Emerge Arizona Class of 2010

Alicia Cybulski got her start in Democratic politics when she searched out the Young Democrat table at the University of Arizona. She became involved in building the club and working on local elections in Tucson. In 2003, she was elected to serve as the president of the organization where the membership went from five people to over twenty. In addition to serving at her local chapter, she served a year as the Vice President of Finance for the Young Democrats of Arizona and during her tenure the Change for Change recurring monthly donor program began. She also spent a semester working as an intern for Arizona List.

Alicia M. Brown

If you have the ability to make a difference, why wouldn’t you? Alicia M. Brown is the Director of Community Relations for 35-year-old valley non-profit, Triple R Behavioral Health. Brown has also been appointed as a second-term Commissioner to the City of Phoenix Human Relations Commission.

Angela LeFevre

This is me on my way to Denver, August, 2008. I had been chosen as a Delegate for Obama and was on my way to the Convention, to cast my vote for Barack Obama – who would be declared our Presidential Candidate the following week. Very exciting!

My name is Angela LeFevre. I was born Angela Lewis on August 19^th (same birthday as Bill Clinton) 1948 at the Maternity Hospital in Leeds, England.

Arianne Kerr

Arianne Kerr is currently a Youth Career Development Specialist with Arizona Women’s Education and Employment (AWEE). Her current work involves meeting community and workforce needs through the development of educational and vocational aspirations of Phoenix’s youth at-risk.

Beth Weisser

Beth Weisser is running for LD 3 State Senate in 2010. Currently she is the Technology Teacher at White Cliffs Middle School in Kingman, Arizona. She is active in the Arizona Education Association and Vice-President of the Kingman Education Association. Beth is also an Arizona licensed real estate agent.

Brittni Storrs

Brittni Storrs is from Tucson, Arizona and is currently a senior at the University of Arizona majoring in Political Science.

Brittni became active in democratic politics in 2007 by joining the U of A Young Democrats. Brittni has served as the Treasurer and President of the chapter. Beyond that she has served as the Treasurer and Vice President for Programs for the Young Democrats of Arizona.

Daniella Yaloz

Daniella has been involved in advocacy work since 1999. In that time, she has advocated on behalf of the Arizona Justice Institute, the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, and AARP Arizona. While at AARP, she worked on numerous campaigns including No on Proposition 200, against the payday lending industry. Daniella was responsible for creating a great deal of the messaging for the successful campaign including the writing of press releases, distribution materials, fact sheets, and action alerts. In addition, she was responsible for getting AARP members, volunteers and the general public to take action against this harmful proposition.

Erika Kingery

Erika Kingery graduated with her BS in Social Work, with minors in Political Science and Family Human Development from Utah State University in 2008. After graduation, Erika moved to the Phoenix area to teach first grade in an inner city Phoenix school through the Teach For America program.

Fiona Heckscher

Fiona is currently a science teacher in the west valley with Teach for America. She holds a BA in Public Policy from Brown University, where she was a voting member of the board that oversaw the school's operating budget. She is new to Arizona and brings with her experience working on issues surrounding affordable housing and homelessness and higher education.

Georgette Escobar

Georgette Escobar graduated with a Juris Doctorate from Empire College School of Law in 1994. Before entering into private practice she was a management level prosecutor in charge of the narcotics enforcement unit. In 2008, Georgette moved to Arizona, where she became active in the community. She is currently employed by the law office of Leon Thikoll in Tucson Arizona. Georgette has been involved in numerous political campaigns throughout her career. Her involvement in politics began well over twenty years ago when she worked for the Mayor of the Town of Windsor. She is currently the vice-chair of LD 27 as well as an appointed PC. She is also the vice-chair for the Latino Caucus and a state party delegate. Georgette recently became Secretary of Democrats of Greater Tucson.

Jacqueline Delacruz

Jacqueline was a resident of Arizona in the 1970’s and 80’s before living in the northwest for twelve years. Jacqueline returned to Arizona in 2001 and has been a resident of Payson for the past three and a half years. She is currently seeking employment in the Payson area after spending the past nine years raising her daughter and caring for her elderly parents. She has been an active volunteer and a founding member of the PTO at her daughter’s elementary school.

Janice Blackmon

I moved to Arizona 7 years ago from Chicago, Illinois with my two children who are now18 (son) and daughter (30). I have recently became a proud grandmother of twin granddaughters who are 7 weeks old. I am currently enrolled at the University of Phoenix obtaining my BS Degree in Human Services Management and my expected graduation is July, 2010. I recently completed the Planned Parenthood's Local Progressive Candidate Leadership Program.

