Ready to Run is a not-for-profit organization focusing mainly on middle school and high school girls to help them find their voice and encourage them to seek leadership positions. Angelina Keeley, third place in Survivor: David and Goliath and the Founder of Ready to Run, speaks on her big leap in leaving the corporate world to follow her calling of empowering girls and young women. Angelina shares how her non-profit was born and highlights the importance of having women in every industry, especially in politics, where they can craft legislation that can impact many people.
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Women Helping Women with Angelina Keeley
I was babysitting my granddog because my oldest daughter went to Cancún for her girlfriend’s wedding. He’s about three years old, a Goldendoodle. He’s a very cute and adorable dog. He loves our Boxer, Diesel but he’s a bit of a menace. He wasn’t in the house for more than five minutes and he went out to the backyard and came charging back into the house, except the screen door was closed. He went through the screen. I didn’t say he was bright. I said he was cute. I don’t know how he did this, but he must be a Houdini dog. He got into the pantry, ate two bags of chips, then he got into the flour. There was flour everywhere. We have to make sure that every single door is closed, everything is put away. He’s lucky he’s cute and that he’s my granddog.
We talked about the tips to being a successful entrepreneur and we talked about what it takes. It’s being passionate about your vision. If you’re not passionate, who else will be? You’re the one that needs to get people excited. You’re the one that needs to get people to buy in and to believe in you and what you’re trying to accomplish. You always hear me talk about how I operate. Believe, commit, achieve are the secret sauce that you’re looking for. We’re going to talk more about that and we’re going to see it in action. We also talked about breaking down your vision into goals, into bite-size chunks that are doable because sometimes we set a super high goal for ourselves and we can get overwhelmed. We can get discouraged because we don’t see how we can achieve it. You’ve got to break it down into smaller chunks, into these bite-size chunks that you can accomplish and get some results. When you see that you’re moving in the right direction, you get excited and you keep on going. You’ve got to set those goals into smaller pieces and watch yourself succeed.
We talked about being a risk taker. When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to take that step. You have to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. You’re entering the world of the unknown. You don’t know what to expect. You don’t know how hard it’s going to be. You don’t know if you’re going to be able to influence others, but you don’t stop. You go forward and you do what it takes to achieve your goal. You look and you identify calculated risks. There are certain risks that you’re going to have to take, but you have to look at and outweigh what those risks are in order to move forward and in order for you to be able to achieve your goals. Those calculated risks push yourself forward. The last thing we discussed is being open-minded. We don’t have all the answers. That’s okay. You’re not supposed to. You’re not expected to know every single thing about everything. It’s impossible. You do, however, have to be credible. You have to be an expert in your field. You’ve got to do your homework. You’ve got to figure out what you’re focused on and learn everything there is to learn about that topic.
When you’re an entrepreneur and you’re creating something new, you might not have all the answers. For example, if you have to build a system, you might not be technically savvy so you might have to find people who are. You need to understand how that system is going to operate and how that system is going to help you achieve your goals. What’s the link back to your vision that you need that system for? Those are the things that you have to focus on. You have to be open-minded to be flexible. You have to be open-minded not to be rigid in your thinking because it’s not all about you. You don’t know everything. Listen to people who have gone through similar things. Even if they’ve gone through things in different industries, that’s okay. You can learn from them just the same.
Don’t be stubborn. Don’t think that you have to be the one that knows everything. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. That’s the biggest challenge that people have. They’re afraid to ask for help. They’re afraid that by asking others to help them through something, it seems to make them weak or it seems not to give them the upper hand. That’s not the case because people that have the capability of asking for help, they’re the ones that get to the top. They’re the ones that succeed because they realize that it’s not just one person who pulls it all together. It takes a village in anything that you do so be open-minded to make sure that you ask for help. That was a great discussion. If you want more information on that topic, the Tips for Successful Entrepreneurs, go back and read. It’s available on the iTunes podcasts. You can download all of my shows.
Where you come from doesn't dictate where you're going. Click To TweetWe have an amazing woman with me. My guest is also a Survivor sister. I do have a lot of Survivor sisters on, but that’s because they are all so amazing. I can’t help that. I have with me, Angelina Keeley. Angelina is 29 years old. She grew up in Sparks, Nevada. Her mom is a teacher and her dad is a store manager. She has five siblings. That’s a big family and she loves coming from that big family. She is a Latina and proud of her Mexican, Salvadorian, Native American and Spanish heritage. She attended Stanford University where she earned a BA in International Relations and met her now husband at the graduation ceremony.
