Education and Training

Educating and empowering Asian American women in the political arena and increasing their numbers in elected and appointed offices at all levels. We gratefully acknowledge The Fund for New Jersey for its major support of this program.

Overview of Rising Stars

CAWP, together with a steering committee of Asian American women leaders, sponsors Rising Stars: Educating Asian American Women for Politics, a preconference session of the Ready to Run™ Campaign Training for Women. Rising Stars participants attend a half-day session that targets issues of particular interest to Asian American women running for political office.  Rising Stars participants then attend Ready to Run™ to learn about the nuts and bolts of working on a campaign. 

Ready to Run™ offers a unique opportunity for potential women candidates to hear directly from prominent elected and appointed leaders, campaign consultants, and party officials about how to get Ready to Run. Topics covered include fundraising, navigating the political parties, working with the media, and developing a campaign plan.  More details on Ready to Run™ can be found here.

Facts on Asian American Women in Elective Office

• Nationally, 32 of the 1,791 women serving in state legislatures are Asian American. Two of the 90 women serving in the 111th Congress are Asian American. For more details and information about Asian American women serving in other elected positions around the country, visit our Asian American women in elective office page.
• In New Jersey, no Asian American women serve in the state legislature or as county freeholders. For more details and information about women in elective office in New Jersey, view the Women in New Jersey Government fact sheet.

Rising Stars Steering Committee

Cecilia Xie Birge
Deputy Mayor, Montgomery Township

Cheryl Blodgett
Women Advocating for Good Government and
   Filipino American Political Action Committee

Lora Fong
Salesforce.com

Ludi Hughes
President and Founder, Asian American Chamber of Commerce

Nadia Hussain
Manavi

Maneesha Kelkar
Manavi

Toral Patel

Qudsia Raja
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Renu Singal
East Brunswick Public Library

Seema M. Singh
President, Asian Indian Chamber of Commerce

Jeannie Tsukamoto
Councilwoman, Borough of Madison

Yiping Wang
Montgomery Township Board of Education

Questions? 

Contact Jean Sinzdak at (732) 932-9384, ext. 260 or sinzdak@rci.rutgers.edu.