IGNITE's Blog

Carolyn Kedslie serves as our North Texas Fellow.

Kelsey Lowman serves as our Cincinnati/Cleveland Fellow.

Julia Jannon-Shields serves as our Seattle Fellow.

Rapunizal Boykin serves as our Birmingham Fellow.

Maggie Ash serves as our Columbus Fellow.

Leslie Elizabeth Aguirre serves as our Southern California Fellow.

Uniqua Adams serves as our Milwaukee Fellow.

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.

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.