Author: Katie Usalis

Katie Usalis serves as RepresentWomen's partnerships director. In this role, Katie focuses on developing and overseeing program strategies that activate and equip changemakers to advance structural solutions to the representation crisis in U.S. politics. 

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that what we are doing here – in politics, in leadership, and in governance – is no longer working. There are at least ten major, violent conflicts happening in the world at this very moment. Democracy is legitimately under threat in countries that we’ve all assumed would never go back to authoritarianism or dictatorships. Anger, indifference, and dehumanization are sinking deeper and deeper into the skin of our own nation, and folks are out here choosing between life-saving medical care and keeping their jobs. But I promise, I come with a message of hope. 

Women around the world are standing up to challenge the status quo and demand a new way of governing, and it’s not about us marching around shouting, “This isn’t fair.” Women, in all their wisdom, know that the United States needs a system that actually allows the best and brightest to rise to the top of political decision-making positions and right this ship. It just so happens that we also believe many of the best and brightest are women. 🙂

I’d like to tell you about one powerful way that this is becoming a reality. Let’s rewind back to 2021.

Jennifer M. Piscopo is Professor of Gender and Politics at Royal Holloway University of London. She is a leading expert on gender and politics, especially women’s political representation, in Latin America, the United States, and the globe. She has published in over 30 peer-reviewed journals, including The American Political Science Revie ,The American Journal of Political Science, Social Politics, Comparative Political Studies, The Latin American Research Review, Latin American Politics and Society, and Politics, Groups, and Identities. She consults regularly for international organizations and national governments, including UN Women and United Cities and Local Government. Her public writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Ms. Magazine, among other outlets. Fluent in English and Spanish, she comments on U.S. politics, Latin American politics, and gender and politics for media outlets across the globe.

Vandinika Shukla is a gender policy specialist, technology policy expert, and educator. She has spent the last decade designing national gender policies and advocacy campaigns at UN Women, building public interest technology products and partnerships at MIT Media Lab, and founding organizations to amplify unheard stories for stronger democracies. Most recently, she led the launch of the Practicing Democracy Project at Harvard Kennedy School – a research, teaching and practice center on leadership, storytelling, and movement building– with world renowned community organizer Marshall Ganz.

For her work she has been recognized as a young leader by the G20, All Tech Is Human, and the European Commission. Vandinika serves on the Board of Directors for Fora Network for Change, Partners In Democracy, and Chairs the Board of RepresentWomen.

She is a reporting fellow at Tech Policy Press and currently works at Microsoft’s Democracy Forward Initiative on strengthening democratic processes and preserving access to trusted journalism to help build a healthier information ecosystem.

Keynote Speech

Namatai Kwekweza

Executive Director of WELEAD Trust

Namatai Kwekweza serves as the Executive Director of WELEAD Trust, an organization that she founded at age 18 in 2017, which focuses on youth leadership development and advocacy. Through the work done at WELEAD Trust, youth have built strong alliances around human rights, feminist solidarity practices, constitutionalism, participation in governance and leader development.

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Panel: Power Like You’ve Never Seen - Ways Women are Crafting a New & Improved Way of Governing

Victoria Pelletier

RepresentWomen's National Partnerships Manager

Victoria Pelletier is the National Partnerships Manager at RepresentWomen, and is based in Portland, Maine. She is currently serving her first term as a Portland City Councilor, and is the second Black woman in her city’s history that has been elected to this seat.

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Yordanos Eyoel

Founder & CEO of Keseb

Yordanos Eyoel is an Ethiopian-American democracy entrepreneur who is the Founder and CEO of Keseb. Keseb is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building an ecosystem for cross-country learning, collaboration, and innovation to advance inclusive and resilient democracies.

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Marjan H. Ehsassi

Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy (North America)

Marjan H. Ehsassi is the Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy North America. She is also a Future of Democracy Fellow (non-resident) at the Berggruen Institute and a Senior Innovations Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA at OSU).

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Jennifer Nadel

Co-founder and Director of Compassion in Politics

Jennifer Nadel is an author, activist and award-winning journalist with an unwavering commitment to both compassion and women’s rights. As the co-director of the UK-based think tank Compassion in Politics, Jennifer works to help foster more empathetic and compassionate politics across the political spectrum, working with over 100 MPs.

