Meet Our Summer LEE Fellow
Introducing Samantha Josey-Borden, LEE Fellow
This summer, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado is lucky to have two interns and one fellow join our team. In this blog post, we interview Samantha Josey-Borden, Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) fellow, researcher, gender equity advocate, and aspiring traveler.
Where do you go to school?
I graduated from the University of Virginia in the spring of 2017.
What was your degree in?
I acquired two bachelor’s degrees in foreign affairs and women, gender, and sexuality with a concentration in gender studies.
Where would you like to be working in five years or what would you like to be doing?
I’m the type of person who struggles with planning that far ahead due to spontaneity and an overwhelming amount of ideas in my head. But within the next five years I would love to either be working for an NGO or nonprofit that serves women, low-income, working families, or advocates for students in urban areas. Or, I will be finishing a master’s program in public policy or international development studies/global gender studies. As you can see I can’t make up my mind.
What drew you to The Women’s Foundation of Colorado?
Right off the bat, I can say WFCO and its community allows me to pursue what I’m so passionate about and have been since my second year of college. Often majoring in gender studies comes with push back and controversy. So many people have asked me, “What’s the use of that degree?,” which is followed by the shadow of side glances and the interrogation of whether I will find a lucrative job. I love that The Foundation allows me to put what I studied into practice and investigate the specific policies that can be cultivated and advocated for to improve the economic and social state of women. I was drawn to the the specific stake WFCO has in the state’s legislative work through the public policy efforts and coalition-building with other organizations that serve women.
What are you working on this summer at WFCO?
I am working on a comprehensive project, where I am tracking the women who are running for Colorado public office in the 2018 elections. This is quite expansive as I’m looking at women who are running for federal seats, state-level seats, and local seats – tracking data all the way to the county races. I’m hoping to streamline or cultivate a process to track women candidates in Colorado for future elections, and I will explore why women should run as candidates and their impact when they obtain office. Additionally, I’ll help with other public policy and advocacy work in the office, such as research on 2Gen legislative initiatives and programs.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I took my very first trip outside of the county at 21, when I traveled to Cabarete, Dominican Republic for a study-abroad trip to visit the Mariposa Foundation. This trip was wonderful and meditative, as we researched the girl effect, sustainable development, and the presence of women and girls in Dominican history – and we got to see a lot of kite-surfing!
