Alyse Maye Quade is an accomplished political operative and organizer who joins Women Winning after more than four years at the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party. As the DFL Political Director, Alyse strengthened relationships among partners, allies, and activists to continually build the progressive, pro-choice movement and position for electoral victories in the next election cycle. As the Director of the DFL Coordinated Campaign, Alyse managed winning Minnesota field programs and supported voter protection, Get Out The Vote, and Coalition teams.
Alyse was raised on a farm in Southwest MN, and attended the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, where she got her start in politics, working on a local house campaign. From there, she worked at various non-profits and electoral campaigns, including for the U.S. Senate and for Everytown for Gun Safety / Moms Demand Action. Outside of campaign work, Alyse enjoys golfing, cooking, and drinking in taprooms all over Minnesota to find the best local IPA. She lives in Apple Valley with her wife and their two rescue dogs.
Emma McBride
Political Director
Emma McBride is an experienced electoral strategist and organizer. Emma comes to Women Winning having managed the campaigns of two pro-choice women. She also has experience in non-profit electoral organizing. Most recently, she served as Minnesota Political Director at America Votes where she managed a coalition of 40+ organizations and built and executed campaigns in support of progressive candidates.
Emma is a lifelong Minnesotan and received a degree in Social Justice and Political Science from the University of Minnesota. Emma is passionate about building a more representative democracy because she knows first-hand that the fiercest advocates for reproductive justice are the people who are most impacted and come to the decision making table with lived experiences. She is excited to help pro-choice women build winning campaigns using creativity, community, and data-driven strategy. In her free time, Emma can be found curled up in her sunroom with a book, puttering around her garden and plants, or trying new restaurants around town.
Karen Velez
Operations Manager
Karen Velez is an accomplished organizer and immigration advocate whose passion for human rights earned her the distinction of being named “40 Under 40: Latinos in American Politics” by the Huffington Post. Before joining Women Winning, Karen worked at the Minnesota DFL, where she managed grassroots fundraising programs and organized successful donor events as Deputy Finance Director. Her own immigration story and frustrations with America’s broken immigration system helped drive her efforts as the face of DACA Sin Miedo, a Minnesota awareness campaign for DACA recipients, while she was still a high school student.
Karen grew up in the suburbs of Minnesota surrounded by a large and close-knit family and eventually moved to Washington D.C. While in D.C., she majored in Political Science at George Washington University and worked as a paralegal at the nationally renowned, full-service immigration law firm, Benach Collopy. Karen’s experience in D.C. helped her build well-rounded experience managing various teams and legal research. Despite her love for the nation’s capital, Minnesota is home. She returned to be closer to her beloved family and to help Minnesota maintain its status as the Midwest’s progressive firewall.
Outside of her busy work life, Karen loves trying new, locally-owned Twin Cities restaurants, listening to her favorite podcasts, and of course, you can always find her spending time with her close friends and family.
Brittany Wallman
Director of Advancement
Brittany Wallman has nearly a decade of events, communications, and marketing experience in the Twin Cities. Prior to joining Women Winning as the Director of Advancement, Brittany consulted with various Minnesota nonprofits, including Women’s Advocates, ArtistryMN, Trademark Theater, and The Ordway Center for Performing Arts.
Brittany is most passionate about work that centers building connections between people and their spaces, while helping them find the resources they need. In her free time you can find her baking from scratch, finding a fun class to take around town, or trying her hand at sailing across Lake Harriet.
Luchelle Stevens
Vice Board Chair
Luchelle Stevens is a senior strategist and advisor to national and local campaigns. She has led winning progressive issue battles at the state and national level including healthcare reform, comprehensive immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, and voting rights. An expert political and community organizer, Stevens served as the Campaign Manager of Our Vote Our Future, the coalition campaign that helped Minnesota become the first state in the nation to defeat a voter ID constitutional amendment.
Stevens previously served as chief of staff for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Prior to that, she held numerous leadership roles with Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Earlier in her career, Stevens served in the U.S. Navy as an air traffic controller and as an aerographer’s mate (meteorology). Stevens is a Gulf War Veteran.
