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The Democracy that Gen Y is Building

October 10, 2010 by

[HTML1] Maya Enista is Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org, a growing and innovative Millennial organization whose mission is to improve democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions.

Maya joins Keeping Up with Gen Y to talk about Mobilize.org’s upcoming summit on higher education titled Target 2020: My Education. Our Future. The first meeting is this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., where 150 community college students will come together to propose solutions to higher education problems, including the college completion crisis.  Three additional summits are planned for next year in California, New York, and Florida.

Maya also discusses how Generation Y is not just contributing to democracy, but building the democracy that they want to inherit by expanding on the accomplishments of previous generations.

More about Maya Enista
Maya Enista joined the Mobilize.org team in July 2005 as Chief Operating Officer of a small non-profit. Today, she is the Chief Executive Officer of a growing and innovative Millennial organization whose mission is to improve democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions.

At 27 years old, Maya is a veteran in the public service sector, having been active since she was an undergraduate at Rutgers University, where she focused mainly on voter empowerment and youth civic engagement. She began her career as the East Coast Coordinator for Rock The Vote at age 17, a position in which she registered over 30,000 young people and was awarded the first ever Rock The Vote “Rockin’ The Street’s” Award.

In addition to her work with Mobilize.org, Maya serves on several boards, including the Advisory Board for CIRCLE and the Young Non-Profit Professionals Network. For her leadership, the proud New Jersey native has been awarded a YouthActionNet Fellowship, the Independent Sector NGEN American Express Fellowship and Utne Reader’s 50 Visionaries Changing Your World Award.

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About Tamara Bell

Tamara Bell is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Y Gen Out Loud, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides a platform for Generation Yto discuss national politics and public policy issues.

Tamara began her journalism career as a staff reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. A few years later, she moved to York, Pa., as a political reporter for the York Dispatch, covering local, state, and national government as well as writing investigative stories for the mid-sized daily newspaper.

A Texas girl at heart, Tamara returned to Dallas a year later to work as press relations director for the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. John Bryant. The next year, she moved to Austin and the Texas Legislature, where she stayed for 15 years. While at the Legislature, Tamara worked for Democratic House members as Chief-of-Staff and Press Secretary, and as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Senate State Affairs Committee chaired by a Republicansenator.

In 1996, Tamara became co-owner of a political newsletter covering state issues and elections. As Editor-in-Chief, Tamara helped shape the weekly publication into a must-read for state officials, legislative aides, and lobbyists. More recently, Tamara wrote a regular column analyzing coverage by the Texas Capitol Press Corps for an online political publication. She also works as a lecturer in the Advertising Department at The University of Texasat Austin.

Tamara has also been a judge for the 2010 Bright Ideas Award given by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, served as a panelist at the Society of Professional Journalists 2010 Region 8 Conference where the theme was How to Save Journalism, and has been a guest lecture for the Advertising Department’s Internship course, speaking about the jobs outlook for graduating seniors.

Tamara earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin, and her B.A. in Journalism from Texas A&M University. She resides in Austin with her son, Jackson.

Tamara Bell is also the Host of Keeping Up with Gen Y on WomensRadio. Keeping Up with Gen Y offers discussions, interviews, and commentary about important issues of the day from the perspective of Generation Y (18-to 30-years-old). Aimed at all generations interested in learning about and inspiring young people, this show features professionals, experts, researchers, and members of Gen Y who share insights and experiences about the topics on the minds of today’s young adults.