteer for several organizations and has written curricula for the educational after school program Higher Achievement.  Apart from politics he enjoys theatre, cigars, burbon, antiques, small dogs, science fiction, good food and historical fiction. He has many guilty pleasures about which you may inquire.

Brandon Jass

Brandon Jass is a graduate of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and is focusing primarily on Education Policy.  He was most recently employed with the Institute for Public School Initiatives at the University of Texas System where he consults with school districts throughout the state about their teacher incentive pay programs.  Originally from South Central Iowa, Brandon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a secondary teaching certification from the University of Iowa.  He has previously served as an Americorps member, an educator and as an aid to a member of the Texas House of Representatives.  In his spare time he enjoys travel, film, politics and advocacy work.

Jennie Johnson

Jennie is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  She has been on the campaign trail since 2006 having worked in both field and fundraising.  Most recently she worked as the Finance Director for the Tony Evers for State Superintendent campaign in Wisconsin, Deputy Finance Director for Charlie Brown’s Congressional campaign in CA-04 and as a Regional Field Director for the Chris Dodd for President campaign in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Awais Khaleel

Awais Khaleel was the Vice-President of the College Democrats of America from 2006 until 2008 and was one of the youngest superdelegates for President Obama.  As a College Democrat leader, Awais oversaw an operation of over 70,000 students nationwide that aggressively lobbied lawmakers on legislative issues that directly impacted students in addition to working towards strengthening the organizational structure on individual campuses.  Awais has also served as an operative for a number of campaigns and organizations, including Progressive Majority, the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004, and the re-election campaign of Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle in 2006.  Most recently, Awais was the Deputy Field Director and Director of Training for a political non-profit organization that worked to elect President Obama and progressives on all levels of government in Wisconsin.  He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008.

Austen Levihn-Coon

Austen was most recently a New Organizing Institute Fellow at the Energy Action Coalition where he oversaw the social media campaign for the Power Shift ’09 youth climate conference.  Previously, Austen worked as a field organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Michigan and North Carolina.  Austen is a graduate of Middlebury College where he studied Poverty, Social Inequities, and Social Movements.  His thesis analyzed the geographic and demographic trends of the burgeoning climate change movement in the United States, uncovering significant trends in event distribution correlated to social institutions and social networks as well as regional and demographic barriers to movement expansion.  Austen has also organized campus campaigns focused on socially responsible investment, carbon neutrality, and social justice issues, as well as a national campaign demonstrating consumer demand for fuel efficient vehicles.  In addition, Austen has lived in Maracaibo, Venezuela and Cairo, Egypt and speaks fluent Spanish and basic French and Arabic.

Denise Marie Lopez

Denise Marie Lopez is an advocate for social responsibility in the media and statewide access to higher education. She has created workshops to teach high school students to use new media tools for social change, and is committed to improving youth voter engagement. Denise was a member of film maker Robert Greenwald’s, Brave New Foundation, a non-profit that specializes in producing documentaries on progressive issues and worked to garner interviews, and put together short web videos on the virulent anti-immigrant attacks by right wing politicians and media personalities. Leading up to the 2008 California primary elections, Denise worked on a youth voter engagement campaign with the Southwest Voter Registration & Education Project, registering first time voters at local community colleges in Los Angeles. Denise has also served as a Field Representative to California State Senator Gilbert Cedillo, specifically addressing the concerns of the communities of Boyle Heights and Downtown Los Angeles and organizing to build support around the California Dream Act. Denise was responsible for recruiting, developing and overseeing the Senate District 22, Young Senators Program, created to empower high school youth to become active participants in their community, while learning how legislation is created, passed and implemented into law. In 2009, Denise was elected to serve on the, Executive Board of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats as the group’s Activities Director. Denise wishes to purse an advanced degree and hopes to work towards framing the public debate on Internet and access policy.

