2024 National Board Candidates
Eastern

Rose Brunache
I am running for the board again to make a real change. That is a cliche, but I want to help make NOW a more nationally recognized organization, modernize aspects of the organization, and increase under 30 women. For over 3 years now, I independently set up monthly meetings to learn about other chapters in a monthly leader chapters discussion. I have sat on the membership and LGBTQ committee. I have hosted workshops on how to raise money for ones chapter. I have only been an officer for 4 years but I have hit the ground running and want to bring my enthusiasm again to the national board as an eastern district board member.

Katonya Hart
Katonya Hart is seeking reelected. She would continue to look for ways chapters to have the resources they need. Katonya also would like to see a youth track where we have discussions to actually onboard youth 15 and younger through targeted materials, discussions, and a youth convention. I would like to see more participation of our members as well as increasing our women of color membership. Ms. Katonya Hart came to Charleston, West Virginia, by way of the Charleston Job Corps Center. She is an advocate for furthering art and education. She forms partnerships that seek to support art, education, economic justice, individuals, community, and spiritual growth through positive empowerment. She believes there is power when two or three gather together in unity to create collaborative and cooperative works. Katonya is a Regional Representative on the WV Women’s Commission, an officer of Women in the NAACP WV, a board member of BLAC, and is co-founder of Black Policy Day at WV’s statehouse, also participating as an artist and conversationalist in Listening for Racial Understanding, an art and recording project traveling the state. Through these groups and others, she has coordinated and/or participated in events aimed at out-reach and education. Her advocacy addresses issues in the community at many levels. Her art takes the form of theater, wearable art, and the written word. She has acted in, written, supported, and organized numerous theater and poetry events in her community.

Beth A Corbin
With your support I will represent the Eastern District on NOW’s National Board, and work to empower grassroots chapter and state leaders and activists. I also think it’s vitally important that NOW organize a coordinated national GOTV strategy to strengthen support for women’s rights in the House and Senate, along with state and local governments. The consequences are dire for women and girls if we don’t. NOW’s strength comes from our grassroots, and I will ensure your voices are heard! During my 36 years in NOW I have worked at the National Action Center, served as a Chapter President, State President and as a National Board member. During my previous Board term I served on the Combating Racism committee, LGBTQIA+ committee, and the Criminalization of Trauma committee. I understand how NOW works and will advocate in NOW’s best interests, and the best interests of women and girls. I’m married to Amy Hummel Corbin, who I met through NOW. My life experiences include being fired from a job for being lesbian, so LGBTQIA+ rights are important to me. I joined NOW over reproductive justice issues and fully support safe and legal abortion, birth control and IVF. Having a disability, I strongly support disability rights. I want the ERA to be recognized as law. And I will work to end violence against women and girls, and the discrimination we face – specifically BIPOC. We must work to end systemic racism and white supremacy. I welcome the opportunity to serve NOW as a National Board member.
Heartland

Laura Welch
I am running for reelection to the NOW Board. I have been a NOW member since 2016 and helped establish the Will County Chapter, serving as President for five years. I was IL state VP of Chapter Development and am the current State President serving my third term. I have created development programs for American Players Theater and Family Self-Help Center, the annual giving/special events program for Good Samaritan Hospital, led two capital campaigns and teams for the St. Louis Symphony and Women’s Self-Help Center that raised over $8 million dollars. With NCJWIL, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, LWVIL, AAUW Naperville and DuPage County NAACP, I helped create the Building Equity Coalition. We’ve held webinars on ending money bond, housing inequities, and racism in our public schools. My coalition work includes sunsetting school vouchers, creating racism free schools, keeping guns away from perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence, and supporting medical aid in dying. I helped create an active CAN at North Central College and with our Naper Allies have kept anti-DEI people out of local government and supported the ban of assault weapons. As state President, I am working to create a planned giving program, outreach to those who sign up at tabling events with a special membership rate and bringing former members back. As a member of the NOW Board, I have facilitated district meetings to share information between our NAC and grassroots, chair the Reproductive Justice committee, serve on the ERA committee, and pushed for understanding about antisemitism.

Sharon Lockhart
A NOW member since 1992, I joined because Anita Hill hearings and reading Audre Lourde woke me. Attending NOW National Conferences and meeting like-minded women have inspired and motivated me. I have attended the last 5 in-person conferences and since Covid, most virtual meetings. As Treasurer and Finance Chair for 100,000-watt non-profit radio station, I gained knowledge of non-profit accounting principles and best practices. Additionally, served on boards of Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus, American Friends Service Committee, Greater Kansas City Civil Rights Consortium, and worked with many other Social Justice non-profits locally, regionally, and nationally. In 2018, self-employed, I sold my practice after 38 years in the financial services industry, 28 of those as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional. My first business experience was operating a deli for over 12 years while attending night classes. Major: Business Management, Minor: Finance and Economics. My background and experience would add value to Budget and Finance -Audit Committees or others. Visually Impaired, I would also add a voice for disability issues. If elected, I vow to work collaboratively with Board members to develop and implement sound practices and solutions in the best interest of NOW. Overcoming NOW’S current financial challenge, increasing membership, increasing NOW Action Center’s responsiveness to states, chapters, and members, eliminating rebate issues, and increasing transparency of operations to all NOW members are some of my priorities. Ensuring the future of NOW and maintaining NOW’s reputation as the leading feminist grassroots organization are vital.