Kathy Murphy
Board Member
Kathy Murphy is a retired business consultant with Andersen Consulting and Accenture, and a former account representative for a software company based in Silicon Valley. Kathy holds a BS in Economics and Statistics and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
With a passion for community, Kathy is an engaged leader and volunteer. Kathy has assumed leadership roles with University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Minneapolis Institute of Art Friends Board, and the Wayzata and Minnetonka Garden Clubs.
Kathy has two adult daughters and lives in Woodland with her husband, Norm Rickeman.
Babette Apland
Board Member
Babette Apland is a senior executive with a proven track record in launching new and innovative health care solutions. Her passion is creating patient-centered health care and developing successful strategies for organizations to grow and succeed in complex and changing marketplaces. Babette began her career building new and innovative health care delivery services. After studying international health care systems in Sweden, she joined HealthPartners, an integrated health care financing and delivery system serving 1.5 million members and 1 million patients with over 1,700 physicians. During her career at HealthPartners, Babette launched and grew several divisions including provider relations and partnerships, population health and behavioral health. Most recently Babette joined American Public Media Group to lead a new national initiative to measurably raise the American public’s and key stakeholder’s awareness and understanding of mental health. Her goals include activating public conversation and creating a platform for change through leveraging APMG’s innovative media and convening capabilities including new on-air programming, on demand programming, digital content, civic engagement and live events.
Dr. Annie L. Baietto
Dr. Annie Lili Baietto is a board certified doctor of chiropractic. She has been providing holistic health care to families in the twin cities since 2019. Her experiences in women’s health fuels her passion for equal health care rights for all genders. She is an avid supporter of women’s reproductive rights, and believes that as a health provider, it is her duty to provide the best care and support to her patients.
Born and raised in China until the age of 10, she immigrated to the United States with her mother in hopes of finding more opportunities that can be earned by anyone through hard work. Prior to becoming a doctor of chiropractic, Dr. Baietto worked in the art world with auction houses and art dealers in New York, and later museums and galleries in the twin cities. Finding her true calling to serve others in her thirties has given Annie the world view of “it’s never too late”. She will carry this mantra forward into all future endeavors.
As one of the newest board members, she is looking forward to the guidance and mentorship from tenured, passionate women who make up this team. Her eagerness to learn and grow alongside this organization during a pivotal moment in our nation’s history will translate to future opportunities to provide the same mentorship and leadership shown to her through this board of accomplished women.
Annie lives in the Twin Cities area with her husband, Jon and their son, Ethan.
Cynthia Bauerly
Board Member
Cynthia Bauerly has extensive experience in law, management, and public policy, serving in key public sector leadership and management roles in Washington D.C. and in Minnesota. She has also worked and volunteered for national, state, and local campaigns and recounts for over thirty years.
Most recently, Cynthia served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Revenue from 2015 to 2020. She led over 1,400 employees as they helped Minnesotans access the economic opportunities of the tax code and collected over $23 billion annually to fund state services. Prior to joining Revenue, she served as Deputy Commissioner of Workforce Development at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) where she led the department’s work of providing economic security for transitioning workers and workforce training and readiness.
From 2008 to 2013, Bauerly served as a Commissioner of the United States Federal Election Commission and as Chair of the agency in 2011. She also served as Legislative Director for Senator Chuck Schumer developing and implementing a broad policy agenda that included working with the Senate Rules, Judiciary, and Finance Committees and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. She has also worked in private practice in both Minnesota and Washington, D.C.
Bauerly earned a B.A. from Concordia College in Moorhead, a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, and a M.P.A. from Indiana University’s School of Environmental and Public Affairs. She grew up in central Minnesota and now lives in Minneapolis with her husband and their dog, Kiko.