Megan Lubin

Megan Lubin is a Pacific Northwest native who recently received her BA in Politics from Oberlin College.  In the fall of 2008, Megan worked as a Student Organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation, coordinating actions and canvassing low-income areas of Lorain County as part of a state-wide GOTV and voter-protection effort.  Her passion for politics and social justice led her to temporarily leave school in the fall of 2007 to work in Iowa as Senator Chris Dodd’s State Deputy Press Secretary and Iowa Blogger.  Megan loves anything tech-related and worked for the college’s IT Department while at school.   When not working or studying, Megan practiced almost daily with Oberlin’s Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, traveling around the region and beyond for tournaments on the weekends and during breaks.  In the past four years she has traveled to Israel, France, U.K., Mexico, South Africa, Zambia, and Malawi, and hopes to work abroad in the future.  She has interned and worked in political offices at both the state and national level, and looks forward to her forthcoming move to DC.  Outside of politics and travel, Megan loves music, the Northwest, and her dog.

Naveen Malik

Naveen Malik is currently Director for New Media and acting Chief Technology Officer for FreeEV.com, a cleantech startup company that distributes solar electric transport vehicles for free.   Her responsibilities include strategic design and implementation of new media for respective client markets.  Prior to her work at FreeEV.com, Naveen was the New Media Director of Illinois for the Obama for America 2008 Presidential Campaign.  In this capacity, Naveen wrote the new media strategy for the Illinois field operation, and managed a team of 3 people.  Her execution of the plan -  which synthesized all forms of new media; website, blog, e-mail, text messaging, social networking, video,  and design - was responsible for exponentially increasing the amount of contacts that the Illinois operation had, and for signing up over 10,000 volunteers for export to five surrounding battleground states.  Upon completion of the campaign, Naveen was selected to work as a member of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee in Washington D.C.  Born in New York City, and raised in Canton, Illinois, Naveen completed a B.Sc degree in Communication Sciences from the renowned School of Communications at Northwestern University.  She comes from a multi-cultural background, and speaks Urdu/Hindi, Arabic, and French.

Jeff Mann

Jeff Mann has been enthralled by technology since the second grade when be decided that learning to type was more fun than learning to write in cursive.  He got hooked on politics soon after, and ever since has been fascinated by the potential to use technology to impact the political process and effect social change.  Jeff first put these ideas into practice when running for student council at his suburban Detroit high school, planning a mass email campaign before discovering he was running unopposed.  In 2008, Jeff graduated from Amherst College with a degree in Political Science and Computer Science, writing an honors thesis on the dual impacts of technology and public policy on personal privacy.  After graduation, Jeff worked as a field organizer in Fairbanks, Alaska (the largest and coldest field region in the country), helping to carry Mark Begich to a narrow victory in his Senate campaign.  He subsequently moved to DC, and after a brief stint working with the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Jeff has been honing his internet strategy skills, recently completing a four month engagement as EchoDitto's Online Organizing and Communications Intern.  When not starting at glowing rectangles, Jeff enjoys music, cooking, and playing rugby.

Sahar Massachi

Sahar Massachi is a student at Brandeis University. Despite spending all his free time either editing the only progressive media outlet on campus or formenting a student mass-movement, he's secretly a Computer Science major. He's a Persian-Jewish Israeli American, a gentleman, and a scholar. Sahar's greatest joy at Brandeis was leading a student action that forced the admnistration to involve undergraduates in decisionmaking relating to the financial crisis. At the moment he's working as a Summer Campaigner at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Erin Mazursky currently works as an independent political consultant, recently returning from Albania, where she served as a strategist for the G99 party, the Albanian youth movement, for their parliamentary elections campaign. Prior to this, Erin served as a consultant for Corporation for National and Community Service, bringing higher visibility and participation to AmeriCorps.  She also served on the Presidential Inaugural Committee as a finance assistant for President Obama’s inauguration.  Erin worked as a field organizer in Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change in Orlando, Florida.  Erin also worked as a Special  Projects Associate in Georgetown University’s Office of the President, working on a capacity-building project for HIV/AIDS organizations in sub-Saharan Africa.  The majority of her work been focused in the anti-genocide advocacy and movement-building, where she has served in a number of roles.  Namely, Erin was the co-founder and Executive Director of STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, now a division of the Genocide Intervention Network.  Erin also served as a Board Member and Coalition Coordinator for the Save Darfur Coalition and serves on a number of advisory boards that involve youth empowerment.  She is an active member and the youngest Fellow at the Truman National Security Project and was an Aspen Institute Ideas Festival Fellow in 2007.  She is a blogger for the Huffington Post and maintains her own blog on politics, national security, genocide and youth empowerment.