Kim Villanueva
My passion for social justice stems from my lived experiences as a bi-racial lesbian in the Midwest. I believe that every person deserves to be heard, acknowledged, and appreciated. NOW has long been my vehicle for community organizing. As State President, I planned actions and recruited members, spoke at rallies and legislative hearings, and built diverse chapters and coalitions – leading to Illinois NOW’s recognition as the “Most Effective Advocacy Group” by the Illinois Times. As PAC chair, I registered voters and campaigned across Illinois to elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the U.S. Senate. As NOW Elections chair, I teamed with State Presidents to revolutionize the organization’s election procedures, implement hybrid voting, and boost member involvement during the COVID pandemic. Most recently, I was elected in 2022 to serve on the NOW Board of Directors, where I helped organize a conference workshop on “GOAT” fundraising and a webinar on Asian-American identity. Outside of NOW, I hold nearly four decades of professional expertise in board governance and non-profit management. In my job as a non-profit communications director, I oversee member engagement, facilitate board retreats, and manage my association’s Awards, Bylaws, Executive, and Nominating committees – work that values collaboration, confidentiality, transparency, mutual respect, inclusivity, and active listening. These are skills that I hope to continue sharing at the national level. I’m proud to be a card-carrying member of NOW, and I would be honored to again represent the Heartland District on the NOW Board. Please feel free to reach out anytime at kimvillanueva@comcast.net.
Northern

Carolyn B. Maloney
As a member of Congress for 30 years, I have dedicated my entire career to public service and fighting to improve opportunities for women. I started my career as an educator working with ESL classes and went on to work for the Board of Education, the State Assembly and the State Senate. During my ten years on the New York City Council, I fought to expand day care and made a reputation fighting corruption in the way city contracts were awarded. When I was in Congress, women’s issues were among my central areas of focus. Over 80 measures I authored became law, including paid family leave for federal employees (FEPLA), the Debbie Smith Act (called the toughest anti-rape legislation Congress ever passed), anti-sex-trafficking laws, and laws to improve accountability regarding sexual assault on college campuses. When I chaired the Joint Economic Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Reform, I held hearings about issues critical to women’s lives, including breaking the glass ceiling, limitations on access to abortion care and the need for the Equal Rights Amendment. I fought for greater access to mifepristone and commissioned studies on women’s inability to pierce the glass ceiling or reach equality in pay. I was the prime sponsor of the ERA from 1997 until I left Congress in 2023 and am now devoting my time to ensuring the ERA becomes part of the Constitution. With the Supreme Court limiting their inquiry to how they believe the framers would have ruled, we need the Constitution to include a strong declaration of women’s equality adopted in modern times. In my current position as Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Leader in Residence at Hunter College’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, I’m working with Hunter students on a petition calling on Congress to pass legislation acknowledging the ratification of the ERA.
Pacific

Jerilyn Stapleton
I’m running for the board to be part of making life better for all Women and Girls. I’ve been a member of NOW since 1978 working on the front lines in the ERA ratification battle along with fighting for reproductive rights. Reproductive Rights and Justice: I serve on the National Board Committee, as well as the CA Future of Abortion Coalition that helped pass 19 reproductive healthcare bills last year and in 2022 helped pass in California on of the first ballot proposition in the country to codify abortion rights in the state constitution. Ending Violence Against Women: I serve on the National Board Committee and the Los Angeles City Domestic Violence Alliance. I am a longtime advocate of VAWA & VOCA funding and ending rape as a weapon of war. Economic Justice: I work to address AI issues and advocate for policy that will protect women and girls, especially women of color. LGBTQ Rights: As a “B” member of the community I work to ensure we maintain our rights. I serve on the Stonewall Democratic Club Steering Committee in Los Angeles County. Racial Justice: I work on anti-racism issues, including work to defeat voter suppression laws, support Critical Race Theory, advance criminal justice reform legislation that reduce sentencing laws, and end mass incarceration and police brutality. In addition, I support the reparations movement and the restoration of ownership of the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Lakota Nation. Constitutional Equality Amendment: I continue to work on the ERA as a member of the sign4ERA coalition, advocating for the ERA to be published in the US Constitution My knowledge and experience, including my ongoing participation in anti-racist training, make me a valuable contributor to the National Board.
Southern

