To me, great leadership is demonstrated by the ability to inspire and empower others to utilize their strengths for movement and progress. I am a strong believer that no matter who someone is or what their perceived weaknesses are, every single person can mobilize and be a leader with the proper encouragement and mentorship. I have been fortunate to have held a variety of leadership roles from volunteer recruiter, to facilitator of orientation leader training in college, to youth program manager in my professional experience, to committee chair for a political organization. Most recently I have served on a steering committee to write and campaign for a local ballot initiative as well as a fellow for a national organization empowering women in politics. In each of these positions, a large part of my focus has been working with others to help them realize their own potential. As a part of new student programs at my university, I was responsible for facilitating conversations in groups, as well as one on one settings, in order to ensure leadership growth throughout a multi-month training process new leaders go through. I was able to inspire first year aspiring leaders to embrace their unique strengths and differences. As a manager at my previous job, I led some professional development, but I frequently preferred to empower teachers to lead training on areas of education and best classroom practices that were their passions and strengths. I very much believe that learning amongst peers is one of the best ways to have a powerful community. This also applies to my committee with the Democratic party. I have recruited an incredibly diverse group of people with varying passions and policy interests, which has allowed us to do a wide range of advocacy work. Each individual has been connected with local coalitions to flex their leadership and help us be the strongest committee possible. In my role as a fellow for IGNITE national, representing my state, I have had the opportunity to work with over a hundred young women and non-binary students in high school and college who are interested in political involvement. I am especially proud of a specific group of young women whom I have empowered to start their own college club, leading others to incite change in their campus community. A great leader should always be looking for opportunities to move out of the spotlight in order to lift others up and empower them to fulfill their greatest potential. That is what I strive to do every day in each of the roles I've had the privilege of holding.

Activism is my community. Over the last several years, I have participated in a variety of activist spaces. I co-drafted local Seattle ballot initiative 135 to bring permanently affordable, social housing to the city, and am now on the campaign steering committee. I have spoken in front of the state senate to stop a bill that would cause harm to my unhoused colleagues at work. I launched a weekly newsletter to engage over 40 young women and non-binary students in high school and college in legislative advocacy. I lead a committee in writing a legislative priority agenda as the policy chair for a volunteer political organization. In each of these examples, community was at the center of the work. None of the activism in which I have partaken would have been possible without the hundreds of amazing individuals with whom I have worked. Beyond the work we have done together, each person I have met has taught me something. I have learned privilege and status, how to step back and listen, the power of mutual aid and resistance, the necessity of system transformation, and above all, the kindness of others. I have learned that those seen as the “radically” progressive members of our society are not radical at all. They simply have an excess of kindness and empathy in their heart for all human beings. They want justice and liberation for all. Each new experience brings a new meaning and community to my life, which all make me ever more motivated to create the change that is needed.

Wind rustling against a tent and leaves, dirt under my nails, blisters on my toes, no other humans in site. Backpacking is the hobby that gives me the reflection, serenity, calm, escape that I need to continue working towards the betterment of our society. Working in social justice can be exhausting, draining, and all-consuming. I love my work, I love what I study, but without escape, it can become a daunting and never-ending task. Being in the wilderness, either alone or with a close friend, is reinvigorating. I love everything about backpacking. I love the way the cold air feels on my sweaty forehead as the sun sets. I love eating the same cup of noodles, and savoring it after a hard day of hiking. I love the views, the conversations, the smells of pine, and the solitude. I even love the pain, that eases when you finishing setting up camp and can rest for the day. I have had the privilege of backpacking all over the United States, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Each and every trip brings new insights, adventures, and excitement. Backpacking opens up the natural world and is the hobby that emboldens me to be me.

We live in an imperfect society, but one that could be improved with work and vision. Other cultures and countries give me this hope. I spent four years living abroad between undergraduate and graduate school, learning from and about other cultures. I felt the familial, community-based understanding that was practiced in every day life and in political change movements. The solidarity and interconnectedness practiced by change-makers in Latin America has shown me that anything is possible when you have the will of the people behind a movement. I had the privilege of witnessing the Chilean social uprising firsthand while living in Santiago. The ability of the citizens to mobilize the country and the government to re-write the constitution to eliminate dictatorship era principles was inspiring. They practiced love within community and were successful in starting to build a new Chile. It was social mobilization and democracy in action. Since returning home, I have worked in housing and homelessness advocacy, doing research into models of housing from other parts of the world. From Singapore, Vienna, Paris, Toronto, Uruguay, and so many other countries around the world, housing is treated as an essential human right. These models show us that it is possible in our society to allow people affordable, high quality places to live. We do not need to struggle with an ever growing homelessness crisis. We do not need to continue displacing Black and brown communities from their neighborhoods and homes. We can envision a better and more hopeful model of housing. A model in which all people a guaranteed a safe and secure home. A final example of a culture giving me hope is that of New Zealand. They have been making history with their inclusion and equitable representation of women and Maori people in government and leadership. By taking all voices into account and forming representative government, we can strive for a better and more just world. I am hopeful. While our society continues to deteriorate, and we are forced to look at the reality that the US is in crisis, I am hopeful that we can and will begin to pull visionary ideas from other cultures and countries that will allow us to become a better and more welcoming society for all people.