In 2016, Angelina graduated with her MBA from Yale. In 2018, she competed in Survivor: David vs. Goliath and she lasted 39 days all the way to the end and placed third place, the last woman standing in the game. In 2019, she decided to leave her corporate job as a management consultant to follow her calling to empowering girls and young women. She founded Ready to Run, the website is SheIsReadyToRun.org. It’s a not-for-profit organization with the mission to inspire and prepare as many young girls as many young women to run for leadership positions in their schools. We have Angelina Keeley. Welcome to the show, Angelina. I am honored to have you as a guest.
Mama C, the honor is mine. I’ve been looking forward to this. I’m excited to talk with you and to be here with you.
Thank you. When I saw your background, you’ve got this crazy resume from Stanford Student Body President. You worked at Google, you got your MBA from Yale, you worked as a management consultant and you’re starting your own non-for-profit. Tell me all about it.
Thank you so much. As someone who’s been watching the show for a bit, you are someone that I’ve always looked up to being an entrepreneur, being a woman in business and being someone who speaks her mind. I want you to know that a lot of the way I played the game, I look up to you so much too. I’m so excited and to hear you say those things are cool. Thank you for recognizing all of that. For me, my resume is my resume. I’m not my resume. Those are things that I’ve been lucky to do and accomplish. The reason that I’ve gone after my dreams consistently in my life is that even when I was young, I’ve always had deep gratitude for life. I’ve always felt that my time here is precious and I want to take advantage of it and that’s manifested itself in a lot of different ways. I feel blessed and I feel supported by my family and by my friends. Between the gratitude, my family and then working hard, all of those things have been my secret sauce for going after my dreams.
When I look at your accomplishments, you do seem focused. You do seem committed. I loved the fact that it is standing on the graduation line, you met your now husband. How did that work?
It honestly feels like fate. We were alphabetically placed next to each other at our department ceremony. We were both getting the same degree but hadn’t crossed paths during our time in school. We sat next to each other and totally hit it off and it’s history from there. This summer will be a few years since we met and we’ll be celebrating our wedding anniversary.
I saw the pictures on Instagram and I was like, “Did she just get married?” As I read it, it said anniversary. He’s in the military. He’s a marine captain. I want to thank him for his service. You being the wife of a marine, I can’t even imagine. That must be so difficult. Tell me about that.
Thank you so much. I’m so proud of him. He’s been in for about a few years now and he is going through a second deployment. Being a military spouse, it’s such a point of pride for me because a part of the Marine Corps community is amazing. It has some of the greatest people I’ve ever met, some of the strongest friends and some of the most committed people who have service deep in their hearts. It’s motivating to be around that kind of spirit constantly and to get to be a part of this family.
We are going to talk about Survivor. Have you always been a fan? How did that work?
Life is too short. You have to make the move when your gut and every fiber inside of you is telling you to do it. Click To TweetI am a huge fan now. My family has been watching since the beginning. I was eleven years old. It was in my living room every week and I was the only standout. I was the only one who was like, “I don’t get it.” I made fun of them in a loving way, but I never joined in until a few years ago when one of my good friends was on season 33 and I was totally engulfed in the season. That person was Adam Klein who ended up winning unanimously for Millennials vs. Gen X Season 33. Getting to watch through his eyes and live and die each week as he was on the chopping block and made his way to the end and played a great game, I got hooked. I fell in love with the game. If you watched the game, you think about, “How would I play if I was out there?” It’s from a social psychological perspective. It’s so captivating so I ended up watching twenty seasons in two years. It was something I did if I was washing dishes or going to sleep or whatever. I became a big fan of the show after that.
Your family was a fan all along and you were like, “I don’t get it guys. What are you watching?”
I called them all back after my first episode of season 33 and I said, “I’m so sorry. I get it now. I’m sorry I made fun of you guys for years, but I was wrong.”
We’ve been watching the show since season one and I say we loosely because I was a total fan from the get-go. The minute I saw it, I was like, “This show is fabulous. I have to be on it.” Everyone else was like, “It’s good. I’m not sure if I love it or get it.” It wasn’t like we all sat down on Thursday nights because it started on Thursdays and then it went to Wednesdays back in the day. We didn’t sit and watch it the whole time, but I did. I taped it. My mom even got me a computer game on a floppy disk. That tells you how long ago it was. I’ve been watching it since then. How many times did you apply?
