Rep Ilhan Omar to Keynote VoteRunLead National Training

VoteRunLead.org, the training powerhouse for women seeking state and local office, just announced State Representative Ilhan Omar will keynote the organization’s upcoming #RunAsYouAre National Training held November 17-19, 2017, in Minneapolis. Ilhan Omar is the first Somali American to hold state office, a VoteRunLead success story, and was also recently named in TIME magazines “Firsts” issue on “Discovering the Stories of Women Who Are Changing the World.”

“We are thrilled to have Representative Ilhan Omar serve as the keynote speaker for our national training,” noted Erin Vilardi, founder of VoteRunLead. “Ilhan’s political journey embodies the very core of our mission: empower a diverse group of women to run for political office and win! She made history by becoming the first Somali-born legislator in the U.S. and proudly tells her story from refugee to representative to inspire more women and immigrants to run. Her journey is remarkable but her story is too common: too many women are still firsts and onlys. With more and more women ready to run, together we hope to inspire thousands more like her to run for office.”

The VoteRunLead #RunAsYouAre National Training is set on the principle that women have the talents to achieve their political ambition regardless of their background and political experience. The three-day national event brings together hundreds of women from throughout the United States and will feature VoteRunLead’s best tools and high-profile political experts to help women prepare to run for local and state office.

“I am honored to keynote VoteRunLead's National Training,” said Representative Omar. Not that long ago, I attended these very trainings to build my skills. I was inspired by the women they've help run and meeting them motivated me to make my decision to run. VRL is living their mission to get women to 'run as they are' and are bringing together a diversity of women reflective of what's possible in America. I'm proud to be part of the VRL family of leaders and usher in the next wave of powerful women."

“Since its inception, VoteRunLead has trained more than 26,000 women across the country making VoteRunLead.org the largest and most diverse campaign training organization,” Vilardi continued. “We are committed to helping women trust their instincts and their talents by running for office and reshape government from the inside out. And there’s no better time than now and I can think of no better person than Ilhan to help spread the message.”

About VoteRunLead

VoteRunLead.org is a non-partisan non-profit training powerhouse that supports the aspirations of women who want to transform the country and democracy through participation as leaders. VoteRunLead was founded by Erin Vilardi, formerly of The White House Project, to leverage technology and training programs to accelerate the number of women in civic and political leadership. Since the November 2016 election, VoteRunLead has seen an unprecedented number of women signing up to be trained to run for office. To learn more, visit VoteRunLead.org or follow on Twitter.com/voterunlead, Facebook and/or Instagram.