Media Contacts
Amaya Smith
Amaya Smith is vice president for marketing and communications at the National Partnership for Women & Families. In that role she oversees strategic messaging as well as digital and earned communications around issues important to women and families. These issues include reproductive justice, women’s health care and workplace fairness. Smith works to ensure that stakeholders and the public understand that women’s health and reproductive freedom is inextricably entwined with economic justice. Before joining National Partnership she served as Communications Director and Strategic Advisor to the President, at the AFL-CIO. Prior to joining the AFL-CIO Smith served as a Press Secretary for the American Association for Justice (AAJ). She also served as the South Carolina Press Secretary for the Obama for America campaign during the 2008 Democratic primary.
Smith developed experience working with diverse media outlets and constituencies as a Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee, where she handled press for the women’s, African American, labor, faith, college and youth communities. She got her start in legislative advocacy working for former Congressman Albert R. Wynn, her local representative. She served as a Communications Director for Congressman Wynn for four years and built relationships with Capitol Hill and Washington reporters. Smith is a graduate of American University and is originally from Silver Spring, Md. Her passion for social justice and women’s health comes from a mom who is a retired registered nurse and an eternal activist.
Amaya Smith
Vice President for Marketing and Communications
Dara Bean
Dara Bean is the senior director of experts and booking at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she works to publicize the work and research being done by the National Partnership by booking our president and experts on various platforms.
Prior to joining the National Partnership, Dara was an editorial producer for CNN “This Morning with Kasie Hunt,” where she curated compelling conversations, sourced diverse voices, and helped shape national narratives around today’s most pressing issues. Dara was also on the booking team for Chris Wallace’s CNN shows where she helped to facilitate the appearances of newsmakers, experts, and thought-leaders for both long-form interviews and weekly panel programming.
Before making the jump to CNN, she worked as a booking researcher for the NBC News centralized booking team with a focus on supporting breaking news coverage and discovering talent for the network’s landmark programming including the “TODAY” show, NBC “Nightly News,” and NBC News “NOW.” In addition to being a booking researcher researcher at NBC News, she also worked as a production assistant on “Stay Tuned,” the NBC News Snapchat program, and began her career as an NBC page at 30 Rock in New York City.
Dara has always had a passion for amplifying the voices of marginalized communities and providing platforms that showcase the range of human experience. She believes in the power of storytelling to encourage empathy and mutual understanding. Dara is a graduate of New York University and a native of Silver Spring, Maryland. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with friends and loved ones and keeping up with the latest pop culture craze.
Dara Bean
Senior Director of Experts and Booking
Llenda Jackson-Leslie
Llenda Jackson-Leslie is a senior communications specialist at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she works to showcase reproductive health and health care issues.
Prior to her work at the National Partnership, Llenda was a senior communications associate at McKinney & Associates, where she led campaigns on transformative justice, gender justice and health equity. Previously, she served as director of legislative communications for the American Civil Liberties Union where she managed communications initiatives to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.
A native Detroiter, Llenda served as communications director for Michigan’s largest trial court and marketing director for the Detroit Branch NAACP before moving to Washington, D.C.
Llenda Jackson-Leslie
Senior Communications Specialist, Health Justice
Gail Zuagar
Gail Zuagar is a senior communications specialist at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she works to amplify the organization’s economic justice work to a range of audiences. Prior to joining the National Partnership, Gail developed a passion for combining communications with advocacy and outreach in previous roles at The Education Trust and the National Women’s Law Center.
Gail earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University and her master’s degree in public relations and corporate communications from Georgetown University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their children.
Gail Zuagar
Senior Communications Specialist, Economic Justice
For general inquiries, please email Emily Roe at eroe@nationalpartnership.org.
Press Statements
New Report: More Than 40% of Georgia Veterans Rely on Social Security
The Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy (CFFE) in collaboration with the National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) has just released a report analyzing the impact of Social Security benefits for Georgia veterans and their families.
Shalanda Young and Neneki Lee Join National Partnership’s Board
The National Partnership for Women & Families announced the additions of Shalanda Young and Neneki Lee to the Board of Directors. Both were appointed effective November 2025.
NPWF Statement on Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s Announcement of Her Retirement in 2027
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been a groundbreaking, transformative leader whose vision, tenacity, dogged determination, and tireless work over decades has fundamentally changed the policy landscape to improve the lives of people and communities across the nation.
Virginia and New Jersey Vote in Favor of Protecting Rights and Forward Progress for Women and Families
Yesterday, voters across the country made their voices heard, sending a clear message about the policies they want and need, and repudiating the aggressive rollbacks that have undermined women’s rights and progress.
National Partnership Welcomes Nima Sheth as Vice President of Health Justice
The National Partnership for Women & Families announced that Nima Sheth has joined the organization as Vice President for Health Justice.
News Coverage
Supreme Court’s Medina decision limits options for Medicaid enforcement actions – Reuters
“Following Medina, Medicaid providers and enrollees will have few practical options for challenging state decisions about Medicaid funding and benefits. Medina is especially relevant to reproductive health services providers, and individuals seeking reproductive health care. Medicaid is the largest single payer of reproductive and maternal health services in the United States. According to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, it covers nearly 41% of all births nationwide, and the National Partnership for Women & Families states nearly 24 million women receive health insurance through the program. Post Medina, states may pursue policies to limit Medicaid spending on reproductive health care services.”
Trump Prepares to Revoke Lifesaving Abortion Care for Veterans – The Intercept
“‘So that’s 345,000 women veterans that live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion,” said Jaclyn Dean, director of congressional relations, reproductive health, at the National Partnership for Women & Families. “For many of the women veterans living in any of those 12 states with total abortion bans, the VA is the only place that they can get abortion care. So you can expect those people to lose abortion care in cases of rape, incest, in the life and health of the pregnant person.’”
DEI’s Collapse and the Cost to Black Women – Feminist Majority Foundation
“The National Partnership for Women & Families warns that without meaningful DEI protections, these disparities are likely to grow, particularly in workplaces that are no longer accountable to inclusive recruitment and advancement policies.”
Childbirth is still too dangerous. This ancient profession can help. – National Geographic
“Though the transition from home to the hospital was made in the name of safety, it dramatically increased maternal mortality rates. That was ‘due to poor practitioner training, excessive interventions, and the failure to implement aseptic techniques,’ says Carol Sakala , who leads maternal health and maternity care programming at the National Partnership for Women &Families, a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization.”
The Stealth Attack on Women in Trump’s Budget Bill – The New Republic
“Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said that there needs to be more support for women at all stages of caregiving and all kinds of work statuses to make sure women are economically and socially secure. Childcare, eldercare, and other family support policies that only focus on people in traditional employment, and require immediate attachment to work, leave behind people who are self-employed, seasonally employed, and have nontraditional employment statuses—many of whom are women, she said. There are better alternatives; policies that include women who face intimate partner violence issues. A federal bill, for example, would ensure that people can take paid sick time as a result of intimate partner violence.”