Judi Marraccini
When my mother left the League of Women Voters for NOW, (in the late ‘60s) I followed right behind her. She was upset that the League would not stand up for abortion rights. I have worked as an advocate and activist throughout my teenage and college years. I was a college intern and after college, a clinic manager at Planned Parenthood in Hackensack NJ. With a long history of advocacy in women’s health issues groups and organizations, I worked to establish battered women’s shelters in every NJ county and helped to provide an avenue to legal abortions (this was in the 1970’s). For 22 years, I worked with University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey teaching feminist- based healthcare including domestic violence, sexual assault and lesbian health issues. As a NOW member for 55 years, I have served on the NJ NOW and FL NOW Boards in many positions. When Myra Terry and Bear Atwood were NJ NOW Presidents, I was their Vice President. In my current position, as FL NOW Membership Director, I have helped NOW chapters get started and keep active. I instituted Chapter Chat, a virtual meeting on the 1st Saturday of the month, for chapters to come together in an informal setting and discuss chapter challenges and successes. I would very much like to represent the Southern District as your National NOW Board Member. My rallying cry is “Stand up, Speak up, Speak out!”

Terry Sanders
I’ve been an active NOW leader for over 15 years and a member of the National Board for the last two years. I’ve learned and grown so much by serving on the National Board and would like to continue the important work we are doing for the women in this country. NOW is the leading women’s organization in this country and I strive to keep it that way. It is so heartening to see our Keep Abortion Legal, ERA NOW, Elect Feminists and other signs all over the country and to know that this organization created those iconic NOW signs. NOW has made a major impact in the past and we need to continue now more than ever. As a member of the National Board, I am committed to our 6 core issues. Our greatest challenges now are moving forward abortion legislation in all the Southern states since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We must continue our efforts to pressure Congress to move forward on the ERA. I’m very concerned with women’s treatment in prisons and the overall justice system and hope to encourage NOW to do more in this area. I look forward to working together within the Southern District to start pulling together and recognize the unique difficulties we are facing. Many Southern states have become the battleground for the worst legislation across the country and we need to work harder than ever. I would greatly appreciate your vote to continue as the Southern District representative.
Western

Alexia Emuze
Alexia Emuze is a dedicated leader and advocate for women’s rights and social justice. In 2019, she revived the NOW Austin Chapter, showcasing her commitment to empowering women and fostering positive change in the community. Alongside her leadership role, Alexia was recognized as America’s Miss Sweetheart Texas 2024, leveraging her platform to amplify important causes and inspire others to action. Her Paralegal Certification underscores her dedication to legal excellence and equity, providing her with a unique perspective on issues of justice. With a passion for creating a more inclusive society, Alexia continues to make a profound impact through her advocacy and leadership. She believes in equal rights and opportunities for all and strives to cultivate a world where everyone can thrive. Alexia’s blend of leadership, advocacy, and legal expertise makes her a formidable force in the pursuit of social change, inspiring others to join her in the fight for a more just and equitable world.

Mary Mosley
I joined NOW in 1974 when I was in graduate school at the University of Missouri. I am a lifetime member. I have been active in NOW in four states—Idaho, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. I was president of the Columbus, Ohio Chapter in 1978-79, co-president of the Evanston-North Shore Chapter in 1988-89, president of the Columbia, Missouri Chapter from 2010-2016, and have held other chapter offices as well. I was President of Missouri NOW from 1989-1991 and Legislative Vice-President starting in the early 2000’s when I lobbied in the Missouri legislature for NOW. I served on the National Board from the Prairie States region for four years in the mid-1990s and was Regional Director for two years. I served on the national Reproductive Rights Committee and other committees. When I moved to Idaho in 2016 there were no NOW chapters, so I founded the SW Idaho Chapter, which now has over 150 members and is very active. I have attended many national conferences. The Western District has had no representation on the National Board for the last 4 years. We are a large district geographically and an important one. Political developments taking place in the West, especially in Idaho, are a model for Christian nationalist policies, which they hope to establish throughout the country. My chapter fights the Christian nationalists every day. I am running to keep our district connected to the national organization and to share ideas about promoting our feminist vision and combatting Christian nationalism. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/planned-parenthood-supporters-rally-to-urge-mu-to-reconsider-doctors-hospital-privileges/article_f87bec70-97b9-11e5-943c-4739b3640b51.html https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinion/2020/08/25/100-years-woman-suffrage-what-difference-has-made/3435065001/ https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article245295285.html https://news.williamwoods.edu/equality-matters-a-diversity-symposium-at-william-woods-university/ https://news.williamwoods.edu/equality-matters-a-diversity-symposium-at-william-woods-university/