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Our Team

RepresentWomen is a close-knit research-based advocacy group that works to increase women's representation and leadership by identifying and promoting systems-based reforms to the recruitment processes, voting systems, and legislative practices used in the United States so that more women can RUN, WIN, SERVE & LEAD! To achieve our goal of reaching gender parity for women in politics, RepresentWomen partners with allies across the country and political spectrum who help to amplify our work by putting what we've researched into practice. 

Board

Vandinika Shukla
Board Chair & Gender Policy Specialist
Vandinika Shukla is a gender policy specialist, civic technologist, and educator activating youth to bridge divides and solve our biggest challenges together. She has spent the last decade designing national gender policies...
Rina Shah Bharara
Board Secretary & Millennial Entrepreneur
Rina Shah Bharara 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...
Michelle C. Whittaker
Board Treasurer & Communications Specialist
As a communications strategist, Michelle has over 15 years of experience in for-profit and nonprofit communications. Her expertise is in strategic messaging, constituency engagement, online engagement, and media outreach. Prior to joining DIEF, Michelle was the...
Mehrnaz Teymourian
Board Member & International Development Expert
Mehrnaz Teymourian is an international development expert. During her 30 year tenure at the World Bank she designed strategies and multi-sectoral programs to help communities respond to development and growth challenges. Mehrnaz’s...
Onida Coward Mayers
Board Member & MiRam Group VP
Onida Coward Mayers is Vice President of the MiRam group, former Director for New York City’s Voter Assistance at the Campaign Finance Board, and an award-winning communications executive. For the past 10...
Amber McReynolds
Board Member & National Vote At Home Executive
Amber McReynolds is one of the country’s leading experts on election administration and policy. During her career, she has proven that designing pro-voter policies, voter-centric processes, and implementing technical innovations will improve...
Dania Korkor
Board Member & Counsel to FEC Commissioner
Dania serves as Counsel to FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. Previously she worked as staff attorney at FairVote while teaching at the UDC David A Clarke School of Law. She has served as...
Jodie Rubenstein
Board Member & Development Director
Jodie is the Director of Development at the Patriotic Millionaires and until recently served as Senior Manager of Individual Giving at Campaign Legal Center. Trained as a social worker, Jodie has an...
Susannah Wellford
Board Member & Running Start CEO and Founder
Susannah Wellford is a lawyer and founder of two organizations designed to raise the political voice of young women in America. In spring 2007, Ms. Wellford founded Running Start to inspire young...
Lindsey Williams Drath
Board Member & Forward Party CEO
Lindsey Williams Drath serves as the CEO of the Forward Party where she is responsible for taking the Forward Party from early-stage to a sustainable, durable enterprise with a steady and permanent...

Staff

Cynthia Richie Terrell
Executive Director and Founder
Cynthia Richie Terrell is the founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, a founding member of the ReflectUS coalition, and an outspoken advocate for institutional reforms to advance women’s representation and leadership in the...
Courtney Lamendola
Research Director
Courtney Lamendola (she/her) is the Director of Research at RepresentWomen. As an inaugural member of the RepresentWomen team, Courtney co-led the development of RepresentWomen's fundraising efforts, strategic plan, and internship program. Some of her...
Katie Usalis
Partnerships Director
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....
Michele McCrary
Operations Manager
Michele McCrary (she/her) is currently serving as the Operations Manager at RepresentWomen. She is a passionate advocate for racial and gender parity. With over a decade of experience in Banking and Operations, Michele boldly decided...
Lan Nguyen
HR Consultant
Lan Nguyen is a long-standing organizational development expert with nearly 20 years of leading non-profit and investor-owned organizations. She is an experienced strategic advisor for non-profit organizations, specializing in start-ups, spin-offs, and...
Victoria Pelletier
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...
Fatma Tawfik
International Research Manager
Fatma Tawfik is the International Research Manager at RepresentWomen. Driven by her passion for politics, international relations, gender equality, and human rights, Fatma pursued her education and graduated with a political science degree...
Marvelous Maeze
Research Associate
Nigeria-born, Texas-raised Marvelous Maeze (she/her) works as a Research Associate at RepresentWomen. She graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Arts in Human Rights Studies. She is also a proud alumna of New...
Steph Scaglia
Research Associate
Steph Scaglia (she/her), a research associate, is based in New York City and originally from the Bay Area, California. She holds an MA in political theory from Columbia University and a BA...
Alissa Bombardier Shaw
Outreach Manager
Alissa Bombardier Shaw is the Outreach Manager at RepresentWomen. She launches our research reports with targeted outreach to our allies around the world, supports public relations work and social media engagement, and...
Ria Deshmukh
Digital Engagement Associate
Ria Deshmukh recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Criminology and Sociology. Ria believes that education should be used to create lasting change. She used her education and passion to help...
Suzzanna Rogers
Communications Consultant
Suzzanna Rogers is a consultant for RepresentWomen focusing on digital engagement and videography. She has a wide range of accomplished education in digital design, video, and media and an array of experience...

Interns and Fellows

Ariana Maaia
Research Intern
Ariana Maaia is a research intern who is currently getting her Master's in Social Work from the University of Kentucky. Ariana is passionate about women's rights, criminal justice reform, and dismantling systems...
Leilani Nti
Research Intern
Leilani Nti is an undergraduate research intern who is currently majoring in International Studies and French Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She was recently awarded a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship...
Geethika Mannaperuma
IREX CSP Fellow
Geethika Mannaperuma is an IREX exchange fellow of the Community Solutions Program funded by the US Department of State. She is a legal practitioner in Sri Lanka and holds an LL. B...
Wissal Nada Sengouga
IREX CSP Fellow
Wissal Nada Sengouga is an Algerian Medical Doctor who is passionate about empowering women and youth in her community, using social media for science communication, and challenging the status quo in her...
Jewelene Meneses
Communications Intern
Miami native Jewelene Meneses is a communications intern pursuing her Master's in Global Security from Johns Hopkins University. Passionate about diplomacy, energy, social equity, and the connections between poverty and corruption. She is...