One of my earliest and most formative experiences with community service took place when I was a senior in high school. As a politically curious 18-year old, I decided to sign up to volunteer with the Washington United for Marriage campaign to legalize LGBTQ+ marriage equality in my state. From September through November of 2012, I spent dozens of hours canvassing, phone-banking, educating, and recruiting more volunteers to forward the cause of marriage equality, an issue deeply important to me. During this experience, I spent many hours surrounded by individuals with incredibly warm hearts, hope for the future, and resilience in the face of discrimination and hate. The most impactful experience I had (which ended up sparking my love for political organizing) was during a phonebank. I was speaking to a person from one of the more rural parts of the state who on first contact, was opposed to the concept of marriage equality. However, thanks to the trainings I had gone through, I was well-prepared to have an extensive conversation. We talked for nearly 20 minutes going back and forth. By the end of the conversation the person had really heard what I had to say and committed to vote in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. It was such an incredible win. Another powerful experience I have had in community service has been through coalition work. Within the past year, I joined a coalition called House Our Neighbors, aimed at working towards both long-term and short-term ways to protect the unhoused residents in Seattle. The coalition formed of people across the city: those with lived experience with homelessness, service providers, and mutual aid organizations. We worked together from scratch to develop a methodology for mutual aid as a way to address short term needs, while dreaming of long-term political solutions to get people into safe and secure, deeply affordable housing. This experience started as a volunteer opportunity in which I served more hours from May through September of 2021 than I can count. This experience was particularly impactful because it was not a savior-oriented organization. Being a coalition, we were working alongside those most impacted by homelessness, instead of for them. This way we get real perspectives and learn what is actually needed and desired, as opposed to many volunteer organizations which decide what to do without taking into consideration the requests of the clientele they are serving. This experience has changed my life in other ways as well. Through working with this coalition I discovered a passion for working in homelessness political spaces, and was lucky enough to get hired by one of the partner organizations to further my work in the space. Additionally, it helped me determine my concentration within my graduate program, focusing on social policy and housing policy. Community service has been a primary driver in my life from a young age and has directed my professional path one experience at a time. If it weren't for these experiences, I would likely not be where I am today, studying policy in order to make service to my community a lifelong career.

The most impactful way I have witnessed generosity in action is through the power of mutual aid. The most common definition of mutual aid is "a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit." In a constantly changing world and political atmosphere, the working class and poor live a turbulent lifestyle, never knowing how and when they might lose access to the basic, everyday resources they rely upon to survive. Mutual aid is a response to this. When the government doesn't step up to support those in the most need, mutual aid organizations, typically run by everyday people who have their own lived experience with oppression, come to support. This is a form of generosity that goes above and beyond. In my time of political organizing, I have collaborated with many people who work in mutual aid spaces. They are the kindest, most resilient, and truly generous people I know. They are generous with their time, resources, finances, and own well-being to ensure the wellbeing of others. Despite burnout and exhaustion, these individuals care more about others and use that genuine care to drive them. To me, generosity is the act of mutual aid and mutual aid is the truest form of generosity.

Technology thrives in a capitalist world. We see companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and many more monopolizing and increasing their executives' wealth with each new advancement. As a policy wonk, I am personally most excited not about NEW technology, but mechanisms by which our existing technology can be disseminated to the masses. An advancement I hope to see in the next decade would be the expansion of municipal or government-owned broadband. Wifi is a resource that is incredibly necessary in every single person's life. From students to unemployed people looking for work to unhoused people trying to find shelter. All of this information is at our fingertips, so long as we have a phone and internet to find it. Unfortunately, these resources are costly, and for those on the margins of society, frequently inaccessible. A proposal for municipal broadband would expand access to everyone. Paid for by taxes and operated by IT departments within the government, every single person would have access to quality, free internet whenever needed. Imagine: an unemployed mother living in her car could quickly and easily connect her phone or laptop from anywhere to search for jobs. An individual sleeping on the street, wondering where they might find shelter tonight could quickly do a google search and find a place to go. A low-income high school student wouldn't have to return to school after hours or sit in a McDonalds' parking lot to do their homework. They could connect from home and succeed. None of this is to say that technological advancements of all kinds are not important. Continuing this work will allow us to find modes of transportation that will lower our overall carbon footprint, develop meat substitutes that would actually convince people to become vegetarian, and utilize energy that will help developing countries access power on the global level. However, as long as we have existing technologies that are inaccessible to large portions of the population, we cannot continue forward thinking about the next big thing. We must take what we have and allow every single person to access the beauty of the internet.