Kathy Heltzer
Board Member
Kathy Heltzer serves as the Director of BSW/MSW Field Education in the Department of Social Work at the University of Minnesota Duluth where she has been on the faculty since 1998. Prior to this Kathy was a social worker for the Professional Association of Treatment Homes (PATH) working with children and families in the foster care system. Kathy grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota and moved to Duluth after spending a year in New Zealand as a Rotary Exchange student. She graduated from UMD with a Bachelor's Degree in Social Development and then worked two years in child protection before attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where where earned a Master's Degree in Social Work (MSW). She is active in the Duluth community and was recognized in 2014 for her community work with the Chancellor's Award for Public Service by UMD. Prior to this she received the College of Education and Human Service Professions Outstanding Service Award. Non-profit board work has included serving as the President of the Duluth Family Area YMCA, a trustee for the Duluth Area YMCA Foundation/Board of Trustees and the Human Development Center. She received the Albert and Louise Ordean "Making a Difference" Award in 1991 for her volunteer work as a long-term mentor with the Mentor Duluth program. She is a graduate of the Blandin Community Leadership Program. More recently, she is working on a collaborative effort, "Dementia Friendly Duluth" and has been involved in launching an initiative for people with dementia and their care partners to participate in the "Victory Chorus". She can often be found emceeing community events and helping raise money through live auctions for a variety of non-profit organizations.
Kim Isenberg
Board Member
Kim has significant political, policy and advocacy experience. She works with healthcare advocacy organizations to maintain open access to life saving therapies for people living with rare disease. Kim’s career began in youth leadership development. Her passion for working to make a difference led her to a career in public policy. Kim was a candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1992. Her past positions have included roles in federal and state government, the University of Minnesota, pharmaceutical associations, biopharmaceutical manufacturers and public relations firms.
Ashleigh Leitch
Board Member
Ashleigh is a lawyer at Best & Flanagan LLP and focuses on labor and employment law, appellate advocacy, and general civil litigation. She has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Minnesota Supreme Court. She was recently recognized as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers. Ashleigh graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and the College of Saint Benedict. She got her start in politics by interning in the White House during the Obama Administration, for Senator Amy Klobuchar, and for the City of Minneapolis. Ashleigh also serves on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Justice Foundation.
Karen Hudson
Karen Hudson is the chief sales officer for Grant Thornton. She leads the firm’s national business development team, which is responsible for building long term client relationships, understanding client business challenges and bringing the breadth of Grant Thornton expertise and services to provide client value. Her role also encompasses sales recruiting, training, enablement, and compensation as well as advising on broader growth strategies and initiatives. Before joining Grant Thornton, Karen held a variety of sales, technical and executive roles at IBM. In addition to Women Winning, Karen also serves on the board of directors of the Center for Economic Inclusion and the Minnesota Technology Alliance. Karen lives in St Paul with her husband, Harley Gee, and has three young adult children. She enjoys door knocking and phone banking for Women Winning candidates.
Jackie Statum Allen
Board Member
Jackie joined the Bush Foundation as the Education Portfolio Director in 2018. She manages the strategy, programs, and partnerships for the Foundation’s education initiative, which focuses on making education more relevant for students in terms of who they are, how they learn, and where they want to go.
Prior to the Bush Foundation, Jackie spent over a decade working in public school district administration. Most recently, she led the Office of Strategic Planning, Policy and Grants Development for Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS). In that role she led several high-impact projects including developing and implementing multiple district strategic plans, developing inclusive policies, and managing informational campaigns for two successful referendum ballot issues. Prior to SPPS, she worked in operations and budget management with Chicago Public Schools. She also has experience working in brand marketing and manufacturing engineering.
Jackie currently serves on the board of Genesys Works - Twin Cities (GWTC). GWTC works with over 350 high school and college students, most of whom are from low-income households and/or are first gen college students. The students receive training and are placed in year-long internships in information technology. She is also on the Executive Committee for Generation Next, which uses a collective impact model to improve outcomes for students at SPPS and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS.)
Jackie is originally from St. Louis, Missouri. She has a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a master's degree from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two young daughters.
Betsy Sitkoff
Board Member
Betsy Sitkoff is a consultant with Process for Peace, LLC, a practice she founded in 2013. Process for Peace provides leadership to organizations, community groups, and schools addressing a broad range of needs including support for immigrant and refugee families, and family and community violence.
Betsy is community activist and a past board president of the National Council of Jewish Women MN.
Betsy holds a BS in Child Psychology and a Parent Education License from the University of Minnesota, and a MA in Public Administration from Hamline University. In 2016 Betsy completed her 230-hour yoga teacher training certificate.
Betsy has two children and lives in Minneapolis with her husband, Steve.
