Columbus

Alex Slaymaker leads cross-sector collaboration to build healthier, happier, and more sustainable communities. In her current role as Smart Mobility Adoption Manager for Smart Columbus, she is dedicated to mobilizing the private sector to help transform Columbus’ auto-centric culture to get residents to drive less and drive electric. Specifically, she coaches large employers in Central Ohio on how to create mobility benefit packages and creative educational opportunities to increase associate electric vehicle (EV) adoption by almost 500% and decrease solo commuting by over 10% by 2020. She enjoys the fast-paced startup culture of Smart Columbus, which is a bold initiative leveraging technology to solve community problems rooted in transportation.

Prior to joining the Columbus Partnership team within Smart Columbus, Alex served as a technical expert helping businesses, events, and people go zero waste and embrace circular economies in Central Ohio. She has also worked with municipalities and businesses across the United States and in Europe on a range of sustainability projects ranging from urban agriculture to the biology of happiness and urban forestry.

Alex earned her B.A. in Environmental Planning & Policy from Ohio University in 2014 and a Masters in Sustainable Solutions from Arizona State University in 2016. After identifying a gap in alumni engagement, she co-founded and leads a Sustainability Alumni Network for Ohio University where she mobilizes the organization’s Board to plan and host volunteer, networking, and educational events across Ohio. In her spare time, she enjoys kayaking in SE Ohio, exploring new cities, and star gazing.
 

As a native of Columbus, Ohio, Greg is passionate about contributing to the equitable growth and sustainability of his hometown. Throughout the last 18 years, he has been a high school wrestling coach, community volunteer, and mentor with a strong sense of civic responsibility. He believes deeply in the importance of knowledge-sharing as a means to elevate people’s understanding and awareness of the critical issues and opportunities in Columbus.
 

He works at Accenture, creating value for clients through strategic business model design, operational analysis, and solution implementation.
 

In addition to a strong interest in health and wellness, he continues to serve in the Air Force Reserve as an aircraft maintainer, Squadron Career Advisor, and a suicide & sexual assault prevention instructor. Greg is also a Trustee in his neighborhood civic association, a volunteer at KIPP Columbus with Skills-To-Succeed, and a Restorative Justice Circle Member.

Jalisa Dawkins is the Local Food Systems Strategies Manager at Columbus Public Health. In her role, she is responsible for the implementation of the Columbus & Franklin County Local Food Action Plan, which looks to create a fair and sustainable food system that benefits our economy, our environment, and all people.

Prior to her work at Columbus Public Health, she worked as a fellow in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Associate Program before transitioning to full- time work with the Division for Global Migration and Quarantine. Jalisa has over 5 years of experience working in diverse communities to provide health education and programming in the areas of food justice, food safety, chronic and communicable diseases, and emergency preparedness.

Jalisa believes access to healthy and affordable food as well as quality healthcare should be a right and not a privilege. Her professional and volunteer work in her church’s health ministry and within her local community supports this belief. In the health ministry, Jalisa helps bring in health care professionals representative of the community and facilitates health- related programs.

Jalisa serves on the Joint City-County Local Food Team and the Franklin County Local Food Council. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Master of Public Health degree from The Ohio State University.

In her downtime, Jalisa can be found baking her famous chocolate chip pecan cookies, visiting one of Columbus’ great local restaurants or going for a bike ride in the park.
 

Zak Davidson serves as the Legislative Aide for Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin. Born and raised in Columbus, Zak manages President Hardin’s policy development, budget priorities, and constituent services. Zak serves as the Council President’s lead representative on the Insight2050 Corridor Concepts project, a multi-partner planning effort based on the intersection of potential development patterns and high-capacity transit. Zak played an integral role in the passage of 2018 voter-approved changes to City Council’s structure. This change to Council’s structure, the first since 1914, adds two council members and requires members to live in different parts of town to improve neighborhood representation and accountability. Beyond overseeing strategic initiatives, Zak plans Council meetings, hearings, and press conferences, as well as large-scale events such as the City Hall Pride Illumination and The Purple Aisle Transportation Innovation Lab.

While studying Political Science at Tulane University, Zak ran volunteer mobilization, communications, and endorsement acquisition efforts for the 2015 Hardin campaign, resulting in a 42-point victory (71% of the vote).  

Prior to this position, Zak worked in Alaska as a Shipping and Records Coordinator for Ekuk Fisheries and sold solar door-to-door in Louisiana. Zak spends his free time biking, playing basketball, reading about the history of cities, and eating at diners with his partner Annie.