I didn’t apply. Funny enough, some people are reached out to you. What happened was I was reached out to on Facebook by a casting agent. They were going through Adam Klein’s Facebook friends list and they found me. They sent me a cold message saying like, “Are you interested?” I asked Adam and I said, “Is this real? Is this a real person?” He said, “It is.” He was excited and he gave this ringing endorsement for me to casting, which is incredible of him. From the get-go, I knew in my core that this is such an opportunity and an adventure that I want to run after and see what happens. It wasn’t something I was expecting, but it was such an incredible gift that came to me, lucky enough. It was cool how it happened. It’s crazy.
Everyone knows my story so I’m not even going to go over the fact that I had to torment myself for years. We know you didn’t apply, you were recruited. When you got picked for the show, did you have goals set? When I look at your background, I see that you’re very goal-oriented. You know exactly what you want to do. You go after it. What were your goals for Survivor?
I made a bunch of mini goals for myself because I knew that if I went and said, “Make it to the end or win the game,” it would have overwhelmed me in the process. What I did was I made mini goals. I wanted not to be the first one voted out. No one wants to be the first one out. You’ve got to tell yourself over and over again like, “It can’t be me. Don’t let it be me.” That was my first goal and then it went on from there like make the merge, make the family visit, make the final three, try to win and give it my best shot at winning. That was how I chunk up the game. Ultimately, I wanted to make it to the final tribal. I wanted to give my best pitch as all of us do. I did make it to the end and so I was happy with that. Part of my goal too is if it wasn’t going to be me to win, I wanted to be excited and proud about who our winner was. If I’m going to lose to someone, I want it to be someone who I think is deserving and who I know it’s going to change their life. That’s exactly what happened.
Nick Wilson played an amazing game. He comes from a hard background. He lost his mom to a drug overdose a few years ago and now he’s working as a prosecutor. He’s had a hard life. He grew up in a trailer. He’s a comeback kid. He went to law school. He is such an inspiration to a lot of people in this country to show where you come from doesn’t dictate where you’re going. More than ever, it’s so important for people to see that the American dream is still alive and well. He embodies that in such a huge way and a lot of us from the season do, on both tribes. For me, I fell a little bit short of winning, but I’m so proud that he won. I played a tough game.
My goal is to put it all out there. I wanted to play like it was my second time. For me, that meant taking risks, not being scared, being creative and doing things that maybe haven’t been done before. I did all of those things. There are things that I could’ve done better. I have a humble heart and I can see clearly where I could have improved. I don’t lose sleep over it though because I think there’s no using your energy to dwell on your mistakes. All you can do is learn from them. I had a great time. I met amazing friends. I had the adventure of a lifetime. I learned a lot about myself and it was transformative and someone that I adore one. It was all positive from that perspective.
When you go out there, everyone is going out there with the same goal in mind. On your season, twenty people were vying for the one spot. Nineteen people were going to lose. That’s the way it’s going to work out. You said that you wanted to play like it was your second time. When you talk about risk-taking and playing hard, what did that mean to you? Define what risk-taking and playing hard meant in your mind?
Never drain your energy dwelling on your mistakes. All you can do is learn from them. Click To TweetIn my mind, it meant a few things. Not shying away from a big move, even though it might’ve been early. For example, not to go in the weeds, but I was forced behind the first boat. I pick Goliath’s tribe. If I would’ve been playing like it was my first time, I would’ve done what everyone tells you to do, which is lay low at the beginning. I’m like, “If I’m playing the second time, I have a little leeway now because I feel like a swap is going to come up so this would be a good time to get someone out who I don’t trust and who I think could run away with this game if he stays on too long.” That was me saying, “If it’s my first, I will do this more conservative easy path.” If it’s my second time, I would say, “I’m going to put the pedal to the metal.” It could get me to do the second and third, but I’d rather go out with gumption and with fearlessness than playing safe and then have regrets later on.
You don’t want to sit there and do nothing.
You want to have an impact on the game. There’s winning, but you also want to be an entertaining person out there. You don’t go with that goal but if you’re playing hard and if you are yourself and you don’t think about the cameras, then the result is good.
That’s the key. You don’t go out there trying to be somebody for the camera because that gets old quickly. Even if you go out there with that in mind, you can’t keep it up. On your season, how many days did you have to leave the island because you had cyclones and hurricanes? What else did you have?