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Expert Discussion: Non-electoral Solutions - Addressing Violence Against Women and Mental Well-Being in Politics 

Sandra Pepera

Director For Gender, Women And Democracy, National Democratic Institute

Sandra Pepera is a career diplomat and international development professional. Before joining NDI as its Director for Gender, Women and Democracy in 2014, she spent thirteen years as a Senior Officer at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), including leading programs in the Caribbean, Rwanda-Burundi and Sudan. Prior to joining DFID, Sandra spent time in British domestic politics; lecturing in political science and international relations at the University of Ghana; and as a political analyst in the Political Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

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Senator Cynthia López Castro

Mexican Senator and President of IPU's Women's Caucus

Bio coming soon!

Natalia Herbst

Director for Latin America Strategy and Development at the Apolitical Foundation

Natalia is an Obama Scholar '19 who has over 10 years of experience in government at the local and national levels. In 2023 she was a member of President Obama’s Inclusive Economies Working Group.

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Expert Discussion: Electoral Solutions - Gender Quotas in Latin America & Australia’s Single Transferable Voting System

Vandinika Shukla

RepresentWomen Board Chair & Gender Policy Specialist

Vandinika Shukla is a gender policy specialist, technology policy expert, and educator. She has spent the last decade designing national gender policies and advocacy campaigns at UN Women, building public interest technology products and partnerships at MIT Media Lab, and founding organizations to amplify unheard stories for stronger democracies.

[Read More]

Jennifer Piscopo

Professor of Gender and Politics at Royal Holloway University of London

Jennifer M. Piscopo is Professor of Gender and Politics at Royal Holloway University of London. She is a leading expert on gender and politics, especially women’s political representation, in Latin America, the United States, and the globe.

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Kate Chaney MP

Member of Parliament in Australia's House of Representatives

Kate Chaney is Western Australia’s first female Independent Federal Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives.

Bio coming soon!

Natalia is an Obama Scholar ‘19 who has over 10 years of experience in government at the local and national level. In 2023 she was a member of President Obama’s Inclusive Economies Working Group. She currently is Director of Latin America Strategy and Development at Apolitical Foundation, where she works on supporting female candidates running for office, and PMO at Publica Lab, where she works with founders of private companies building narratives about businesses’ impact on communities’ development. In her appointment as National Director for Community Organizations at the National Youth Institute, her work focused on developing youth-centered public policy impacting +1.5 million youth across the country. This was done by focusing on shifting paradigms around government engagement with youth. She holds a BA in international studies (UTDT), an MA in development studies (IDS-Sussex), and is an Obama Scholar-Columbia University. She is a JICA, Fulbright, and Aspen Ideas Fellow alumni.

Michelle Milford Morse (M3) is Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. Previously Michelle was a member of the global health policy and advocacy team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Michelle was a national spokesperson and public affairs director for the LIVESTRONG Foundation. She also served as press secretary and communications director for U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett. As a global development consultant Michelle has worked with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Sesame Workshop, the UBS Optimus Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, mothers2mothers, amFAR, ICRW, and the University of Texas. Michelle earned a Master of International Affairs and a Master of Public Health at Columbia University, and pursued her graduate research at the Rakai Health Sciences Program in Kalisizo, Uganda. She is a proud graduate of the University of Texas. (Hook 'em!) Michelle lives in Austin, Texas, where she is the chair of the board of the Ann Richards School Foundation.

Jennifer Nadel is an author, activist and award-winning journalist with an unwavering commitment to both compassion and women’s rights. As the co-director of the UK-based think tank Compassion in Politics, Jennifer works to help foster more empathetic and compassionate politics across the political spectrum, working with over 100 MPs. Jennifer is also the Director of Compassionate Politics at Stanford University’s Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and in 2022 helped set up the Global Compassion Coalition, which works across borders to foster inclusive and compassionate politics on a global scale.

Jennifer's collaboration with Gillian Anderson on the Sunday Times bestseller, WE: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, offers a profound roadmap for both personal growth and societal change, drawing from psychology, politics, and spirituality. Her latest work, co-edited with Matt Hawkins, How Compassion can Transform our Politics, Economy, and Society, has been celebrated as a visionary guide to creating a more compassionate world. Her most recent book is How Compassion can Transform our Politics, Economy and Society, a collection of essays from leading academics and thinkers on the impact compassion could have on our world.