Alaina McCleery currently works as a Development Associate at the Ohio Environmental Council. In this fundraising role, she gets to live out her passion for the environment by cultivating relationships with dedicated supporters and deepening their support. Alaina is a co-founder of the OEC’s first ever young professionals program, the OEC Emerging Leaders, which brings together young people from across Columbus to engage with each other, localize environmental issues, and take action. Previously Alaina worked for CleaResult where she grew and managed contractor participation in residential energy efficiency programs. Before that, Alaina worked as a Canvass Director managing staff and leading grassroots fundraising campaigns for environmental and social justice issues.

In her volunteer time, Alaina serves as an elected member of the Yes We Can Columbus Steering Committee where she leads fundraising and development strategy to support city level progressive change. In the past, she dedicated her volunteer time to serve as an Advocate for the Sexual Response Network of Central Ohio to support sexual assault survivors and as a Fellow with Democratic Voices.

Alaina graduated from the Ohio State University with a double major in International Relations and Diplomacy and French. She grew up in Columbus and is committed to advancing the values of NLC and progressivism in her hometown. In her free time, Alaina enjoys being active outdoors, reading, celebrating the arts, and participating in community events.

Alexa Hanna is a qualitative researcher committed to creating a more equitable world through research, design, and empathy. By day she works as a design researcher and strategist at McDougald Research, a consulting firm in Columbus. She helps their clients, who range from Fortune 500 companies to local startups, to employ empathy and better understand and serve their customers while identifying strategic opportunities for innovation. She hopes to eventually merge her work and activism.

Outside of work, Alexa volunteers as a mentor for Columbus City Schools and serves as the membership engagement chair for Yes We Can Columbus. As chair, she helps to plan and host recruitment events, facilitate strategy sessions, design marketing materials, and direct the overall membership experience, all with the goal of building and strengthening Columbus's progressive community and electing progressive leaders to office.

Alexa graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Industrial Design from the Columbus College of Art & Design in 2017. During her time at CCAD she was awarded the Industrial Designer's Society of America Student Merit Award, held leadership positions for two student organizations, and interned as a packaging engineer at Mary Kay in Dallas, TX where she earned 4 design patents. Prior to her work as a researcher, Alexa was the chief creative officer for a local startup focused on providing all menstruators with access to menstrual products.

When not working, volunteering, or spending time with friends, she can likely be found caring for her 2 cats and 70 plus houseplants or feeding the alley cats behind her apartment in Victorian Village.

Amber is the new Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Coalition and a grassroots community organizer. She believes in harnessing the social power of young people and working families to redistribute funds from harmful systems of incarceration and inequity into healthier community alternatives, and the restoration of rights and representative democracy. Amber began student organizing after the birth of the Occupy Movement and through the formation of the Ohio Student Association.

She has a BA in Journalism from the Ohio State University and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences from Kent State University. In 2014, Amber taught English in France, but returned to the US in 2015 after the height of Black Lives Matter to reconnect to movement organizing. She is a North Columbus native, the eldest of 6, and proudly raised by her mother and grandmother.

Above all else, Amber is dedicated to organizing and building the power and leadership necessary to achieve racial equity, social, economic, and electoral justice for all Ohioans. Most notably, this has been through her roles of co-leading community organization People's Justice Project and developing new leaders and youth organizers in Voices of the Unheard.

In April 2018, Anna Siriano started her business AJKS - a video and digital content production company with a focus on building community. Anna’s passion for community began as an English major at The Ohio State University. There, she joined the Digital Media program, produced an award-winning video about loss of life to mineral extraction, a short documentary on gentrification, and a capstone project on the use of entertainment for education and social change.

She also worked as a program coordinator for a youth radio program and volunteered in the surrounding Weinland Park community. While reporting she saw the impact major institutions can have on communities. She also saw the power of people willing to take action for others. She decided that she would be an advocate for her community wherever she settled in Columbus. Then, in 2016, she moved to the Highland West neighborhood of the Hilltop. She has since become Membership Co-Chair of the Highland West Civic Association and an active member in her neighborhood, including by attending area commission meetings, participating in youth listening session, surveying community members, supporting local businesses, and developing an app to better connect people in need to available resources.