Jessica Morales

Jessica Morales received her B.A. in Political Science from Rosemont College and a concurrent Concentration in Peace and Justice Studies from Villanova University. She has worked with a variety of organizations, including Catholic Relief Services and Campus Progress, on issues such as foreign food assistance,  comprehensive immigration reform, and food-to-literacy programs for school girls in least developed countries. Most significantly, she served as the co-National Programming Coordinator for STAND: A Student Anti- Genocide Coalition, the largest organization of its kind. In this capacity, she was responsible for STAND's national conference at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, their successful national fundraising intiative DarfurFast, and the 'SEAL the Deal' rally and civil disobedience at the White House. Her events have received coverage in the Washington Post, CNN, and countless regional and campus news outlets. A dancer since the age of seven, she has spent the last year pursuing a successful career as a dancer and choreographer.

Katie Naranjo
Katie Naranjo graduated from the University of Texas in May 2009 with a BA in Government and a BS in Public Relations. While at UT, Katie served as an officer in Student Government and University Democrats, while working on many local and state Democratic campaigns. Now serving as President of College Democrats of America, Katie continues to work for progressive causes on behalf of the Democratic National Committee. Katie is a proud Texan, and is willing to prove it can turn blue very soon.

Sam Patton

Sam Patton is the Systems Director for the League of Young Voters and League of Young Voters Education Fund.  He graduated from Oberlin College in 2005 with degrees in Film Production and English; moved to New York City immediately after college but rapidly lost interest in the overt commercialism of the entertainment industry.  Through a home town (Oxford, Mississippi) connection, he started as an intern at the League in early 2007 and has not looked back since.  Sam's commitment to social justice comes from the examples of his friends and family; the education he received in school and the education he receives every day, seeing the dignity of the working class and the undeniable opportunity for progress provided we treat each other as a real community. He identifies strongly as a Mississippian and feels a certain responsibility, as a Southern white man, to be an example for all the progressive kids in the South who feel that their cultural legacy must be to reinforce the positive ideals of Southern history - bravery in the face of challenge, the quest for redemption - while redefining progressive politics in the red states.

David Philip

David Philip started off as a self taught web developer running a web business. He then applied to be the Global Campaign for Education's New Media Officer and was recruited by them. Now being in the NGO world he finds himself with a strong technical (web) background but limited campaigning expereince.

Marisol Ramos

Marisol Ramos is a Program Associate at the New World Foundation. She works primarily with the Phoenix Fund for Workers and Communities, which provides organizational and development support to grantee immigrant rights organizations in the US and Mexico. Marisol is also a co-founder/webmaster of the New York State Youth Leadership Council and national leader within the United We Dream Network. She is an active organizer/blogger in support of the Dream Act and Comprehensive Immigration Reform. She is a daughter of Mexican immigrant parents and was born, raised and still lives in the Bronx.

Steve Romain is a current online and technical assistant at The League of Young Voters, where he is a content editor and blogger at 99Problems.org, a news and media portal with a focus on engaging urban youth by blurring the lines between culture and civic issues. Since starting one year ago at The League in an internship position, he has become an engaged organizer with the Brooklyn League, leading a successful 'Fight The MTA Fare Hike' campaign as well as an active journalistic voice. He is studying at New York University in the accelerated Bachelor's/Master's program in Sociology. Steve is an avid student of the effects of mainstream and underground media and an occasional stand-up comic. He loves Sour Patch Kids, New York City, rubber ducks and pints of Guinness (individually, of course).

Victoria Ruan

Victoria Ruan graduated from the University of Arizona in 2005 with B.A. in political science.   Following graduation, she was trained to be a field organizer by the DNC and former Dean campaign staff.  Victoria worked as both regional and deputy field director during the presidential primary (Hillary) and the general election (Obama).  Through her work on political campaigns she has been fortunate to experience living in places like Pahrump, Nevada and travel cross-country by car not once, but four times.  She has enough campaign trail stories to write a book and maybe she will someday.  Originally from Southern California by way of Singapore, Victoria has lived in the District for two years and considers it her home.  She’s always on the look out for cool things to do and see in the District and you’ll often find her blogging and tweeting about DC happenings.  She is currently working at Wired For Change and is excited to combine her field expertise with new skills she’ll learn at NOI Bootcamp.  Besides politics and DC life, Victoria hopes to one day train with the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) to be a competitive eater and enjoys decoupage and kareoke.