Jessica Jenkins

Jessica Jenkins was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Currently, she is an Enrollment Counselor with Grand Canyon University. She assists students with enrolling and preparing for the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree. Prior to Grand Canyon University, she worked as a Director of Education at Sylvan Learning Center. As a Director, she had the pleasure of meeting with many teachers and educators here in Phoenix.

Kathleen Rahn

Kathleen Rahn moved to Mesa, Arizona with her husband and 3 children in 1994. She is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and currently works at Pueblo Elementary School in the Scottsdale Unified School District. Kathleen is a past president of the Arizona Association of School Psychologists and is currently the national School Psychology Action Network (SPAN) coordinator for Arizona. Kathleen was frustrated by the lack of choice of Democratic Party candidates for the Arizona Legislature in East Mesa and that spurred her on to become active in what is now LD 19. She became chairperson of the LD 19 Democratic Club in 2003 and continued as chair through 2006.

Lilia Alvarez

Lilia earned her bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Arizona and is currently pursuing a law degree at Phoenix School of Law. Lilia brings her passion for collaboration, solidarity and social change to her work as an activist locally and internationally. Born and raised in Southern California, Lilia moved with her family to Baja California, Mexico at fifteen and experienced the bicultural reality of a cross-border life.

Lindsey Bell

Lindsay Bell retired from full time employment in 2008 after working 30 plus years in the non profit sector. Ms. Bell’s work experience was primarily in the administration of publicly funded human service programs including employment programs, disability services and behavioral health programs. Currently, she is volunteering part time with a small non profit transportation company (Territorial Transit, Inc.) that is working with other agencies in the area to establish a regional public transit system.

Lorena Silva

Lorena Silva has been politically active within Healthcare professional associations throughout the State over the last 10 years. The work included Legislation advocacy for bills that impacted the community as well as nursing working conditions. Lorena has also been part of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association Diversity Grant committee (HRSA) that provided opportunities for minority, underserved individuals to get opportunities to get a college degree.

Shums AbdusSamad

Shums is a graduate student at Arizona State University. Prior to that, she taught math and science to junior high school students. She worked on 2008 Democratic Presidential Campaign. She was a serving board member of Muslim Student Associations. In addition, she was a member of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She volunteered at Martin Luther King Day Services at ASU and Paz De Cristo Community Cente

Susan Benton

Susan is a second generation Arizona native. She has worked as an R.N. at the community hospital level as well as at a major teaching hospital in Texas. After working as a nurse for several years, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Government, Summa Cum Laude from The University of Houston, Clear Lake. She then attended law school at South Texas College of Law. Susan graduated from Law School in 1987 and began litigating medical malpractice lawsuits.

Tawanda Johnson-Gray

Tawanda is a Chicago native who moved to Arizona in January of 2004, after her husband was relocated with his employment. After a short lived relocation of her family to Kansas City, MO in 2007, her family moved back to Maricopa, AZ in 2008. Tawanda loves living in the State of Arizona. Shortly after returning, Tawanda suffered her fourth stroke within a two year span. The fourth stroke was the first diagnosis. Tawanda immediately began her journey as an advocate with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association for the people of Arizona.

Teri W. Conrad

Currently I work at the Juniper Branch of the Phoenix Public Library. I have worked in academic and public libraries, taught school, had my own consulting business, and ran for the Arizona Legislature in 2008. I hold a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada in Political Science and a Masters degree from the University of Utah in History. The emphasis of my studies was the American West.

Veronica Rivera

Veronica currently serves as the Communications Director for the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA). Veronica grew up in the Los Angeles area. She is a graduate of California State University-Fullerton where she received her B.A in Political Science. After graduation she worked for the U.S Census Bureau where she assisted in the supervision of the field data collection in three counties in preparation for Census 2000.

In 2000, she moved to Washington, D.C where she attended American University and George Washington University and completed two-years of graduate work in Public Policy.

Wenona Benally

Wenona Benally is from Kayenta, Arizona and is a member of the Navajo Nation. She is currently enrolled as a candidate in the Indigenous Policy and Law Program at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson, AZ. She previously worked as a law associate at the law firm of Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker in Portland, Oregon. Prior to entering law practice, she received a bachelor's degree in English Literature at Arizona State University and completed a Master in Public Policy degree along with a Juris Doctor degree at Harvard University in 2006.

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Emerge Arizona Class of 2010