2009

Judy Neufeld is an alumna of the Emerge Massachusetts Class of 2009. Before starting as the Executive Director of Emerge Massachusetts in February 2010, she was the Manager of Recruitment and Community Partnerships at Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, the largest and oldest mentoring organization in Greater Boston exclusively serving girls.

Prior to immigrating to the United States with her family, Larisa was employed as a petroleum engineer and petroleum engineering research and development specialist at the Russian Oil and Gas Research Institute in Moscow.

Three years ago, Karen began teaching courses on racism, sexism, homophobia & domestic violence to police officers through the Quinn bill; she presently teaches a sociology class at Norfolk Prison through the Boston University Prison Program.

Jasmine is the director of The Progressive Project (TPP) and a student at Harvard Divinity School. The Progressive Project connects people and communities to political action and develops new organizing models and strategies.

Jacquetta is a founding member of the Society of Black Socialites, a social organization dedicated to the empowerment and upward mobility of young African-American women in her community.

Currently, Lucy works as a Legislative Aide to New York City Council Member Dan Garodnick, formulating his agenda, researching proposed legislation and preparing for committee hearings.

As the mother of two children under the age of eight, Marianne has spent the past decade conducting extensive field research on the topic of balancing pregnancy, parenting, & work outside the home-a topic on which she hopes to influence public policy.

A former legal aid attorney, Rebecca is dedicated to making justice more accessible. In 2008, she was selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an "Up and Coming" Attorney and was appointed to the Massachusetts Bar Association's Committee on Access to Justice.

Sharon made the decision to run, after years as an activist, after her first Emerge weekend. Her Emerge training gave her the confidence she needed to take on the establishment School Committee in her town and the network of support she formed kept her going through a tough campaign. In November 2009, she won a seat on the Medford School Committee beating three incumbents.

Sue joined the Emerge class when she narrowly lost her race for State Representative. Emerge gave her to tools to start her next campaign stronger than ever and run it smarter. In November 2009, she topped the ticket for Leominster City Council, beating out every incumbent.