We had the craziest weather. The TV didn’t even depict it well enough. We had two cyclones. We had two evacuations. One of them was for 48 hours. It was raining for almost the entire first eighteen days, day and night. I wasn’t dry until nineteen or twenty. It was intense and we never got our swimsuits either.
I kept saying to myself, “What is going on there? Why are these women just wearing their underpants and not putting on their bathing suits?”
We wanted to, but we never got them. That’s the first time it ever happened.
I was dumbfounded. It’s bad enough that you only have one outfit. At least have an extra pair of panties and a bra. What was the hard thing about the show for you?
It depends on which phase you look at. In the beginning, it was the elements. During the second part of the game, it was more emotional. For those who watch the game, I was on the outskirts for a while feeling ostracized by a lot of people and having to dig myself out of a hole. Emotionally, that was the hardest part for the second part of the game. Re-watching was a whole other challenge. I got so much blowback online. People were attacking me and saying terrible things to me by bullying. It wasn’t something I expected. I’ve never experienced that in my life. I’ve never been in the limelight like this. That was incredibly challenging and it came around at the same time that my husband was deployed. It was a struggle for me for a large part of the season that I had many people coming at me.
I don’t think anyone of us who has been on the show expects what happens after the show. All of us are watching the season unfold like the viewers. We don’t know what to expect. We don’t know what they’re going to air. We don’t know what story they’re going to tell. You have that social media issue and the backlash. I’ve been through it and you’ve been through it. What would you say to the newbies that are going to be aired for the first time on national TV about social media and help them through it?
You know you're doing something right when you have haters. Click To TweetBefore I get into that, as a little bit of a background for the audience who might not have seen the show. Part of the reason that I got such a strong response and got so much backlash is because the character who was me on the show was extremely polarizing. It was someone who was playing aggressively. I am a young woman and I think it was hard for some people to digest that because still in America, there are unfortunately expectations for how women, especially young women should act. My mindset was it’s a game and I and every other player should have the right to play the game as they see it. We don’t live our lives the same way that we play Survivor. That distinction is important and that’s where all of this came from.
For the newbies and for anyone who puts themselves out there, it doesn’t have to be Survivor, it doesn’t have to be reality TV. Even anyone who starts a YouTube channel or puts their voice out there. My advice is that there are going to be people who disagree with you no matter what you do. If you have an opinion about something, if you stand for something, people are going to come for you and have things to say to you. Sometimes it’s going to be ugly and nasty. One of the things that got me through and that empowered me, even more, is that you know you’re doing something right when you have haters. It’s almost a validation that you stand for something and that you’re not taking up air. You’re a person with opinions and there’s something to be said about that. That’s one thing. The other thing is, don’t seek it out. Don’t read the comments. Don’t read Reddit and all of those things. One thing I did was I went on the complete hiatus. I stopped listening to the podcast. I stopped reading the EW and all the articles. That cleanse was good because it helped me center on myself and focused on my family and my friends and people who loved me. I tuned out the noise.
That’s a very good thing for people to realize. It’s hard because our instinct is to read it. I didn’t even know that the site called Survivor Sucks or Reddit was out there before the show. As a fan of the show, I watched the show. I never looked into what people were saying about it because I never said anything about it. I watched, I enjoyed, I tuned on Wednesday nights and that was the end of it. All those things are out there. This is my message for those people who have to be haters. Be a hater and don’t tag us. It’s not necessary. If you want to say something and you want to post something on your own little site or whatever the case is, do it. When you tag us, that’s bullying. When you tag us, that’s hateful. Don’t tag us.
I tweeted the same thing. I said, “If you’ve got to say something, don’t tag me. I don’t want to see it.” That’s it.
I find that to be fascinating that people feel like they know you from a TV show. They don’t know you because you’re playing a game where part of the rules is to deceive people. That’s a rule of the game. You have to lie to get to the end so that’s not life. That’s not how we operate. People need to know that this is a show and that people are human. Speaking of human, what did you learn about yourself from experience? What was your big takeaway?
