IGNITE's Blog

Meet the 5th cohort of IGNITE Fellows. Every year IGNITE recruits a cohort of diverse and passionate women in communities across America and provides them with resources, training, and networks to flex their political power and mobilize women on their campuses and in their communities to become civically engaged. Fellows serve as ambassadors for IGNITE’s mission and vision and play a valuable role in our efforts to spread a national message that it is time for young women to step into political power.

Internships are a great way to advance your career path. The experiences you have in an internship can show you what you enjoy doing and you’ll learn so much along the way. But first, you have to find your dream internship. 

Interning with an elected official can show you the ins and outs of having a career in politics, help you build your network and open the door to future opportunities. Below are some resources for interning with an elected official, within Congress or within State Legislature. 

As more issues capture national attention, you may be asking yourself how do you get involved? Many folks tend to think of protest as being a primary form of activism, but activism exists in so many different forms! Everyone has different strengths, so take on a form of activism that works best for you.

When Cecilia Ruesta came across IGNITE through an email from her professor over two years ago, she knew she wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to continue helping her community. “What caught my eye in the email was IGNITE’s mission. Empowering young women and trying to reach gender parity is something that I was passionate about as well,” shares Cecilia. She has served as the Central Valley Fellow for over two years. 

Shradha wasn’t always interested in politics while growing up, but she quickly became interested after the 2016 election. She realized she was passionate about a lot of political issues in her community, but didn’t know where to find other people who had those same passions. When she stumbled upon the IGNITE Fellowship, she knew she was presented with an opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals. She applied to the Fellowship and became the first Columbus Fellow over two years ago. 

At a political conference in 2015, one of the hosts came up to Mayleen Mermea and told her that she should run for office. This comment was something Mayleen had never expected. “I had never in my life been told that. She didn’t know it at the time, but she planted a seed,” she says. Since then, Mayleen told herself that she would run for office, and took it upon herself to learn more about what it really means to be political. When she heard about IGNITE’s National Young Women Run conference in D.C. in 2017, Mayleen knew she would let nothing stop her from going. 

After attending the National Young Women Run conference in D.C., Kaya Jones was inspired to become an IGNITE Fellow.  “Being around all those great women really motivated me, I just wanted to be in an environment like that,” she shares. When it was announced that the IGNITE Fellowship would come to Philadelphia, Kaya jumped at the opportunity to lead her community. 

Chiquita Jackson has always been an advocate for her community, and wanted to find ways to become even more involved. As she was researching political fellowships, she stumbled across IGNITE and decided to attend the National Young Women Run conference last year. While there, she learned that the IGNITE Fellowship was coming to her city, and knew that this was her chance to seize the opportunity. 

As the daughter of an elected official, Sydney Lee is no stranger to the political realm. In fact, when she was applying to be an IGNITE Fellow, she was also running for student body president at the same time. Sydney ended up winning the student body president position by the highest margin her university had ever seen, becoming the second Black person to hold that position.