NJFDW Announces 2021 State Leadership and New Format

New Jersey Federation of Democratic Women (NJFDW) is proud to announce its newly formed State Organizing Committee, composed of New Jersey leaders with the big D from diverse backgrounds and communities. In a series of Firsts for the organization, NJFDW elected their youngest and first Millennial state President for New Jersey. With this announcement, the organization will be undergoing transformations with a new format for meetings and the formation of policy, action, and other committees. Those interested in joining a committee are encouraged to attend the January virtual meeting.

“We are here to ensure unity and a platform for women to engage in Democratic politics throughout New Jersey.” said Alana Burman, newly elected President for NJFDW, “As NJFDW recruits more members to the state level, we secure a greater voice and advocacy arm to support Democratic women and Democratic values of inclusion and equity throughout the state.”

Outgoing President Andrea Mastro and Deputy Treasurer and Ewing Councilwoman Jennifer Keyes Maloney swore in the new NJFDW executive board, composed of committed Democratic women of a variety of backgrounds from across the Democratic political spectrum and the state of New Jersey.

Alana Burman, State President, is a policy expert on education, extremism, and anti-bias work, as well as the former Assistant Communications Director at NJBPU, a former Murphy campaign operative, and a former lobbyist. She has regularly been recognized as one of the most influential political leaders in New Jersey in addition to designing and leading the passage of The Restorative Justice Pilot for New Jersey’s Public Schools. Alana now works as the lead New Jersey contact for The Anti-Defamation League where she now works on civil rights issues.

Margaret Weinberger, Vice President, is the recently Former President of the Somerset County Federation of Democratic Women and the recipient of the Volunteer Service Recognition from NJFDW 2017 due to her decades of experiences with campaigns, events, and political involvement on the county, municipal, and state level. Margaret is a former Teacher and Administrator, who retired after a life of public service.

Rachel Green, Second Vice President, is most proud of her beloved family. Rachel founded the social media-based grassroots groups Jersey Girl 4 Joe/Kamala-Women for Biden/Harris. She is the Grassroots Digital New Jersey-Founder and Co-Executive State Administrator in addition to being the Women of Color Coalition -Co-Chair and a Gloucester County NAACP Executive Board Member. Rachel also is State Civil Rights Director and Southern Regional Director of Action Together New Jersey. Recently, she was a New Jersey Joe Biden District Delegate for 2020.

Shawn Hunter, Treasurer, is a financial expert, she is also the founder of HBS Asset Company Enterprise with 30 years’ finance experience. She worked for several years in City of Orange’s finance department. She serves as Vice Chair of Orange Democratic Committee, Committee member for NJ Reentry Corp, and with Giblin Association. She is a recipient of the Giblin community service award from Giblin Association directed by Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin. Also, she earned the Shirley Chisholm community service award from New Jersey Lt. Governor Sheila Y. Oliver. Previously, she ran for Mayor of Orange. Now, she’s pursuing her law degree at California School of Law. 

Roberta Walters, Secretary, is County Committeeperson (District 5) and in a variety of roles leading and supporting local, county and state candidates. Roberta is the President of the Somerset County Federation of Democratic Women and sits on the Somerset County LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. Her other roles include being a member of the Somerset-Middlesex chapter of NOW and a Steering Committee member for Indivisible Central NJ. Roberta works with Planned Parenthood Action Fund of NJ and is the Community Action Team (CAT) Lead for Somerset County and co-lead for Middlesex. Roberta is a Quality Assurance Manager with her current company for 26 years and she has two rescue dogs Bella and Oakley.

Cynthia Starke, Communications, has a professional background in pharmaceutical sales in the US and international pharmaceutical marketing in Asia and Europe. In 2015, Cynthia completed a master’s degree from Penn State (2015) in US Healthcare Policy, with an emphasis on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Cynthia sat on the Executive Committees of the Somerset County Democrats (2016-2019), Somerset County Federation of Democratic Women (2016-2019), the Bernardsville Democrats (2013-2020), and the NJFDW (2016-present) where she is responsible for building and management of the organization’s websites and digital media platforms.

The state organizing committee plans to immediately get to work on elevating the voice of Democratic women throughout New Jersey, especially with the incoming legislative and election seasons. The first meeting of the 2021 will be held virtually on January 27, 2021 at 7pm and the topic will be The State of Women in New Jersey. Anyone interested in joining a committee is encouraged to join this meeting. Attendees can register for the Zoom here: https://forms.gle/rCrKheC7Zn9EV6bp6

NJFDW is the state chapter of the National Federation of Democratic Women, which operations nationally within the party as the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) official women’s organization and holds a seat on the DNC Executive Committee, as well as three seats on the DNC. NJFDW has local country chapters within the state across 11 countries. For more information or to start/join a local chapter, go to www.njfdw.org.