Playing the game, especially when you make it all the way to the end, is transformative. One of the biggest things that I left walking away feeling was I surprised myself in so many ways. There were so many times when I pushed myself past the limit that I thought was even possible. The mental toughness that I recognize in myself after playing the game was incredible. That was one. One of the next ones as you have to take risks. Life is too short and you have to listen to yourself. You have to make a move when your gut and every fiber inside of you is telling you to do it. That’s something that’s so transferable to life and something that has led me to my next step. The last one is to never take anything for granted. Having a roof over your head, having food and having the simple pleasures of a shower, we can’t let these things ever be taken for granted because they are precious and they are luxuries in a lot of ways. Those are the big three takeaways for me.
You don’t realize what shelter means until you’re out there freezing in the rain with nothing, no blankets, no nothing. The tarp is not working because we were clueless and nobody gives you a jacket even if they get off the show.
They are a hot commodity up there.
The jacket gate was one of my favorites. That was hilarious. When I look back at my experience, what I also took away for myself is that sometimes I felt when I was watching it, it was clear that you form opinions on people and some people are crazier than others and they do different things. I felt that I was a little less tolerant. What I took away from the show from myself to work on as a developmental need was just to be more tolerant. People have the right to do and be whoever they want to be as long as they are not hurting anybody. Go ahead and let them be it. Don’t judge because they’re not like us. You finished Survivor, you quit your job and you start a charity. Let’s talk about what your charity is all about.
Ever since I can remember, I felt called to empower girls and young women in every way, but in particular to help them find their voice, encourage them to seek leadership positions and anything related to that. For a lot of people, it’s apparent that across all of our political offices, whether you look at the local level, state level or federal level, we don’t have enough women in those seats. The average is about 20%. Our Congress now is 23% women and that’s the highest it’s ever been in our history of the country. That’s astounding. We are the greatest country on the planet and yet, we still have so much that we can do better in this area. My nonprofit is born out of that idea that we do need more women at the table in every industry, business, science, politics and everywhere. I focus on politics because I think it’s especially important to have women at the table helping to craft legislation, helping to make these decisions that impact so many people.
My belief is that the earlier you plant the seed, the bigger the tree will grow later on. My organization, Ready to Run, is focusing particularly on middle school and high school girls and reaching them in the way that they are best reached which is digitally, online and video and that kind of content. We’re inspiring them and then teaching them how to run her office and hopefully providing funds like micro-grants for the girls who might want to run, but maybe their families don’t have the $100 to make the campaign and things like that. We’re unlocking their political agency early on with the hope that later on in life, there are studies that show that they will be more likely to seek elected office later in life if they run at this age. That is Ready to Run in a nutshell.
The earlier you plant the seed, the bigger the tree will grow later on. Click To TweetIf they’ve had the experience of running for office in an organized way in either high school or college, then the likelihood for them to continue to want to build their background and take on leadership roles is more apparent for those people then.
Even if for some reason they don’t choose to go into politics, later on, it is also shown that they’re more likely to be more comfortable going after positions and industries where women are still not as represented like engineering or anything. That is the core belief. I want to build this pipeline and there are other organizations doing it. I want to be a part of the community who’s building this pipeline of future elected leaders. I’m someone who had the privilege of getting to serve when I was in college and in high school as student body president. I see firsthand in myself how transformative those experiences were. I feel that everything in my life has led me to be in this place where I can start this nonprofit. Even Survivor played a role. Hadn’t I got third place, I wouldn’t have the financial ability to make this jump now and not get paid for a few months while I’m building it up. Everything happens for a reason. I am excited to be working on this now. The sky is the limit. I have many ideas about the directions I want to take my organization. It’s such a blessing to get to work on this full-time.
You started it, you’ve got a wall filled with ideas and vision. I’m sure you’ve created your vision board and you’ve got your goals beginning to be outlined for your charity called Ready to Run. What do you do? What do you need? What’s the next step?
As anyone starting a new organization, whether it’s a business or a not-for-profit, there’s so much to do at the beginning. There’s so much help that we do need. For the audience, if you are someone who’s in education, whether you’re a teacher, a counselor, principal, superintendent, on the board of education in your city or if you’re the mayor, please reach out to me. I am building a grassroots network across the country. I need people who know their communities best and people who are already tapped into their school network in order to get to reach what I want. If you are passionate about this issue and you’re in education, please reach out to me and I’ll give the website information to everyone. That has everything that you need to get ahold of me. That is one. It’s building that grassroots network of educators. If you’re a parent or a guardian or if you are a young woman or girl reading this and you’re interested in running, also check out the website. I want to get you on our list so that when we do drop our content, you’re the first one to hear about it and be one of the first users to use our videos and our templates and everything that we’re going to have to get you ready to run.
