New Leaders Council – New Jersey Launches 2023 Leadership Institute

Class of 20 Up-and-coming Fellows Began Leadership Training Program

New Leaders Council New Jersey (NLC-NJ) launched the 2023 Leadership Institute this weekend at The College of New Jersey.  The two-day event was part of LEAD: Lead, Engage, Advocate, Develop where 20 NLC-NJ Fellows explored their leadership goals and began to build relationships with each other as a class of changemakers.

“On behalf of our Board of Directors, NLC-NJ was honored to kickoff and welcome 20 new leaders into our family as we began our 6-month intensive leadership institute,” said Mayrose Wegmann, Statewide Director of New Leaders Council – New Jersey and Northwest Director at New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). “Our leadership institute is an incredible experience that produces thoughtful leaders throughout the garden state.”

NLC-NJ is the statewide chapter of the nation’s largest organization that develops, connects, and uplifts inclusive, cross-sector leaders who transform our country through social and political change. The NLC fellowship is a space for intensive leadership development and meaningful connection with other changemakers across issues, industries, and identities.  Our goal is to uplift new voices, new ideas, and new leaders to make progress real. Training includes entrepreneurial goal setting, strategic communications, digital organizing, finance and fundraising, coalition building, public policy, and equity and inclusion. This year’s Institute Chairs are Elena Peeples, a doctoral fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University and Marleina Ubel, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective specializing in criminal justice and immigration policy.

The LEAD Weekend facilitators were Dyese Davis, Chief of Staff to Senator Vin Gopal, and Topher Williams, a seasoned political operative in Colorado.

“Both Dyese and Topher were incredible guiding our new fellows through a leadership journey this weekend,” said Rob Matos-Moran, Deputy Director of NLC-NJ and Outreach Senior Aide to Governor Phil Murphy. “NLC-NJ is incredibly grateful for the expertise they brought and can’t wait to see our fellows build on this momentum throughout the leadership institute.”

About NLC-NJ
NLC-NJ was founded in 2011 by Justin Braz, Chief of Staff and Assistant Commissioner for Transportation Policy at New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and Jackie Cornell, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. This class will join the statewide chapter of more than 230 alumni and a nationwide alumni network of more than 10,000 trained progressive leaders.

For more than 12 years, NLC-NJ has run our Fellowship Institute that provides intensive leadership development and meaningful connections with other changemakers across issues, industries, and identities.  Fellows meet monthly as they travel the state to get an understanding of the diverse demographics that make up the great state of New Jersey.  NLC-NJ now has more than 240 alumni who have graduated from NLC Institute.

About NLC-NJ’s Class of 2023 Fellows

Sakura Ando – PhD candidate at Rutgers School of Nursing and Rutgers Dean’s Dissertation Fellow

Ralph Betancourt – Cannabis Consultant at Longview Strategic

Karina Castrillo – Communications Coordinator at Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 1037

Eloy Delgado – Political Organizer and Lobbyist at New Jersey Education Association (NJEA)

Andrea Garcia – Co-founder of COMMS/Nation LLC.

Julianna Heck – Field Representative and Constituent Advocate for U.S. Congressman Andy Kim

Madelaine Hicks, Esq. – Labor/employment attorney and social justice advocate

Lauren Lalicon – Policy Director to First Lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy

Joe Marchica – Chair at Our Revolution Trenton-Mercer and Civilian Materials Engineer and Team Lead at U.S. Department of the Navy

Antoinette Miles – Political Director at New Jersey Working Families Party 

A’Dorian Murray-Thomas – Founder & CEO of SHE Wins, Inc.

Rosemary Nivar – Assistant Engineer at New Jersey Turnpike Authority

Madina P. Ouedraogo – Government Affairs Manager at Council on American-Islamic Relations, New Jersey Chapter (CAIR-NJ)

Samir Kamat – Medical student at Icahn School of Medicine and United States Navy Officer

James Rolle, Esq. – General Counsel, Trenton Board of Education

Shelja Touri – Chair and founder of Diversity, Equal Opportunity Network (DEON)

Larry Traylor – Aide to Mercer County Commissioner Samuel T. Frisby, Sr.

Dave Pilmenstein – Owner and President of Activate Media

Ivan Wei – Vice President of Sustainability at The Wei, LLC.

Yannick Wood – Director of Criminal Justice Reform Program at New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

Full bios are available at https://www.newleaderscouncil.org/chapter/new-jersey/

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New Leaders Council is a 501c3 and is the leading training program for rising generation progressive leaders. NLC equips its leaders with the skills to run for office, manage campaigns, create startups and networks of thought leaders. NLC leaders take their activism back into their communities and workplaces to impact progressive change. To learn more, please visit www.newleaderscouncil.org.