Jennifer is both a qualified barrister and an award-winning journalist, having worked with the BBC, Channel Four News and ITN, having her voice resonate on a global scale. Jennifer has spoken internationally about compassion, activism and the transformative power of women’s leadership, speaking to organisations such as the UN, Google, Apple and Bloomberg, and offering workshops that inspire change.

American-born and London-based, Jennifer Nadel stands as a beacon of hope and change, advocating for a world where compassion drives political and social action. Her work not only challenges the status quo but also lays down a path for a future where women's voices and compassionate leadership are at the heart of global transformation.

Marjan H. Ehsassi is the Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy North America. She is also a Future of Democracy Fellow (non-resident) at the Berggruen Institute and a Senior Innovations Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA at OSU). She is a skilled advocate, strategic policy advisor, and movement builder. She is a fierce believer in the integrity of citizens’ voices: the potential of citizen engagement, inclusiveness, and impactful government-led deliberative innovations to promote democratic renewal.

A lawyer, Marjan has worked to enhance space for civil society in some of the most complex environments, including Cuba, Iran, and North Korea. She completed her Doctorate in International Affairs (DIA) at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with a concentration on democratic innovations, deliberative democracy and citizens’ assemblies.

She has been a researcher on several citizens’ assemblies in France, Belgium, Canada, and the US, and recently served as one of four guarantors of the French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life and on the Oversight Committee of the G1000 We Need to Talk Citizens’ Panels. She sits on several boards, including Healthy Democracy, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), IPEC (AFSC’s International Programs Executive Council), the Meridian Council, and is an active member of Democracy R&D and the OECD’s Innovative Citizen Participation Network.

Marjan is working on her first book, Activated Citizenship, about the transformative potential of Citizens’ Assemblies (to be published in the summer of 2024).

Yordanos Eyoel is an Ethiopian-American democracy entrepreneur who is the Founder and CEO of Keseb. Keseb is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization building an ecosystem for cross-country learning, collaboration, and innovation to advance inclusive and resilient democracies. For launching Keseb in 2022, Yordanos was recognized with the “Extraordinary Leader Transforming a Field” award by Unorthodox Philanthropy. Previously, Yordanos was a Managing Partner at New Profit, where she was the first person in the organization’s 22-year history to grow from Portfolio Analyst to Managing Partner.

Yordanos is a Civil Society Fellow of the ADL & the Aspen Institute and a former Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. In 2017, Yordanos co-founded and served as the International Spokesperson of the Sister March Network that mobilized over 4 million people for the 2017 Women’s March. Yordanos serves as the Board Chair of PushBlack, the largest nonprofit media organization for Black Americans. Yordanos’ work and writing has been featured in TED, Fast Company, Stanford Social Innovation Review, NPR, and We the Possibility by Harvard Business Review, among others.

Yordanos holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Florida and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Victoria Pelletier is the National Partnerships Manager at RepresentWomen, and is based in Portland, Maine. She is currently serving her first term as a Portland City Councilor, and is the second Black woman in her city’s history that has been elected to this seat. She specializes in racial equity, community engagement and advocacy, and pushes for intersectionality in all levels of government. Prior to joining RepresentWomen, Victoria worked at Portland Empowered, amplifying the voices of racial and ethnic minorities as they influenced policy change within Portland Public Schools.

Victoria also worked as a racial equity project manger for a local government agency, where she collaborated with over 30 Maine cities and towns and helped to foster social change within their municipalities. Victoria is passionate about dismantling structures of oppression and leading her community towards authentic policy change. When she’s not working on RepresentWomen partnerships, you can find her listening to Renaissance and pursuing all aspects of Black joy.

Candice Kerestan is a political consultant focused on making American elections work better for voters both at home and abroad. In preparation for the 2024 presidential cycle, Candice has worked with numerous Democratic state parties on issues such as primary election design, logistics, and inclusivity, with a specific focus on ranked choice voting as a means to this end.