As someone who has struggled their entire life with anxiety and maintaining mental well-being, I am lucky to have been sent to a therapist from a young age by my parents. This early exposure has kept me from holding stigma around mental healthcare and therefore allowed me to advocate openly for the benefits of therapy and treatment. I have personally helped many in my circles get connected to easily accessible providers to help them in their own mental health journey. A practical way to raise more kids without a preconceived stigma is getting more people comfortable with seeking help early. One way this can be done is through public policy. As a student of public policy and an advocate for civic engagement, I know the impact a policy solution can have. In my eyes, policy is the number one way to solve most of the pressing issues of our time. For example, this past year during my state's legislative session, I worked with different political action groups to lobby our legislators to pass a variety of bills. This included a bill that will now require full funding for public schools from elementary through high school to have on-site counseling services free to students. How wonderful would it be to have such easy access to a licensed mental health professional right at school? The next generation of youth in Washington state will grow up with that, slowly helping to destigmatize mental health services. This is something that should be done across the entire country in order to normalize seeking therapy and help from children's earliest years.

Frequently, social policy and environmental policy are discussed as two separate fields and ones that are at odds with one another. However, the key to strong environmental policy is strong social policy and vice versa. They are incredibly interrelated and need to be treated as such, especially because the populations most affected by the climate crisis are those living in poverty. I am an incoming student in a Master of Public Administration program, planning to focus on social policy and policy analysis. My specific goal is to study policies that improve upon the stark urban inequality in my region while simultaneously creating solutions to the climate crisis. There are a number of new (and not-so-new), innovative policies that fall at the intersection of environmental and social policy, especially when discussing housing and mobility, and it all falls into the category of urban planning. Currently, in my volunteer political advocacy work, a committee I lead is working on lobbying the city council for policies that would both help curb the housing affordability and homelessness crises in my home city, while also limiting the need for cars. I am from Seattle, a city that desperately needs to change its zoning laws to allow for urban upzoning. The vast majority of the city is zoned in such a way that limits its ability to build duplexes, condos, and apartments, meaning that in most places, there are only single-family homes. This creates less availability of housing, which creates higher demand, and therefore higher rent prices, forcing people either onto the streets or out of the city. Over the past 20 years, this has been the reality in Seattle, creating a crisis. Because of this, and since most jobs in the area are located in downtown Seattle, the urban sprawl forces people to use cars to get to work. The Washington State legislature and city planners have been forced to focus the state's limited transportation budget on improving freeways, building new bridges, and creating further infrastructure aimed at allowing more drivers and incentivizing carbon-heavy transportation. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Seattle should be focused on expanding the public transportation system, Sound Transit, to allow for quick and low-cost options for all people, while contributing to a minimal citywide carbon footprint. Unfortunately, despite being viewed as one of the greenest and most climate-friendly cities in the United States, Seattle still has some incredibly regressive views and policies on urban planning. As I enter my studies in social policy, planning to eventually work as a policy advisor, I hope to further spread local awareness of the impact our zoning policies have. Social policy and environmental policy must work hand in hand to improve the quality of life for all of our citizens and prevent the impending doom of our changing climate.

I had my first panic attack so young that I don't even remember it. I am incredibly lucky that this anxiety disorder brought my parents to start me in therapy from the time I was a child. Being exposed so young to mental health professionals, I never held a stigma around the topic. I have been in therapy my entire life, and have never once been afraid to be open about it. To me, being on medication to calm my panic attacks or help me stay on top of school or work, is such a small price to pay, and something that no one needs to be embarrassed by. Because of my positive experiences with mental healthcare, I have become an informal advocate within my circles for therapy and treatment. As an individual, I have connected several friends, family, and co-workers to their first experiences with mental health professionals. I have had the pleasure of seeing these people whom I care so much about begin the process of therapy or medication and begin to heal not only their minds but their own preconceived ideas of what mental health care is. Beyond this, my mental health advocacy has now begun to intersect with my political advocacy, of which I am making a career. During the 2021 Washington State legislative session, I worked on lobbying for full funding of mental health professionals in all public schools so that more young people can access the experiences I had, meaning more people destigmatizing mental health care from an early age. I am privileged to have been in therapy since childhood. The more people we can get into therapy from a young age, and the more accessible we can make it, the less likely that the stigma around mental health will continue in the following generations.

