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.

Miriam Cash is the director of National Media at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she is responsible for developing communications strategy and engaging national press to amplify the National Partnership’s core work to create an equitable economy, advance workplace fairness, and advocate for health and reproductive justice to uplift women and families. She helps to lead the communications team and coordinate with policy staff across the organization to maximize the impact of our policy and advocacy work.

Prior to her work at the National Partnership, Miriam gained experience advocating for progressive economic and health care policy on Capitol Hill where she helped lead communications strategy and press efforts for U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand – and most recently served as Communications Director for U.S. Representative Mondaire Jones. She was also Press Secretary at EMILYs List, where she built relationships with national political reporters to uplift stories of the historic number of women running for office during the 2018 and 2020 cycles.

Miriam grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania and graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, before moving to Washington, D.C., where she lives with her cat, Ceci.

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.