A Pennsylvania native, Ms. Kerestan has spent the past decade in Germany. There, she completed her Master's Degree in Political Science from the University of Bonn and served as State Party Chair of Democrats Abroad, the U.S. Democratic Party's state party for U.S. citizens abroad, in the 2022 midterm cycle.

Shifting the Paradigms of Power – A Global Movement

Now more than ever, people around the world are challenging the status quo and demanding a new way of governing that doesn't involve binary choices, zero-sum thinking, and aggressive competition. In celebration of International Women's Day, the third and final day of the Democracy Solutions Summit is focused on women's leadership around the world. We will hear from international women politicians, advocates, and thought leaders who are doing the work and having an impact. We will hear about both electoral and non-electoral strategies that have proven to level the playing field for women to run and serve. We will also hear from women leaders about real-life initiatives that are shifting the paradigms of power and crafting new and improved ways of governing. What a great opportunity to learn from our global neighbors and think through how we might adapt these strategies for the US context. 

Register now

The State of Ranked Choice Voting

Ranked choice voting is the fastest-growing election reform in the nation and, with two statewide and several municipal ballot measures happening this year, 2024 is the biggest year yet for ranked choice voting. Day one of the 2024 Democracy Solutions Summit brings to the table the women who have been, and continue to be, vital to this work. From US Senators to top women philanthropists to grassroots campaign leaders, we will hear all about the state of ranked choice voting. 

Register now

Madam President – Strategies to Elect our First Woman President

Despite women breaking barriers every year since the beginning of time, some nations, including the United States, still have never had a woman head of state. In the thick of primaries season with the general presidential election approaching, what a perfect time to ask ourselves why that is and how we can change that. Day two is dedicated to hearing from women themselves about what it's like to run for higher office in the United States, what barriers women face, and what solutions could remedy those barriers. We will discuss how ranked choice voting for presidential primaries levels the playing field for women candidates, as well as address the ambition myth, innovations in violence against women in politics, and how legislative pay could greatly reduce barriers for women to serve in higher office.

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Panel: Power Like You've Never Seen – Ways Women are Crafting a New and Improved Way of Governing

Time: 3:05 - 3:55pm ET

Now more than ever, people around the world are challenging the status quo and demanding a new way of governing that doesn't involve binary choices, zero-sum thinking, and aggressive competition. In this inspiring conversation, you will hear about several real-life initiatives that have shifted the paradigms of power by bringing inclusivity, compassion, and citizens back to the center to transform government engagement. 

Expert Discussion 1: Non-Electoral Solutions to Building Women's Political Power

Time: 3:55 - 4:25pm ET

As the United States sees more and more diverse women serving in office, it's becoming apparent that the government workplace is not always a safe and productive place for women. Women electeds not only deal with issues like sexual harassment and racism, they sometimes don't even have access to a women's restroom. In our very own US Senate, women senators didn't have access to a private "senators only" restroom until the 1990s. The existing "senators only" restroom was for men only. In this conversation, we highlight a few exciting and impactful programs to reduce barriers so that women legislators can serve and lead effectively.

Expert Discussion 2: Electoral Solutions to Building Women's Political Power

Time: 4:25 - 4:55pm ET

We round out our third annual Democracy Solutions Summit with a fireside chat conversation about two very powerful policy solutions that have a proven track record of removing barriers for women to run and win: gender quotas and the single-transferable vote system. We will hear directly from women experts whose countries deploy these systems to learn how these policy solutions work, and the impact they've had on women in their countries.

Introduction

Michelle Milford Morse

VP of Girls & Women Strategy at UN Foundation

Michelle Milford Morse is Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy. Previously Michelle was a member of the global health policy and advocacy team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Expert Discussion 1: Running for President as a Woman in America

Judy Woodruff

Senior Correspondent and Former Anchor and Managing Editor of the PBS NewsHour

Judy Woodruff is a senior correspondent and the former anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour. She has covered politics and other news for five decades at NBC, CNN and PBS.

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Kimberly Peeler-Allen

Political Strategist

Kimberly Peeler-Allen has been working at the intersection of race, gender and politics for over 20 years. Over the course of her career Kimberly has advised elected officials, candidates and organizations on fundraising, political strategy and coalition building to ensure that there are more diverse voices around decision making tables whether they are in elected bodies or civil society. Peeler-Allen is the Co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.

