About Emma

Growing Up

Raised in the heart of our district, I learned to believe in the power of people and communities. My dad worked as an early childhood educator and my mom was a social worker. Since those early years, my life has been dedicated to building and bringing people together to collectively solve problems and create change.

Public education shapes lives, builds communities and powers our democracy. I owe where I am today to Minneapolis public schools. My Mom struggled with mental illness and poverty, and my Dad did the very best he could to provide me the stability to grow and succeed.The halls of Barton Open School and South High provided a path to navigate these realities of my childhood.

Through 5th grade at Barton, I struggled to learn to read. It was access to special education and the support of a community of educators, parents and students that got me through and set me up to thrive in high school and beyond. It was around the tables at Barton and South where I discovered and developed my strengths working collaboratively with students from all walks of life to tackle projects, develop trusting relationships, and build strong teams. The seeds of my leadership were planted in the soil of this community.

People-Powered Politics

Returning home after college, I experienced the power of a politics rooted in people while working on Senator Paul Wellstone’s 2002 campaign. It was there I learned a politics that brings people together to make change. Paul taught me, and so many other Minnesotans, what it meant to believe in people and communities and the collective power we have when we work together.

That led me to a future of community organizing—working with families on MFIP engaging and turning-out young folks and students in our elections, working with union school bus drivers and educational assistants fighting for the resources to invest in our kids and their schools.

My experience as an organizer exposed me to the systemic nature of the issues facing our community - especially for the poor and working class, people of color, immigrants and others historically shut out of opportunity. This led me back to school to ground myself in the laws and policies that structure our democracy and participation in public life. I went on to earn a law degree at Berkeley and a masters in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. And, I moved back to Minneapolis, because this is home.

Similar to my community organizing work, as an attorney I saw first hand the laws and systems blocking people from making progressive change and much-needed reform. My legal career began as a public defender where I fought against the injustice in our legal system and over-incarceration of Black, Brown and Indigenous Minnesotans.

Fighting for Our Democracy

Throughout my legal career, we’ve seen rising attacks on democratic participation - voter suppression, Citizens United, and extreme gerrymandering. This led me to my current work as Director of Voting Rights and Democracy for the Center for Popular Democracy where I work with local partners in Minnesota and around the country to build an inclusive democracy and fight against voter suppression and disenfranchisement.

The power of collective action is something I’ve seen transform people and advance democracy locally, nationally, and globally. I am inspired each time I witness a groundswell of people in Minnesota and across the country standing up and standing together to fight for an inclusive, people-powered democracy- one where we make decisions together and determine what our communities need to thrive. This is a moment for structural change to ensure that our democracy is run by us — the people. This is my life’s passion, and I know we can do it. Together.