LaTwyla Mathias is a political strategist and tireless progressive who uses her 12 years of political experience to produce dynamic and creative online campaigns. Originally from South Carolina, LaTwyla has worked in democratic politics and advocacy organizations across the east coast including Planned Parenthood, The SC House of Representatives, The National Coalition of STD Directors, and various other political and issue-based campaigns.
LaTwyla is a graduate of Washington and Jefferson College (Washington, PA) and most recently worked at The Campaign Workshop where she consulted on political and issue campaigns for almost 2 years. Her work was focused on direct mail, research, and digital programs for various clients across the United States.
LaTwyla lives in Washington, DC where she enjoys collecting vinyl records, trying new restaurants, and traveling.
Ashleigh Crocker grew up in Charlottesville and caught the political bug for the first time in 2005, when she first volunteered for Tim Kaine’s campaign for governor as a high school student. Since then, she has worked on a number of federal, state and, local campaigns, including both of Tom Perriello’s campaigns for Congress in 2008 and 2010.
After graduating from JMU in 2012, Ashleigh started work in the development department at a local non-profit. Since then, she has enjoyed working with a variety of nonprofits and campaigns on fundraising and communications work, and she was thrilled to have the opportunity to move back to Charlottesville and join the team at Progress Virginia.
Ashleigh lives in Charlottesville with her husband, David. When she’s not working hard to ensure progressive victories, she can be found at bettycrockersdaughter.com, where she creates and photographs delicious vegetarian food.
Kimberly grew up in Virginia Beach and attended VCU for theatre. Since then she has worked for nonprofits related to art, feminism, and immigrant rights. She performs stand-up and improv comedy and is a member of the Coalition Theater. There, she performs, teaches, and co-hosts an all BIPOC improv show, Not All White. When she isn’t scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, she works on her podcast, Almost Nothing with Kimberly R. Nario.
A Florida native passionate about evoking and transmitting emotion through her own creative lens, shay has been working as a multimedia artist and creative director since 2019. While she has always advocated for the rights of others, her dedication to social justice reached new heights during 2020, the year of televised mass police violence towards Black people. Heavily affected by the trauma that plagued her community, shay began to search for a way to incorporate her artistry with her thirst to fight for much needed change. After relocating to Virginia, she found such an opportunity.
shay is very eager to join the fight alongside Progress Virginia as an advocate for political and social change and strives to make a positive impact.
When not focusing on the state of the world, shay can be found pursuing her artistry, meticulously editing content and brainstorming ideas for her creative projects.
shay uses she/they pronouns.
Kierra is a multi-hyphenate from Atlanta, Georgia. Politicized by the Black Lives Matter Movement, they got their first experience organizing with Malcom X Grassroots Movement. Along with several students, they co-founded a student chapter for MXGM at Georgia State University. As their ideology developed, they adopted a queer feminist framework, and they have advocated for the liberation of all marginalized peoples ever since. They are excited to push their advocacy forward while working with the team of Progress Virginia.
Kierra is an English Writing Major at Clayton State University. When they are not doing advocacy work, Kierra likes to write stories and poems, one of which was long listed for the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize for 2021/2022. They also cohost a true crime podcast called I Ain’t a Killa with friends in Atlanta.
Kierra is non-binary and primarily uses they/them pronouns.