KaYing Yang
Board Member
KaYing Yang is a social justice advocate who has built and led community development efforts in the US and in Asia. Over twenty years ago KaYing began her career as a community organizer and nonprofit leader providing social services and advocacy to refugees and immigrants. Nationally and globally, KaYing worked in coalition with civil rights groups and international development agencies to address educational, economic and gender inequities. In 2013, she became the co-founder and President of RedGreen Rivers, a social enterprise working with women and girls in the Mekong Region to build sustainable communities. Today, she is the Director of Programs for the Coalition of Asian American Leaders. She is also a recipient of a 2019 Bush Fellowship from the Bush Foundation.
Makeda Zulu
Board Member
Makeda Zulu is the University of Minnesota Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center’s (UROC) chief executive officer. She provides executive oversight of strategic planning, revenue generation, financial stewardship, organizational development, staff management, and operational activities. She has been a part of this University-community place-based innovation since 2006.
Over the last 25+ years Zulu has served her community personally and professionally. She has served on boards of Juxtaposition Arts and Towerside Innovation District. Makeda is a former Senate District 59 party chair, and has been instrumental in a few campaigns for office. She is currently a board member of Parents in Community Action Head Start and Black Storytellers Alliance. Her impact spans work in youth development, childcare and family programming for almost a decade with the Twin Cities YMCA, then added community development, as an organizer for the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council. The University awarded her the Outstanding Community Service Award (2014).
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Grambling State University and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Makeda believes in Ubuntu – I am because we are; self-determined people who work collaboratively in purpose and creativity to make positive change. She lives in North Minneapolis.
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Mary Supple
Mayor, Richfield
Richfield At-Large Council Member Mary Supple is running for Mayor of Richfield. Supple is an active local leader and was a teacher in Richfield Public Schools for 33 years. She currently serves on the City Council and is chair of the Richfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Council Member Supple was active as a local union leader in Education Richfield serving as local president as well as lead contract negotiator. She was also a member of the Education Minnesota Governing Board, a member of the National Education Association Board of Directors, and a trustee of the Minnesota Teacher Retirement Association. Supple is excited about the future of Richfield and wants to work together with residents to dream about and build the future of our thriving community.
Candidate Rena Moran for Ramsey County Commissioner of District 4 is the current Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In 2010, Rena Moran became the first African American to represent District 65A. As a legislator, she has focused on protecting children in the child welfare system, strengthening schools, reducing educational disparities, and fighting for affordable housing, economic opportunity for all, and women’s rights. Rep. Moran formerly served as Chair of the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee, House Deputy Minority Leader, and was the founding Chair of the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus and the United Black Legislative Caucus (UBLC). She currently serves on the Governor’s Executive Council for Young Women Initiative and the Governor’s Council on Justice Reinvestment. She holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Southern Illinois University and was recently the Director of Prevention Initiatives and Parent Leadership at Prevent Child Abuse MN dba Minnesota Communities Caring for Children.
In 2020 Rep. Moran was recognized for her leadership by receiving several awards including:
Twin Cities Business, Top 100 People to Know in 2021
MN Physician, top 100 influential Health Care Leaders
NAMI Minnesota, Legislator of the Year Award
Nancy Latimer 2020 Legislative Champion Award - Early Childhood Education Award
Elizabeth Lamin is an accomplished prosecutor with over sixteen years of experience, handling thousands of criminal cases and trying complex homicides, shootings, and other serious felonies. After working with battered women’s organizations helping survivors of domestic violence to navigate the legal system, she decided to go to law school. Now she is running for Dakota County Attorney to bring justice, compassion, and innovation to our criminal justice system. She lives in Eagan with her partner and two teenage children. She was born in the former Soviet Union and came to Minnesota as a child as a political refugee due to the persecution her family experienced. From the beginning, she grew to appreciate the importance of having a fair and just system for all individuals. In addition, she worked with community partners to create a restorative justice circle to help victims and their families heal. Most recently, she was appointed as the Director of Violence Intervention and Community Partnerships. She is working on a strategy of focused deterrence for addressing youth auto thefts by initiating a partnership in Ramsey County to bring together police, youth outreach workers, and community to proactively reduce auto theft recidivism. She is also working to reduce carjackings by collaborating with various criminal justice partners to ensure that individuals involved in carjacking are caught and successfully prosecuted. Her frontline experience, combined with her experience advocating alongside community leaders, make her the most qualified candidate for Dakota County Attorney.