Are you creating videos and templates to help them in their campaign?
I’m creating easy to use straightforward digital toolkit for girls who can use it. It’s going to teach you everything you need to know to create your campaign all the way from the speech to the posters, how to ask for help and everything. It’s going to make campaigning simple and straightforward.
That’s great because a lot of girls don’t know where to start. They don’t know what they don’t know. Having those templates available to them is going to be the key. Angelina, how do people get in touch with you? What is that website again?
The website is SheIsReadyToRun.org. The last thing that I’ll say in terms of how to help out as they’re starting to take it off the ground. We do have a link on the right-hand side for a donation pledge now. If you get any amount, you can be a founding donor. We’re going to be recognizing all of our founding donors on the website. Even $5 will make a huge difference as we get going. Please take a look and any help counts. Thank you for checking that out.
Angelina, I want to thank you again for sharing your story with us. You have done so many things and it’s inspiring for people to hear your story and learn about the fabulous things that you’re doing. Your focus on young girls is amazing. It will truly change the world. Those of you who are wanting to get involved, help out this great charity. Go to SheIsReadyToRun.org. A founding donor only costs you $5, press that button and donate. Thank you again, Angelina. The work you’re doing is great.
Thank you so much, Mama C. It’s been a pleasure talking. I can’t wait until we get to meet this summer. I’m going to give you a huge hug.
We talked about so many different things. When we were talking about the successful entrepreneur, we saw what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur from my guest. Angelina has a vision. She put a plan in place to achieve that vision. She was a management consultant. She quit her job to focus on something that she truly believes in. It’s something that in her heart she knows will help other people. That’s not easy. It’s a big risk. There are going to be bumps along the way and she’s going to figure those things out. The bottom line is that she’s committed to her vision and doing what it takes to make it a reality. That is fabulous. I love talking to people that have put in place the things that we talk about on this show. There are so many more tips on how to improve your skills, whatever those are in creating your vision. Go to my website. You can look at my book, Plant Your Flag: The Seven Secrets to Winning.
We’re going to have another great show for you. This show is all about you. My purpose is to pull together and discuss things that are on your minds, to talk about the things that all of us go through, that all of us may be struggling with and to find ways to help us through them. How do we become more successful in all aspects of our lives? It’s not easy because we face challenges every day. We face social media issues every day, but we don’t let those things define us. We make sure that we look at what it takes to be successful. We make sure that we find what is in our heart. Create that vision and make things happen. That’s what makes us successful. Follow me on Instagram at @CarolynRivera14. If you are ready to ignite your will to win, you’re going to take that first step towards your own personal growth. If you’re ready to push yourself further than you ever thought possible or maybe you want to reprogram your mindset for winning, check out my website, CarolynJRivera.com and send me a message. My passion is to help people succeed because we’re faced with challenges every day and sometimes, we need that extra little push. Believe, commit, achieve is the secret sauce you’re looking for.
Important Links:
- Tips for Successful Entrepreneurs – Past episode
- iTunes – The Carolyn Rivera Show
- SheIsReadyToRun.org
- Adam Klein
- Nick Wilson
- Survivor Sucks
- Donation pledge – She Is Ready To Run
- Plant Your Flag: The Seven Secrets to Winning
- @CarolynRivera14 – Instagram
About Angelina Keeley
Ready to Run is a non-partisan non-profit organization founded with a single mission: to close the gender gap in U.S. politics.
We know that when girls run for student government or seek leadership positions in school, their propensity to run for office later in life increases immensely — by seven times to be exact. We are on a mission to unlock each girl’s political ambition and potential early on, so she can find her voice—and use it to change the world.
Starting in 2019, we are building out digital content, workshops, and a community base that will teach young women how to run for student government in five easy to follow steps [—and how to win!]. We want to encourage and inspire the leaders of the future because research has shown that sometimes girls need an extra nudge.
Ultimately, we aim to reach gender parity in elected positions across the United States. At the local, state, and federal levels, female representation averages around 20%, while women make up approximately 52% of the population. What’s more, when you take into account representation of women of color, these numbers drop even lower: 8.8% of the House of Representatives, 4% of the Senate, and 6.2% of state legislatures.
The good news is when women run we win at equal rates. Having diverse, representative voices at the table is critical to creating legislation that represents us all.