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.

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.

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.

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.