Lori Saroya is a proud resident of Blaine and a candidate for Blaine City Council, Ward 1. Lori and her husband have lived in Blaine for 17 years ago and are raising their three children, ages 11, 6, and 2. She has spent the past seven years serving on the Blaine Charter Commission. Lori is the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States in the late 1960s. Her family settled in rural Iowa and she moved to Minnesota to attend St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Lori earned her Juris Doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Lori is committed to service and community. In addition to being a Blaine Charter Commissioner, she served on the Minnesota Judicial Branch Committee for Equality and Justice, St. Paul Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity Commission, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Board of Directors, and the Alumni Board of Mitchell Hamline School of Law. As a nonprofit leader, Lori has spent her entire career empowering communities to learn, grow and succeed together. She is committed to building a safe and inclusive Blaine where everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.
Trista MatasCastillo is a mother, a wife, a veteran, and a vocal and effective advocate. Over her career, she has tirelessly spoken out for important issues like affordable housing, homelessness, mental health, disability services, autism research, urban agriculture and veterans services. Trista joined the United States Navy at 17, and served on active duty for 16 years. She is one a only a handful who have served in three branches of the service, both as an enlisted person and as an officer the Navy-Marine Corps and the Army National Guard. Trista often served as the only or first woman in each of her duty assignments and was the first woman to serve as Commander of the 34th Military Police Company. After her military service, Trista became a community organizer and policy leader for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, where she developed government relationships as an advocate for affordable housing. During this time she helped found the Homes for ALL Coalition, working to increase funding for the entire housing continuum. She has served on the Ramsey County Board since 2019, and was elected Chair in 2022.
Julie Strahan (she/her/hers) is a first term City Councilmember in Roseville. A member of the League of Women Voters and a former board member for ERA MN, Julie is a progressive champion of the human rights of those who identify as women. While in office, Julie supported a conversion therapy ban, and passage of a resolution in support of women’s equality as a legislative priority for the state of Minnesota. She is passionate about protecting the rights of all people, of all gender identities, especially with regard to healthcare access and reproductive rights. Ms. Strahan is endorsed by the Roseville DFL, Stonewall DFL, Senior Caucus DFL, the North Central States Carpenter’s union, Local 322 Carpenter’s, and the OPEIU Local 12.
Seema Maddali and her husband have been residents of Eagan for nearly 20 years and have come to love the city and enjoy the facilities in Dakota County. She works as an emergency room physician at the VA hospital in Minneapolis and has 35 years of clinical experience with board certifications in Internal Medicine & Hospice and Palliative Care. She has also had the opportunity to mentor the next generation of physicians as an Assistant Professor of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Additionally, she has obtained a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota. Throughout her career as a healthcare professional, she has served in leadership roles in major healthcare organizations in the Twin Cities with a focus on building patient-centered programs to improve community health. Outside of healthcare, she has worked alongside her neighbors in the PTA, nonprofit fundraisers, sports organizations, and by volunteering at local homeless shelters, Habitat for Humanity, and The Open-Door Pantry. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends, visiting new places, gardening, and being “grandma” to her daughter’s pug, Peter.
· Technology Transactions Attorney for Workday, Inc. · Recipient of the North Start Pro Bono designation and the Minnesota Lawyer Magazine “In House Counsel Rising Start Award” · Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and International Business from Iowa State University. · Law Degree, with honors, from Michigan State University. · MN Association of Black Lawyers Treasurer · Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas School of Law and University of Minnesota Law School · Previously served on the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Black Chamber of Commerce · Former chair of the Human Rights Committee for the MN State Bar · Rescue dog (Barkley) and cat (Maxine) mom
I am not a politician, I am someone who loves people and a believer in public service. Brooklyn Park is a one-of-a kind city, a wonderful place to live, and is growing. I'm running for City Council to use my skills and experience to ensure we work together in building our future. I believe that women need to be represented in all levels of government and need to be at the table where decisions are made. As a mother and grandmother, and with years in social service work I have a unique perspective on what impacts our community and in how to build consensus.