Professionally, Anna was the Communications Coordinator for the Ohio Environmental Council, Ohio’s only statewide environmental policy organization. She also served as an Organizing Fellow with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and Digital Organizing Fellow for Innovation Ohio. Anna’s previous supervisor had this to say about her “Anna is dogged in her pursuit of new and innovative ways of reaching people online. She thinks outside the box and brings creative energy to all of her projects that can be transformational.”

Ben Justice is a process improvement consultant and project manager with State Farm Insurance. He provides coaching to independent insurance agents on various technology platforms, new company deployments, team-building initiatives, development, and organizational processes to maximize customer growth and retention.  

Justice grew up on his family cattle farm in Gorham, Maine. He received his Bachelor of Science, from the University of New Hampshire in 2008 with honors in Business and Hospitality Management. As a student, he fell in love with Culinary Arts and went on to earn a degree from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Justice is committed to the Columbus community and currently serves as a donor circle member for the Wexner Center for the Arts. He remains actively involved as a culinary instructor for Local Matters a local nonprofit, creating healthy communities through food education, access and advocacy. Justice also focuses on community outreach by broadening access to opportunities for economic prosperity through helping provide a pathway out of homelessness, addiction, violence, poverty and human trafficking with the Columbus Dream Center.

Justice is passionate about travel and is an avid cyclist. Ben lives in the Harrison West neighborhood of Columbus, with his husband Karim Ali and their dog Max.

Christopher L. Wyche is the West/Central Ohio Director of External Affairs for AT&T Ohio. He is responsible for local, state and federal government relations in 19 counties. In addition, he also works closely with business and community leaders, elected officials and AT&T partners to continue to bring advanced communications technologies to consumers and businesses.

Prior to joining AT&T, Christopher served as Development Manager for City Year Columbus, a local chapter of a national education-focused non-profit that is dedicated to helping students and schools succeed.  He gained valuable experience while serving as the Corporate Relations Manager for the United Ways of New England. While working for the United Way, Christopher was responsible for developing regional fundraising campaigns for large multi-state corporations headquartered in the Boston area.

Christopher currently serves on the board of trustees for Central State University and as an advisory board member at City Year Columbus and the Eldon & Elsie Ward Family YMCA. Christopher believes that a quality education is the key to future success, and throughout his life he has with worked with students and nonprofits devoted to encouraging underrepresented students to work in STEM careers.

He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics Management, with a minor in Psychology.  
 

As Public Affairs Administrator for the award-winning Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), Doug is responsible for community engagement and public involvement in COTA’s major projects and initiatives. A strong believer in public-private partnerships, Doug works closely with the City of Columbus and Columbus Partnership as the transit agency’s strategic liaison to Smart Columbus for the creation of infrastructure and technology to improve transit user experience. Doug also manages the relationships between COTA and emerging transportation services, including car-, bike-, scooter- and ride-sharing, and chairs COTA’s Mobility as a Service task force on partnerships with mobility providers. Doug serves as COTA’s primary public policy analyst and local government advocate, advising executive leadership on strategies to support COTA’s legislative goals and public policy agenda.

Outside of work, Doug is a 2016 graduate and recurring mentor in the Next Level Trainings leadership program, which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for community-serving nonprofits. Doug has been involved in groundbreaking campaigns to support the Military Veterans Resource Center, Nelly’s Champions for Kids, and Local Matters.

Prior to joining moving to Columbus, Doug oversaw the advocacy program of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association in Los Angeles, California, specializing in transportation, land use and planning, entertainment industry and aviation issues. Doug was very active in the California Young Democrats from 2007-2015, rising from regional director to national committeeman to Young Democrats of America. At the national level, he was appointed Rules Committee Chair and served as the co-chair of the 2015 National Convention Committee. Locally, he served as communications director and fundraising chair for the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats. Doug was also the first-ever executive director of a local YD chapter, overseeing the 2010 field program of the Orange County Young Democrats.

In 2018, Doug was recently named one of the 52 Young Professionals to Know by City Pulse magazine. He will join the Create Columbus Commission in 2019.

Doug’s vision is to build physical and social infrastructure in post-conflict zones. His commitment to global citizenry grew out of his decade of experience with the National Model United Nations conference in New York.

Doug is a native of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and graduate of Chapman University in Orange, California and Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. He lives in Columbus’ Short North neighborhood with his fiancée and 2018 NLC Columbus fellow Brooke Wojdynski.

