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Algene Sajery is the creator, producer, and host of The Minority Leaders Podcast. She is a foreign policy and national security expert, Capitol Hill veteran, former political campaign operative, former small business owner, and current Vice President of External Affairs for a United States international development agency. Note: The views expressed by me on this podcast are 100% my own.

Algene created The Minority Leaders as a women's leadership project, to highlight the journeys of women of color in politics and policymaking. She occasionally features women in business and the nonprofit community who have made significant contributions to global or domestic policy debates.

Algene formerly served on the Executive Committee (board) of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, and is a member of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, Black Women’s Congressional Alliance, Black Professionals in International Affairs, and Women in Government Relations. A graduate of Howard University, Algene is a proud graduate chapter member of the esteemed Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Over the course of her career Algene became increasingly concerned about the lack of women, especially women of color, at senior levels in the foreign policy, national security, and other senior policymaking and political roles. As the first woman of color to serve as democratic policy director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Algene is committed to increasing woman and minority representation in U.S. politics and policymaking.

Kendra Brown currently holds the role of Director, Public Policy for Mastercard. She is also the Chair of the Maryland State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.  Previously, she was the Chief of Staff for Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) in the United States Congress and Senior Director for Diversity, Inclusion and Affinity for the Washington College of Law at American University where she led the law school’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. 
She is a Former National Chair of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA). During her term as National Chair, NBLSA was active in election protection, leadership training and development, academic planning, career development, and extensive advocacy efforts.
Kendra completed her undergraduate studies at Hampton University, her Master of Divinity at Howard University Divinity School, and received her law degree from Vermont Law School.  Additionally, Kendra attended the George Washington University School of Law for her Master of Laws.
She is committed to community engagement and empowerment as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and The Links, Incorporated.  She is a member of the Leadership Committee of Street Law, Inc, a global, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that develops classroom and community programs to educate youth about law and government.  Additionally, she is also a member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, DC Regional Board.
 
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Erika West brings more than 14 years of experience in progressive politics and issue advocacy, and a keen awareness of the relationship between policy-makers and the public engagement that awakens them to the need for change. At The Raben Group, Erika works with clients whose interests address opportunity gaps, ranging from reproductive freedom to diversity to economic justice. Erika has assisted these clients with messaging, stakeholder engagement, and communications strategies to earn media and intensify public awareness. Erika has worked on Capitol Hill, spent four years on the road electing Democrats to governorships and Congress, and served as Political Director at a national advocacy organization overseeing a federal PAC, ballot measure campaigns, and electoral strategy.

Erika currently co-leads Raben engagements with Democracy In Color and Green 2.0, campaigns that push for increased diversity among national Democratic Party and environmental movement leadership, respectively. Erika has also helped a major veterans services organization (VSO) secure new federal funding for wounded veterans whose service injuries resulted in infertility. In this capacity, Erika organized a coalition of over 15 VSOs and partners for bipartisan advocacy efforts targeting congressional committees on Veterans’ Affairs. The year-long campaign resulted in a 2017 appropriation for in-vitro fertilization treatment, a service that had been denied as a matter of policy to veterans for the past 25 years.

Erika’s talent for framing issue campaigns and organizing the right voic… Read More