These are the speakers headlining our January 11th We The People Summit Workshops. The schedule and list of the Workshop and their descriptions can be found here.
Deedra Abboud
Deedra Abboud, is a Phoenix-based attorney, public speaker, and media commentator. Originally from Arkansas, Deedra moved to Arizona in 1998. She is a past recipient of both Phoenix and Tempe Martin Luther King Jr. awards and is highly respected for her community leadership and advocacy.
Jenny Guzman
Jenny Guzman is a Legislative Communications Coordinator for Progress Now Arizona. Originally from Yuma, AZ she is committed to advancing equity and justice for marginalized communities as well as progressive values.
Naketa Ross
Naketa Ross was elected to represent Ward 1 of the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board in November 2018 and begins her first term in 2019. Ross is a Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist and has been an advocate for marginalized youth and children aging out of the foster care system. ...Read more
Danaysha Smith
Danaysha Smith is the Community Organizer for Arizona Coalition for Change (AZC4C). Danaysha is a passionate and dedicated organizer in the community. She currently attends Strayer University pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, in the hopes to soon pursue her Master’s degree. ...Read more
Alison Porter
After working in sales, marketing, admin, accounting and as an advocate, Alison found her true calling as an organizer in 2011, participating in the successful recall of Russell Pearce. She had always believed in people power and Margaret Mead’s quote “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”...Read more
Brent Whiting
Brent Whiting is the Vice President and Co-Founder of Tomorrow We Vote whose mission is to inform youth of the voting process and register students of or near the voting age in their third or fourth year of high school in Arizona. Tomorrow We Vote is a non-partisan, issue-focused organization headquartered in Phoenix....Read more
Emily Kirkland
Emily Kirkland is the Executive Director of Progress Now Arizona, which runs hard-hitting accountability campaigns and provides digital organizing and communications support to the Arizona progressive movement. Before joining Progress Now Arizona, she worked on climate issues in Massachusetts, doing organizing and communications work with 350 and other groups.
Jimmy Arwood
Jimmy is a graduate from Arizona State University’s Honors College with a B.S. in Public Policy and a concentration in Sustainability. During his senior year Jimmy joined Save Our Schools as their field manager in Maricopa and aided them in successfully stopping SB1431....Read more
Kevin Walsh
Kevin Walsh is the Vice President of the Kyrene School District Governing Board. He is the proud father of two Kyrene kids. He is the Chairman of JAG Arizona, one of the largest and oldest student mentoring programs in Arizona where they serve more than 1,200 young people in Phoenix, Tempe, and other communities through Arizona. Professionally, Kevin is a business attorney with the law firm of Quarles & Brady in Phoenix, AZ.
Korina Iribe
Korina Iribe is a graduate from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Human Communications and a minor in Political Science. She often shares her personal story of navigating the education system as an undocumented/DACA student because her journey to finish college led her to the world of community activism and organizing. ...Read more
Luis Cardenas Camacho
Luis Cardenas Camacho is a Partnership Specialist with the US Census Bureau. His job is to develop partnership agreements with federal, state local, and tribal governments, and/or local businesses and community groups to develop specific strategies to eliminate enumeration barriers in hard to count regions in support of the 2020 Decennial Census....Read more
Maritza Miranda Saenz
Maritza Miranda Saenz is the proud daughter of two farmworkers who instilled in her a sense of responsibility to care for her community and be an advocate for others. Currently, Maritza serves as the proud Executive Director of the Maricopa County Democratic Party (MCDP) where she has worked since 2017, serving first as the Director of Operations. She is the former Chair of the Latino Outreach Committee of MCDP and former Vice Chair of Legislative District 27.
Nathaniel Sigal
Nate is a Tucson native, proud “T-Loc”, and University of Arizona Graduate. His first involvement in local politics was as an intern for U.S. Congressman Raúl Grijalva. He continued to serve as an aide and campaign manager to Rep. Grijalva, also helping other candidates for the state legislature, local school board and other races along the way. ...Read more
DJ Quinlan
DJ Quinlan is a political consultant and campaign strategist born and raised in Arizona. He has advised candidates across all levels of the ballot on voter-contact strategies, messaging, and the use of data and analytics in campaigns. ...Read more
Savannah Drake
Savannah Drake is the Deputy Field Director for the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. In 2018, she served as Jennifer Pawlik and Steve Weichert’s Campaign Manager in LD 17 (Chandler/Gilbert) and has experienced firsthand campaign burnout and how to combat it.
Gabriella Cázares-Kelly
Gabriella Cázares-Kelly (she/her) is a proud, dues paying, #RedForEd public school educator, a writer, community organizer and voting rights advocate. She is one of four women who founded Indivisible Tohono, a grassroots, community organization that provides opportunities for education and civic engagement for members of her tribe: the Tohono O’odham Nation. She is extremely active in local politics and believes in the need to infiltrate, create or transform spaces to include Indigenous voices and issues.
Randy Perez
Randy Perez is the Democracy Director at the Arizona Center for Empowerment (ACE) and its sister organization, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), where he works to expand and protect voting rights to communities most impacted by attempts to disenfranchise our communities. ...Read more
Andrea Diaz
Andrea Diaz is the President and co-founder of Tomorrow We Vote; a non-partisan nonprofit focusing on registering students to vote inside classrooms. She’s a second generation Phoenician and comes from a family of educators that instilled the importance of participating in civic and social engagement which resulted in volunteering for multiple organizations in Arizona and California.