Eli Redfern was born in Dayton and grew up in Athens, Ohio. Starting in Athens County he became involved in sustainable agriculture and is passionate about rural life. He brought the gardening skills he developed at Good Earth Farm (an Episcopal friary and farm in Athens) to college and was a founding member of the Kenyon Farm in Gambier, a collaborative student-run 13-acre ecological agriculture project.

In 2016 he graduated from Kenyon College with a double major in Economics and Spanish Literature. After college, Eli moved to rural coastal Maine to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with the community organization Mano en Mano (Hand in Hand). There he worked to expand access to essential services within a vibrant immigrant and migrant/seasonal farmworker community, while also supporting local leaders through community organizing efforts. After his national service term, he worked for the Maine Migrant Education Program teaching English in farmworker camps during Maine’s wreath-making season.

Since moving to Columbus in early 2018, he has worked in bilingual education, immigration law, and grassroots politics. He spent summer 2018 growing food on vacant city lots in Columbus’s Franklinton neighborhood as part of a community urban farming project.  Eli has most recently taken his interest in social change and advocacy to the state level and will be working as a 2019 legislative fellow through the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.

Erin Ryan is a policy analyst at Innovation Ohio Education Fund (IOEF), a policy and advocacy non-profit in Columbus, Ohio. Her portfolio is focused on a broad set of policy issues affecting women and families, including paid family leave, abortion, and reproductive health care, and pay equity. She also currently serves as the managing director of the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network, a coalition convened by IOEF of more than 30 organizations working collaboratively to advance policies that create economic security for women and strengthen families.

Prior to her role at Innovation Ohio, Erin was the Deputy Finance Director and Grassroots Fundraising Events Coordinator of the FitzGerald-Neuhardt 2014 gubernatorial campaign. She has years of experience in Ohio politics, working in fundraising and field operations for issue and candidate campaigns, such as Senator Sherrod Brown’s 2012 re-election campaign and We Are Ohio, the campaign which led the successful effort to repeal Senate Bill 5 in 2011.

Ryan received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University. During her time at Ohio State, she was a member of the Politics, Society, and Law Scholars Program; participated in the NEW Leadership Ohio conference, a national bi-partisan program that addresses the underrepresentation of women in American politics; and graduated from the Washington Academic Internship Program, a competitive internship and academic program through the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, where she interned at EMILY’s List.

Erin was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio in a politically active family where politics was never a conversation avoided at the dinner table; helping to shape the path of her career. She currently resides in Columbus with her fiancé, Darren.

Graham Wood is currently a Program Administrator for the Ohio Department of Education, managing projects for the Office of Career-Technical Education. A 2015 Teach For America Corps Member in Southwest Ohio, Graham taught both a Kindergarten and a 5th Grade Math in Northwest Dayton, Ohio. Through his time teaching in Dayton, Graham learned valuable lessons about the roles of racial and educational inequity in perpetuating cycles of poverty. He excelled in building relationships with his students and continues to use his skills in relationship building to grow and guide teams at the Ohio Department of Education.

In his current role, he works to improve the quality of and access to career-technical education in Ohio, and to strengthen the career pathway opportunities for Ohio students who need them most. This takes the form of aligning Ohio’s technical and academic standards to provide more hands-on opportunities to students in all classrooms and maintaining the list of Industry-Recognized Credentials which give students an alternate path to graduation, and into a job of their interest.

Born and raised in Sylvania, Ohio and a 2015 graduate of The Ohio State University, Graham is a lifelong Ohioan with a passion for bringing his vision of true educational access to all Ohioans, and eventually all Americans.

Jewell Porter is passionate about fighting for racial issues, women's equality, income inequality and pushing our society to be more accepting of our differences. Jewell currently serves as the communications director for the Ohio Young Black Democrats and works at the Ohio Democratic Party. She is a native Virginian and proud graduate of Denison University.

Jordan is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio and currently resides in a Columbus-area suburb, Westerville.  He is a proud graduate of Otterbein University (2017) where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Sociology. During his time at Otterbein, Jordan prided himself on being a leader on campus and an outspoken campus activist. After spending his first two years at Otterbein as a physics major, Jordan discovered his true passion, politics and civil engagement, and he never looked back.

During his 3rd year at Otterbein, Jordan made the life-changing decision to join Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity incorporated, where he proudly served as chapter vice president and treasurer for the next 3 years. During his 3rd and 4th year at Otterbein, Jordan interned for prestigious intuitions such as the NAACP Washington Bureau, Ohio House of Representatives and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as an emerging leader intern on Capitol Hill. Upon graduation, Jordan set off to begin his career in public service and began working as a Legislative Assistant in the Ohio Senate for State Senator Vernon Sykes. In addition to working at the Ohio Senate, Jordan served as the Statewide Political Director for Rob Richardson, a former Democratic Candidate for Treasurer of the State of Ohio.