I had my first panic attack so young that I don't even remember it. The way I see it, this is one of the largest privileges of my life. Had I not struggled with an anxiety disorder from a young age, I wouldn't have gained the perspective on mental health that I have. I am also incredibly lucky that this brought my parents to start me in therapy from the time I was a child. Because of these experiences, the stigma that exists around mental health and seeking help was never something that I held. I have been in therapy on and off my entire life, and have never once been afraid to be open about it. To me, being on medication to calm my panic or help me stay on top of school or work, is such a small price to pay, and something that no one, including myself, needs to be embarrassed by. This is why I have made it a part of who I am to be an advocate in my circles for therapy and treatment for any type of need when it comes to mental well-being. As an individual, I have connected several friends, family, and co-workers with their first experiences with mental health professionals. I have had the pleasure of seeing these people whom I care so much about begin the process of therapy or medication and begin to heal not only their minds but their own preconceived ideas of what mental health care is. Beyond this, my mental health advocacy has now begun to intersect with my political advocacy, of which I am making a career. During the 2021 Washington State legislative session, I worked on lobbying for full funding of mental health professionals in all public schools so that more young people can access the experiences I had. This means more young people destigmatizing mental health care. As mental health advocates around the world know, mental health is deeply important and should absolutely be viewed as such. I am privileged to have been afflicted with mental health struggles from an early age and to have been sent to therapy. The more people we can get into therapy from a young age, and the more accessible we can make it, the less likely that the stigma around mental health will continue in the following generations.

"I'm not a complainer, I'm a doer. If I see something wrong, I feel like I have to get in there and fix it" - Representative Pramila Jayapal, WA-07 Representative Jayapal, from my home district in the state of Washington, is one of the strongest and most inspirational people I have known. She always stands incredibly firm in her principles and has been a champion of progress since long before she graced the halls of Congress. This short and sweet quote exemplifies what I believe every person interested in politics and activism must do. It is not enough to simply create posts on social media ranting about what this person said or that politician did. As advocates and allies, it is our responsibility to take the things that anger us and use them to fuel genuine work. There are endless chances for one to become civically engaged. Two or three out of every four years, there are opportunities to volunteer with political campaigns. Non-profit groups do on-the-ground advocacy work year-round. As I embark on the journey into a career in policy, I can feel myself embodying these incredibly wise words of Representative Jayapal. As I take on my next steps in this field, I plan to not only heed these words as an individual but to also spread their sentiment to my community. This has pushed me to take on a fellowship in which I will be mentoring young women on the ways in which they can flex their own political power and become involved in an active way from a young age. As Representative Jayapal has been my inspiration since high school, I hope to live my life in a way that would make her proud and embody her spirit of work and perseverance as an activist and policy-maker.

"I'm not a complainer, I'm a doer. If I see something wrong, I feel like I have to get in there and fix it" - Representative Pramila Jayapal, WA-07, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Representative Jayapal, from my home district in the state of Washington, is one of the strongest and most inspirational people I have known. She always stands incredibly firm in her principles and has been a champion of progress since long before she graced the halls of Congress. This short and sweet quote exemplifies what I believe every person interested in politics and activism must do. It is not enough to simply create posts on social media ranting and raving about what this person said or that politician did. As advocates, activists, and allies, it is our responsibility to take the things that anger us and use them to fuel genuine work. One does not need to change their entire career path to do this. Two or three out of every four years, there are opportunities to volunteer with political campaigns. Non-profit groups do on-the-ground advocacy work year-round. There are endless chances for one to become civically engaged in the local, state or national policy process. As I have decided to embark on a journey into a career in policy, I can feel myself, after years of uncertainty in my professional choices, finally embodying these incredibly wise words of Representative Jayapal. As I take on my next steps in this field, I plan to not only heed these words as an individual but to also spread their sentiment to my community. I, as I am sure many others have experienced as well, have many friends, family members, and acquaintances, hiding behind the virtual walls of Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram. They express their anger, argue with one another, and frankly accomplish nothing but upsetting themselves further. As an advocate for political change myself, I see it as my responsibility to get them engaged not just with trolls on the internet, but with their elected officials, political organizations, and campaigns so that their frustrations and anger are directed in a more productive way. This personal work that I do with my community has pushed me to take on a fellowship opportunity in which I will be mentoring young women in high schools, community colleges, and undergraduate institutions on the ways in which they can flex their own political power and become involved in an active way from a young age. As Representative Jayapal has been one of my idols and inspirations since high school, I hope to continue to live my life in a way that would make her proud and embody her spirit of hard work and perseverance as an activist and policy-maker.