Photo taken by Hedi LaMarr Rudd
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MY EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in International Studies, focusing on Cultures in the Age of Globalization. I studied cross-cultural interactions at the local, national, and transnational levels. I am familiar with five languages including Japanese, Spanish, Yucatec Mayan, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. As a board member I will always craft policy and approve curriculum that will expand our students' knowledge of the world. I am one of the inaugural members of UW-Madison's PEOPLE program, where I met a group of people from our community who were determined to support my education just like my teachers throughout my primary and secondary education. |
Photo taken by Melissa Austin Photography
MY OCCUPATION
I am the owner and illustrator of Sweet Sorrel LLC, which provides culturally relevant greeting cards and art. Currently, I am the Wisconsin Director of Rise, a student-led non-profit fighting for college affordability at the state and federal levels. As the Director of Organizing, I managed over 25 students statewide to organize and mobilize over 10,000 young people and college students across the state to get out the vote in the November 2020 election. The success o this initiative contributed greatly to the numbers of young people and college students who voted in our state.
Previously I was a Revenue Agent with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. I am a Certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt expert, a certification which focuses on eliminating avoidable costs, implementing cost-effective processes and improving efficiency. As a school district we are spending money on things that do not work for our teachers and for our students. It is time to move the funding to things that work in our communities.
Prior to working for Rise and the Department of Revenue, I worked for the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. While at the Club, I took on many roles. Whether I was a Junior Staff or the Accountability Manager (writing and reporting for grants), my main focus was providing programs and processes that allowed the children to reach their full potential every day. This meant working with our children's parents, teachers, and community. In my career, I have had the responsibility of securing outside funds for a non-profit organization; I have also specialized in areas of transparency and accountability, including data analysis and auditing for grants and programs, both internally and externally.
Photo taken by Melissa Austin Photography
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MY COMMUNITY WORK My community work started when I was teenager. I volunteered and organized many community activities, for which I was awarded the Joe Thomas Community Service Award and the Milt McPike Student Athlete award. As an adult, with other South Madison neighbors, I co-founded South Madison Unite!, a grassroots community organization created in response to South Madison's possible loss of a grocery store. We started our "Save our Supermarket" campaign, during which we successfully advocated for South Madison to not become a food desert. With neighbors, I surveyed the various South Madison neighborhoods and organized community meetings to ensure that the community had input during this process. Currently, we are working with the developer, the City of Madison, and with the selected grocer to ensure that we get development that is beneficial and sustainable in our community. |
Community Engagement
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Education
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