His passion for community service, activism and political engagement burns on, as he currently serves as the Policy Chair for the Central Ohio Young Black Democrats, a former fellow for the United Way of Central Ohio’s Project Diversity and a board member for Valor Service Organization, a millennial service organization committed to empowering their peers to commit themselves to community service and civic engagement.  Additionally, Jordan still serves as Senator Sykes’ Legislative Aide and has plans to attend graduate school to pursue a master’s in public policy and Juris Doctor degree within the next calendar year.

Marissa Ring is the Managing Director of Teach For America’s Midwest Recruitment and Admissions Team.  She leads a team of 36 staff members to recruit corps members who commit to teach for two years in low-income communities and go on to lead lives of impact and advocacy.  She has previously held roles with City Year Columbus, managing a team of corps members at Linden McKinley STEM Academy, and with Teach For America’s Human Assets Team, leading staffing and hiring for eight TFA regions.

As a Teach For America corps member, Marissa taught secondary English in Compton and downtown Los Angeles.  She created a culturally relevant, rigorous curriculum that was applicable to the lives of her students and fostered significant academic progress.  She has maintained a strong relationship with her school community by returning to Los Angeles to teach remedial English classes for students in summer school.  While in the corps, she earned a master’s degree in Education Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University. She was named Urban Researcher of the Year for her research on increasing graduation rates for students who have been involved in the criminal justice system.

Marissa received her bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, where she majored in English and minored in Sociology and African and African-American Studies.  She grew up in Appalachian Ohio, in a small town on the West Virginia border. She currently lives in Clintonville with her partner Spencer and her dog Diego.

Priyam Chokshi is the Director of Community and Legislative Strategies for CelebrateOne, a place-based, collective-impact initiative in the Mayor's Office to reduce the infant mortality rate and improve health equity in Columbus, Ohio.

Before devoting her work full-time to Celebrate One, Priyam served as a policy advisor to Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and worked to create Kiva Columbus, the Columbus Women's Commission and engaged in social and economic programs and policies to improve the lives of residents in the City of Columbus. Priyam has also served as a legislative aide for Columbus City Council. She joined City Council in September 2010 and was responsible for legislative analysis, communication, community affairs and public relations. She provided constituent services, responded to citizen inquiries, researched and assisted with policy development.

Priyam is a graduate of the Leadership Columbus Signature Program Class of 2018 and YWCA Gen Y Leadership Class VI. She currently serves as an Issue Advocacy Chair for Ohio Young Democrats and is a member of the Central Ohio Children's Hunger Alliance Advisory Board.

Prior to working for the City, Priyam was a deputy clerk at the Franklin County Municipal Court. Priyam graduated from the George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs.

Priyam has a passion for public service and remains committed to making government work for all people. Priyam is a transplant from Cleveland and has been living in downtown Columbus for over 8 years. She believes it's the best city to work, play and live.
 

A native of Kansas, Rob has lived in 5 different cities in the last 6 years. Calling Columbus, OH home for nearly 2 years he plans to put down roots with a city he'd never seen prior to moving. Passionate about ending transphobia, racism, and AIDS phobia in both the LGBTQ+ community he belongs to or the reality he finds himself living in, Rob is committed to doing all he can to lift the voices of the marginalized.

As head of an LGBTQ+ inclusive sports league and having a full time, his best friend is Siri and his calendar. By day he works as a product owner for warehouse management software at a local manufacturing firm. At night he stays busy networking with the local community and Stonewall Sports.

In addition to being passionate about activism, Rob is an NPR news and podcast junkie. His favorites include Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! and Pod Save America. He loves being in the know and keeping up to date with the news of the day. After all, his dream job is to be a US Senator.

With over 20 years of professional experience, Ruby has served as an environmental steward, STEM instructor, and community food educator. Her environmental justice work began with three federal-level internships served with the National Park Service and Environmental Protection Agency.

As a Marine & Environmental Science graduate of Hampton University, Ruby taught ecological-based science curriculum - many times of her own design – to formal and informal classroom settings. Her love of teaching allowed her to create the Reynoldsburg Edible Schoolyard Project, a USDA Farm-to-Table grant funded program that proposed to use seven school locations to create a mini-food system.