Jill Shesol

Growing up in Kansas, Jill Shesol didn’t really encounter progressive politics.  Four years ago, she swapped the wheat fields for corn fields and enrolled at Drake University in Des Moines – the heart of the Iowa Caucuses.  She quickly got involved with the Drake Democrats, giving her a first taste of political life in 2006 working for the Iowa Democratic Party, and reclaiming a majority in the State House and Senate.  This prompted Jill to study “abroad” at American University the following semester where she had the opportunity to intern with the Democratic National Committee.  These first two experiences showed her winning is critical, but it’s just the beginning.  Since returning to the Midwest, she has worked on the campaigns of John Edwards for President, Citizens for Harkin, and Obama for America.  Through these campaigns, she has been a part of every level from parade planning in Iowa to staffing the Boiler Room in Chicago on Election Day.  In the midst of her many non-academic endeavors, Jill graduated with a BA in Politics in May 2009.  She is just getting started and looks forward to a long and successful career in the world of Democratic politics.

Mohit Shewaramani

Mohit Shewaramani is currently a student at UC Berkeley. He was born in India, and moved to Southern California in 2003. He helped co-found Textbooks4Change and now serves as the Communications Director. He has always been a techie, and the integration of new media into grassroots organizing has allowed him to mesh his passion for technology with his drive for politics. He serves as the Technology Director for the California College Democrats and the Cal Berkeley Democrats. He worked as part of a group to fund and organize a Campus Camp Wellstone on the Berkeley campus. Before coming to Berkeley, he served as the Governor of Southern California Junior State of America, a position that allowed him to work with over 3000 students from over 80 high schools across Southern California. He is an avid fan of food, hits the Play button on his Zune first thing every morning, loves meeting new people, and has an intense aversion to Republicans.

Aaron Slater

Aaron Slater graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a double major in Government and History. He primarily lived in Lancaster County Pennsylvania throughout much of his life, where he has come to appreciate and understand various social, ethnic, and religious viewpoints. He has used this experience to work towards creating a progressive consensus among diverse groups of people. Active in political and social issues since the beginning of high school, he co-founded a current events/service club which met weekly and included a trip to Washington D.C. He also worked for various political campaigns including the John Kerry campaign in 2004 as well as the successful Obama campaign in 2008. Despite having to work full time to pay his way through college, he was also able to work with the College Democrats at Franklin and Marshall College as well as the Lancaster Students for a Democratic Society, the Lancaster Food Not Bombs chapter, and became the Administrator for a group called the Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice. In recent weeks he has become particularly interested in New Media, the internet, and electronic organizing, due to the ongoing crisis in Iran. He currently is participating in various Iranian support campaigns. 

John Spears

After graduating from college John went to work for International Justice Mission (IJM), an NGO that provides free legal advocacy for victims of abuse and oppression overseas.  While at IJM, John lived and worked in India and Sri Lanka, opening field offices and executing a gap analysis to identify human rights abuses.  His experiences both domestically and abroad have cultivated a strong commitment to work for social justice and empower communities to work for social change.  As an early supporter of Barack Obama, John took a leave of absence from his studies at Boston College when offered the opportunity to work as a field organizer in northeastern Pennsylvania.  Through his hard work and the hard work of hundreds of volunteers, Monroe County, a red county in 2004, went for Barack Obama by 17 points in 2008.  John lives in Boston with his wife Christine.  They are expecting their first child in June.

Or Skolnik

Or first became involved in politics in the suburbs of Phoenix, canvassing his deep-red Arizona neighborhood as a precinct leader for MoveOn PAC.  After realizing he had a passion for politics that didn’t end on Election Day, Or moved back east to Washington, DC for college. He graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in May 2008 with a degree in Government.  As a student, Or served as President of the Georgetown University College Democrats, building progressive leadership on campus and journeying as far west as Kentucky to campaign for Democratic candidates.  In between studying and campaigning, Or interned for several nonprofit organizations and consulting firms, as well as the Democratic National Committee.  In the real world, Or works for MSHC Partners, a political consulting firm that helps Democratic candidates and progressive organizations. When Or’s not working, you’ll usually find him sampling cheap ethnic food, reading at a coffee shop or tempting fate by cycling down the streets of Washington, DC.  He is a native of both Phoenix, Arizona and Brooklyn, New York.

