Shauntay Nelson, Vice President

Shauntay is a strategist who has spent her career developing emerging and executive leaders through the concept that social empowerment is foundational in fostering growth. Prior to joining All Voting is Local’s national team, she served as All Voting is Local’s Wisconsin state director, where she initiated, developed, and co-led the Wisconsin Voting Rights Coalition (WVRC) to ensure access to the ballot. Nelson believes that it takes a combination of creativity and strategy to effectively provide tools designed to cultivate power where it belongs: with the people. Nelson has historically promoted expansion to the ballot through voter education and advocacy. Some of her accomplishments include lobbying for the expansion of early voting locations in the City of Milwaukee, influencing legislative action statewide, and serving as a national spokesperson on the need for voter expansions.       

Nelson is a thought leader within her community, a strategist, a public policy guru, and a prolific speaker. She was selected as one of the TEDx Talk speakers for Marquette University in 2019. She has been quoted by NPR, Urban Milwaukee, Milwaukee Community Journal, the Shepherd Express, and was a guest on Milwaukee PBS’s “Black Nouveau.” She has an appreciation for nature and enjoys taking long walks to admire creation when she travels.

Haley Swanson, Treasurer

Haley Swanson fell in love with Wisconsin, flaws and all, when she moved to Madison as an undergraduate accounting student. Since graduating, she’s worked in the finance space, first as an auditor for PwC and later with Exact Sciences. In 2020, she enrolled in Americorps to assist self-represented litigants with the complex legal system. Currently, Haley is pursuing her J.D at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She hopes to use her law degree, and prior background in finance, to work on economic justice issues here in Wisconsin. Haley joined the Wisconsin Women’s Network in 2022. Outside of work, you can find her discovering new neighborhoods with her dog & exploring every aisle of the grocery store.

Adrienne Gilbert Ramirez, Administrative chair

Adrienne worked in a variety of legislative offices over the past few decades, wrapping up her legislative career as Chief of Staff for Assembly Speaker Pro Temp Tony Staskunas. While in the legislature she worked on numerous judiciary and criminal justice initiatives. In 2016 she joined the Wisconsin Women’s Network as a volunteer mentor for the Policy Institute and was energized by the enthusiasm and sisterhood the institute provided.  She has enjoyed a variety of other volunteer opportunities from food preservation for a local food pantry, to committee membership for DAIS. She currently works in government affairs for a multi-state utility. She became a board member in 2019.

Jennifer Lien, Advancement ChaiR

Jennifer Lien is an arts and museum administration professional with experience in operations management, fundraising, relationship building, and event planning. After participating in WWN's accelerated policy institute and mentorship program, Jenni became involved with the network by volunteering as a grant writer in 2019 and joined the board in 2022. Jenni is happy to support the WWN because she has personally experienced the positive impact of both the mentorship program and the policy institute in promoting the advancement of women and girls in Wisconsin. She is a proud double badger with her Masters in Arts and Creative Enterprise Leadership from the University of Wisconsin School of Business, and her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Art History and with Certificates in Material Culture and Archaeology. On Wisconsin! 

Megan Martin, public policy chair

Megan joined the Wisconsin Women’s Network as a Special Events volunteer in the summer of 2021. Since then, she has joined the Mentorship Committee and the Board. Megan graduated from UW-Whitewater in 2019 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy and Administration. She currently works at the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development as a Program and Policy Analyst in the Administrative Services Division. As an advocate for women’s rights and social justice, Megan is excited to serve on the Board of Directors to help advance WWN’s goals. When Megan is not working or volunteering, you can find her watching dog videos, reading, or spending time with her family.

Katie Lee, Mentorship Chair

Katie joined the Wisconsin Women’s Network in 2019, working with the Mentorship Program committee. Mentored by many bold and brilliant women herself, Katie is committed to helping others create networks of strong women that embrace and stretch each other’s voices, confidence, and perspectives. Originally from Michigan, Katie leads Events, Design, Recruiting, and Culinary teams at Epic, a healthcare software company based in Verona, WI. She is a mother of two, a stepmom of two, a wife, a lover of travel and nature - and is grateful for the opportunities to contribute to her communities.