Expert Discussion 2: Ranked Choice Voting for Presidential Primaries

Amber McReynolds

National Elections Expert and USPS Board of Governors

Amber McReynolds is one of the country’s leading experts on election administration, policy, and innovation. In 2021, Amber was appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a Governor for the United States Postal Service.

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Rina Shah

Political Consultant & CEO of Rilax Strategies

Rina Shah is a strategic consultant, media commentator, & millennial entrepreneur based in Washington, DC. Prior to launching Rilax Strategies – a government and public affairs firm - Rina served as a senior staffer to Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-5) and Rep. Jeff B. Miller (FL-1).

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Candice Kerestan

Political Consultant

Candice Kerestan is a political consultant focused on making American elections work better for voters both at home and abroad.

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Take Action Panel: Addressing the Ambition Myth, Violence Against Women in Politics, and Legislative Pay

Erin Loos Cutraro

Founder & CEO of She Should Run

Erin Loos Cutraro is the founder and CEO of She Should Run, the trailblazing nonpartisan nonprofit on a mission to revolutionize the landscape of women in American political leadership by shattering barriers and redefining possibilities for women in elected leadership.

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Gowri Ramachandran

Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program

Gowri Ramachandran serves as deputy director in the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. Her work focuses on election security, election administration, and combatting election disinformation. She is the lead author of the Brennan Center's recent study entitled Intimidation of State and Local Officeholders.

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Erin Vilardi

CEO & Founder of Vote Run Lead

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project.

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Juliana Menasce Horowitz

Associate Director of Research at Pew Research Center

Juliana Horowitz is associate director of research at Pew Research Center, where she oversees research on social and demographic trends. She is the lead author of the 2023 Pew study entitled Women and Political Leadership Ahead of the 2024 Election.

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Glynda Carr

CEO and Co-Founder of Higher Heights for America

As president, CEO and co-founder of Higher Heights for America, Glynda C. Carr is at the center of the national movement to grow Black women’s political power from the voting booth to elected office.

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Juliana Horowitz is associate director of research at Pew Research Center, where she oversees research on social and demographic trends. She is involved in all stages of the research process, including designing and managing major survey projects, developing questionnaires, analyzing polling data, writing reports and presenting survey results. She has conducted research and written on various social issues, including racial attitudes, cross-national views of gender equality, and the changing American family, and also has worked actively on the Center’s U.S. politics and global attitudes research efforts. Before joining Pew Research Center in 2006, Horowitz worked at the Center for American Politics and Citizenship at the University of Maryland. She received a doctorate in political science from the University of Maryland at College Park. Horowitz regularly presents findings from the Center’s studies to the policy and academic communities and has been interviewed by numerous domestic and international media outlets.

Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead, the nation’s largest and most diverse training program for women to run for office and win. She first launched the program as Vice President of Program and Communications at The White House Project.

She has served as a Leadership Development Consultant for a range of clients, including Fortune 100 companies, global girls’ initiatives, and the U.S. Department of State. Vilardi is the co-author of the Athena CORE10©, an innovative set of leadership competencies for 21st century women leaders based on the latest research and gender analysis for the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College.

She was named a 2019 NYU Alumni Changemaker and a 2018 Champion of Change from UN Women NY. She has appeared on the mainstage at Personal Democracy Forum and the Skoll World Forum, on CNN, BBC, and Fox News and her work was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, New York Magazine, among others. She is an Executive Producer of Ann Richards’ Texas, a documentary about the late pioneering governor.

Gowri Ramachandran serves as deputy director in the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. Her work focuses on election security, election administration, and combatting election disinformation.

Before joining the Brennan Center, she was professor of law at Southwestern Law School, in Los Angeles, California, where she taught courses in constitutional law, employment discrimination, critical race theory, and the Ninth Circuit Appellate Litigation Clinic. Her work was published in Election Law Journal, North Carolina Law Review, and Yale Law Journal online, among others. She served on the Ninth Circuit’s Fairness Committee, which considers racial, religious, gender, and other disparities in the administration of justice.

Ramachandran received her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Yale College and a master’s degree in statistics from Harvard University. While in law school, she served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. After graduating from law school in 2003, Ramachandran served as law clerk to Judge Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Billings, Montana.