Chii-San SunOwen

San SunOwen was born and raised in Oregon (part-time summers in Anchorage, Alaska). She just completed four years at the University of Oregon with an Bachelor of Arts with Ethnic Studies. San has two sisters, one is older and one is her identical twin sister, Lien, who attends rival state college at Oregon State University.  At the UO San has spent four years working with various student of color groups on campus, helping organize the Asian Pacific American Student Union. She served as the ASUO student-body vice-president where she ran two campaigns on campus, one on the prevention of taser use by Public Safety officers without student input, proper training, and more funding and the second to departmentalize the school's Ethnic Studies program. Her group won both campaigns and she will be in the first graduating class of the Ethnic Studies Department on campus.

Sabrina Sussman

Sabrina Sussman graduated from American University in May of 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in public communication and political science. For her Honors’ thesis, Sabrina analyzed the impact of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign speeches on media coverage, polling and public opinion. During the 2008 election, Sabrina worked for Neighbor to Neighbor, the Obama for America online social networking and outreach tool. Prior to that, Sabrina served as a Communications Specialist for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives. During this time, she focused on developing the Green the Capital Initiative, and planning a national speaking tour for the CAO.  These experiences have helped to feed Sabrina’s passion for campaign communication, message development and emerging new media.  In 2008, Sabrina spent six months living and studying at Koç University in Istanbul. While there, she focused her studies on international politics and intercultural communication.  Originally from Southern California, Sabrina’s family now lives in Rochester, New York. This summer, she is working as a Conference Manager at American University, coordinating long-term intern housing. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, and practicing her second language, Farsi.

Nate Tavel

Nate Tavel graduated with High Honors from Bowdoin College in May, 2008, with a B.A. in Government and Legal Studies. At Bowdoin he was an active member of the Bowdoin Student Government and various progressive causes. He eventually co-founded and headed Bowdoin Students for Barack Obama. Since graduating, he has worked for the Obama campaign as a field organizer in Michigan, studied Spanish in Argentina, and is currently working at a political consulting firm in New York City. Nate wrote his college thesis on U.S. counterinsurgency strategy before and after World War II. In the paper, he focuses on the Philippine-American War, the Vietnam War, and General David Petraeus’s counterinsurgency manual, as well as the potential of grassroots organizing as a means to defeat insurgencies. Nate hopes to pursue a career either in defense policy, international relations, grassroots organizing, or a combination of the three. He is also very interested in the legislative process and political campaigns.

Maria Tchijov

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia and raised in the Washington, DC suburbs, Maria Tchijov graduated with honors from the University of Virginia, earning a BA in Government as well as Eastern European Studies. Aside from her schoolwork, she spent all four years of college working as a writer and editor for the Cavalier Daily, the University’s student newspaper and interning at the University Library’s Communication Department. She also became actively involved with the immigrant and refugee population in Charlottesville working with the International Rescue Committee and founding an ESL and GED tutoring program for University employees.  After graduation, Maria moved to Chicago, where she worked temporarily in event planning before returning to the nonprofit sector with a marketing internship at See3 Communications and Change.org. Through both of these positions, Maria explored nonprofit social media outreach and marketing techniques.  Subsequently, she transitioned into a full-time internship position with Change.org, working as the Outreach Coordinator for the “Jobs for Change” site.  In her spare time, Maria enjoys baking, running and exploring the many fun things to do in Chicago during the summer.

William Winters

William Winters is a campaign organizer with ColorOfChange.org, the nation's largest black online political organization.  Prior to that he worked as a charter school's student recruitment manager in Baton Rouge, LA, where he was an active member of the city's progressive community.   A dedicated racial justice advocate, in 2007 William led a citywide organizing effort in support of the Jena Six.  In addition, he has advocated for equitable Hurricane Katrina recovery with the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, managed a progressive campaign for state representative, and captained a kickball team.  William was also a recipient of the 2008 Racial Justice Award from the YWCA of Greater Baton Rouge.  William attended Louisiana State University and earned a degree in philosophy.