2010

Michelle Wu is a student at Harvard Law School and the Boston Director of Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP), a national network of Asian Pacific Americans who support a progressive agenda. Born on the South Side of Chicago to immigrant parents from Taiwan, Michelle first moved to the Boston area to study economics at Harvard College.  After college, Michelle worked in Boston as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and would later use her business skills to open up her own small business in Chicago, a cafe and poetry performance space.

Carlotta M. Williams is originally from Columbus, Ohio. She is a graduate from Wilberforce University located in Wilberforce, Ohio. She is an active and proud member of the Boston Branch of the NAACP. She is a member of the Boston League of Women Voters and active on the Committee on Livable Care for the Homeless program as a benefit coordinator for the homeless citizens of Boston.

Rolanda L. Ward is a social worker and an adjunct faculty member at the graduate level. She has served as a research consultant on several academic and community projects. Rolanda serves on the board of Hale Barnard Services for Older People in Boston.

Minka vanBeuzekom has been active in the Cambridge environmental community since the late 1980s. Her career has spanned public health and the biotech industry and now she focuses on community engagement in local environmental issues. While her daughters were attending public schools she helped establish a new school within the Cambridge public school system.

Elizabeth Platt: A New York native, Elizabeth moved to Boston in 2007 where she was accepted for admission to the Women in Politics and Public Policy Program at the University of Massachusetts.   During her time with the program, Elizabeth gained an internship in the office of Representative Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge), one of the state’s leading progressive legislators.   For over a year, She has been with Representative Peter Koutoujian (D-Waltham) who is the House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Financial Services. In addition to her many roles as legislative aide, Elizabeth is the point person for all domestic violence and victim’s rights legislation coming through the office.

Deborah Parritt has been active in her community since moving to Natick ten years ago.  She is currently a member of the Natick Democratic Town Committee and a delegate to the Democratic State Convention.  As a volunteer for political campaigns, Deborah has worked for local selectmen and housing authority candidates. She also worked for candidates on the state level and volunteered for the Martha Coakley campaign for the United States Senate.  Deborah worked with the Natick Affordable Housing Committee to promote the establishment of a municipal affordable housing trust fund for Natick and served two terms on the Natick Cultural Council.

Puja Mehta is the District and Constituent Services Director for Senator Karen E. Spilka from 2^nd Middlesex and Norfolk, after serving as her law fellow.  She graduated from Loyola University in Chicago with a B.B.A. in Finance and was awarded the School of Business Leadership Award.  Puja was a law intern for the Illinois Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Devine’s office.

Christina Knowles is the State Director and Lobbyist for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Organization for Women. Before coming to Mass. NOW, Christina worked in the State House as a Legislative Aide for Representative Ruth Balser from Newton.  Prior to that, she worked on grants and program planning for Caribbean U-Turn, a Mattapan non-profit that works with at-risk youth. Christina has served as Vice President of Fundraising on the Boston NOW Board, and as Secretary and Press Director for the Norfolk Democratic Town Committee.

Rebecca Morey Jordan joins Emerge with more than a decade of campaign field experience in Newburyport and Amesbury.  She worked to help elect Lisa Mead, the first woman mayor of Newburyport. She was town coordinator for Governor Patrick’s and President Obama’s historic campaigns, and she served as campaign manager for Mayor Thatcher Kezer’s campaigns in 2007 and 2009.

Donna Macomber is the Executive Director of the Women's Freedom / Crisis Center in Brattleboro, Vermont.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and chairwoman of the Windham County Task Force.  She provides training to law enforcement officers and family court judges in conjunction with the Windham County State's Attorney's Office.