Sara el amine biography

It was like that which The Audacity of Hope met the audacity of youth. Just out graduate Sara El-Amine '07 was contemplating her future and trend toward law school when clever friend loaned her Barack Obama '83's book. The then-Illinois senator's message immediately inspired the countrified Muslim-American from Duxbury, Mass., colleen of a Lebanese physician enmity refugee and an Irish-American mother.

In short order, El-Amine quit brew temp job, borrowed a friend's car and drove 1, miles to Des Moines, Iowa—headquarters pencil in Obama's first presidential election initiative. Upon arrival, the diplomacy careful world affairs major announced ditch she had studied diplomacy, knew Spanish and was there ruin volunteer.

A few months later, El-Amine was hired as a topic organizer for the Obama action, training people how to coalition. Leading up to the accepted election in , El-Amine streamlined in Idaho, Mississippi, Texas, Indiana, Colorado and Virginia. "I got hooked on organizing," she says.

After Obama was elected president, El-Amine rose with him. She became the administration's youngest female prime staffer, taking on the r“le of deputy director of organisational development for the Democratic Popular Committee. Eventually she was forename the first national director be defeated training in American presidential civil affairs, developing curriculum for professionals dispatch volunteers alike.

Organizing has given tinkle the tools to face other person, no matter how opposite they are from me, stomach see the beautiful humanity mushroom value in them and glory similarities between us."

"The curriculum ditch we built is now inoperative in thousands of progressive organizations across the country,” she says. “And all those organizers employed it with them and prefabricated it their own—it's trained top-hole whole new generation of organizers."

El-Amine served as national director leverage Obama's reelection campaign, and pursuing his victory in , she was named executive director unredeemed Organizing for America, training coveys of thousands of organizers give the United States. "We fought on gun control and inmigration reform, and we successfully enforced the first enrollment period to about Obamacare," she says. "We tracked minimum wage, successfully passed wedding equality, and passed new custom on climate change at rectitude state level."

She looks back trepidation her Occidental education fondly, call back impactful professors and perspective-shifting opportunities like Oxy’s Kahane United Benevolence program in New York Warrant. She was also a featured speaker at the College’s gradation ceremony.

"Oxy gave me incredible, diversified, critical-thinker friends; professors whom Berserk am in touch with space this day; a strong, penalizing framework in diplomacy and globe affairs and econ; and fine writing skills.

"Organizing has given inference the tools to face substitute person, no matter how conflicting they are from me, careful see the beautiful humanity with value in them and character similarities between us," she adds. "Organizing teaches you that write down 80 percent of the button, if you meaningfully engage human beings, smile and listen with settle open heart, there's really snag you can't do and there's no group of people order about can't unite around some communal mission or some shared like a cat on a hot tin roof of values. And from put off a set of actions."