To expand her movement towards leveraging social entrepreneurship within the local food system, Ruby was selected to be a Global Social Impact Fellow with University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Impact Strategy. In this program Ruby served amongst 24 other fellows from 12 different countries, in the La Fortuna rainforest of Costa Rica, to develop her social enterprise business model.

Founder and CEO of Jazzy Greens, LLC, Ruby has dedicated the past ten years towards raising awareness to promote food justice and re-circulation of wealth amongst at-risk communities. Her grassroots approach to entrepreneurship has resulted in five community garden projects in the city of Columbus, $100,000 in grant funding for urban garden projects, and 1st place awards in both youth garden recreation and community service for global poverty.
 

Sarah Inskeep serves as the Communications and Digital Manager at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. Activism, coalition work, and community organizing are the foundation of her personal and professional advocacy and political work.

Sarah began her involvement with the progressive movement while in college at the University of Cincinnati. She was the founding President of the University of Cincinnati’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action student group, which engaged and organized young people around the fight reproductive freedom and access to comprehensive and affordable health care for all.

Her college involvement guided her into her organizing and communications career with Planned Parenthood. Since 2016, Sarah worked across Ohio, organizing communities and supporters around presidential and midterm electoral campaigns. In her current communications role, Sarah helped launch Planned Parenthood affiliates of Ohio first super PAC, Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio. Her organizing and advocacy background providers her the tactical edge when communicating complex legislative and political messages to supporters, stakeholders, and policymakers.

As an Ohio native, Sarah seeks to bring her unique experience and passion for social justice into other work and community sectors across the state.  

Sarah Pomeroy is a litigation associate with the law firm of Jones Day.  Practicing in D.C. for three years before moving back to her hometown of Columbus, she has represented companies in antitrust, telecommunications, and Lanham Act matters.  She actively represents clients in diverse pro bono cases, including clients seeking asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, social security benefits, federal habeas relief, and clemency. She has also served as a guardian ad litem in child-custody disputes.

Sarah has dedicated her extra-curricular time to the service of her legal and student communities.  She was the co-president of the D.C. Lawyer of the American Constitution Society from June 2017 to June 2018 and the President of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Chapter for the 2014-2015 school year.  She also has served as a mediator in Franklin County, Ohio, mediating disputes in minor civil and criminal matters. Finally, while in college at Michigan State University, she served as the President of the Residence Halls Association, representing the interests of 15,000+ on-campus students.

Academically, Sarah has engaged in her passion-issue areas of education, voting rights, and the rule of law.  While earning her law degree, she completed a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Management at the O.S.U. John Glenn College of Public Affairs, writing her capstone on the regulation of Ohio’s charter schools.  In law school, she interned at the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Public Defender Capital Habeas Unit for the Southern District of Ohio, and as a research assistant to Election Law Professor Daniel Tokaji.  In 2011, she published two articles in the Roosevelt Institute national policy journal, addressing afterschool program funding and the election of state judges. Lastly, her senior undergraduate thesis examined the effects of historic legal structures and foreign intervention on the rule of law in developing countries.

Finally, Sarah is an avid fan of jazz music, Broadway musicals, and baseball.  She studied classical and jazz piano for thirteen years and continues to play in her spare time.  She is thrilled to be selected as a 2019 NLC Fellow, and she is excited to get to work to bring a progressive future to Columbus.
 

Sarah Taylor is the Legislative Aide for State Representative Kathleen Clyde at the Ohio House of Representatives, where she develops legislation and addresses constituent concerns for the 75th Ohio House District in central and southern Portage County. In January 2019 she will serve as Constituent Aide in the office of State Senator Nickie Antonio, who represents the 23rd State Senate district as the first lesbian member of the Ohio Senate.

Before working at the Ohio Statehouse, Sarah completed a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga on High and worked for Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (Morocco). She has also interned at a girls-empowerment nonprofit in Columbus, at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, and at Human Rights Watch in New York. As the daughter of two moms, Sarah has long advocated in support of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, advocacy she translates into progressive policymaking and creative writing projects.

A Columbus native and 2012 graduate of Columbus School for Girls, Sarah earned her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in French and Francophone Studies from Davidson College in 2016. She is fluent in French and conversational in Arabic. She has traveled to 27 countries and has lived extensively in Morocco, France, and India. In her free time, you can find her teaching yoga, baking cookies, hiking, and planning her next international adventure.