Leah Ujda, Special Events Chair

Leah has been an active member of the Wisconsin Women's Network community since 2018 - attending Feminism on tap happy hours, participating in the Professional Mentorship Program, and joining the Board as Member at Large in 2021. Leah grew up in Wisconsin and has lived in Madison for over 15 years. She leads the User Experience team at a global software company and is passionate about advocating for women's opportunities in software and technology careers.

BETH HUDAK, MEMBER AT LARGE

Beth Hudak is a community-focused leader with a history of developing equitable, collaborative, and innovative approaches to driving positive community impact. She is the Director of Community Engagement at a NE Wisconsin homeless shelter, providing emergency shelter and housing stability support to youth and families with children experiencing homelessness. Beth has been an advocate for youth and women for nearly twenty years and has been in nonprofit management for the last 17 years. Beth graduated from the 2019-2020 Wisconsin Women’s Network Policy Institute and joined the board in 2022. In addition to her work with the Wisconsin Women’s Network, Beth is the Chair of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition, a Commissioner with the Brown County Planning Commission, and a Board Member for the Adolescent Parenting Coalition.

Shireen Ohadi-Hamadani, Member at large

Shireen Ohadi-Hamadani earned a Master of Public Affairs degree in 2020 from the La Follette School of Public Affairs. Currently, Shireen is the Communications Strategist for the Office of Health Equity located within the Department of Health Services where she leads the development of the department’s strategic communications with the goal of advancing health equity, diversity and inclusion—both within DHS’ culture and practices, and for the externally-facing work of the agency. In this role, she also serves as a policy and political advisor helping identify short- and long-term strategies aimed at eliminating health disparities across Wisconsin.  Prior to this position, Shireen worked as a Communications Specialist for the Office of the Secretary supporting Wisconsin’s COVID-19 response and vaccination program. She believes that culturally-responsive policy and communications can be leveraged to create more equitable outcomes for populations that have been, and continue to be, marginalized by policies and governance.

Ja’Lia Butler, member at large

Ja’Lia was born in Chicago, IL and moved to Milwaukee, WI when she was 10 years old. She has been here ever since; Wisconsin has become a second home to her. Ja’Lia graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May of 2021 where she got her BA in Political Science and Legal Studies with a minor in Criminal Justice. During her gap year, she worked at the Wisconsin Department of Justice and at a Madison law firm. Ja’Lia is currently a law student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is interested in Election and Political Law and with her platform she hopes to strengthen democratic institutions and principles as well as ensure the rights of all citizens to participate in the democratic process, among a few things. When Ja’Lia is not working or at the law school, she enjoys trying new foods, traveling, and spending time with loved ones.

Kat Klawes, Member at large

Kat Klawes (she/they) is an educator, advocate, and activist who has worked on policy issues in Wisconsin and Michigan. She has over a decade of community organizing experience and policy advocacy in various areas, such as sexual assault survivors supports, housing, mental health, climate change, small business, free speech and many others. Kat's passion is helping others find their voice and elevating the voices of those impacted by policies. Kat was noted as one of the youngest bill authors in the nation when she wrote a bill to support sexual assault survivors on college campuses in Michigan when she was 21 years old. Her advocacy work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Bridge Magazine, NY Post, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Kat has a BA in Education from Northern Michigan University and an MA in Education Policy from Marquette University. Kat has had the privilege to work for many organizations in Wisconsin, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin, Urban Economic Development Association (UEDA), Take Root Mlwaukee, BankOn Greater Milwaukee, JustHouse, WISCAP, Wisconsin Latino Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, Equity Inspire. She currently works at Citizen Action of Wisconsin. 

Kat lives in Milwaukee and, in her free time, enjoys visiting locally-owned bookstores and local tea shops. 

Laura Linde, Member at large

Laura (she/her) started working with the Wisconsin Women's Network in 2021, participating as a mentor, a 2023 Policy Institute graduate, and now board member. She is thrilled to be able to serve women and girls in her home state. Currently, she is the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Lead for the Blue Nature Alliance at Conservation International. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry and B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as a Master's in Development Practice from Emory University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crafting, and exploring new places through coffeeshops and museums.

Meghan Parker, Member at Large