Increasing Female Representation in U.S. Politics: Non-Partisanship and Confidence-Building for Political Empowerment

Running Start is a U.S. nonprofit that trains diverse young women to run for public office. Recognizing the lack of female representation at all political levels, the organization aims to encourage women regardless of partisan affiliation to seek political office and supports them through mentoring and skill-building in leadership, campaign strategy and teamwork. Under CEO & Founder Susannah Wellford’s leadership, Running Start has trained over 20,000 women from high school to college in more than 100 annual programs. 90% of alums who ran for office have won. SHE SAID spoke to Susannah Wellford about her vision for female political empowerment.