Emerge Maine

Rep. Diane Russell is serving her second term in the legislature and is a returning member of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. She has been an outspoken progressive voice for working families and the immigrant community.
She was born and raised in western Maine and graduated from Leavitt Area High School. She has a bachelor's degree in media studies from the University of Southern Maine.
A public relations consultant, she also has worked in citizen lobbying, community organizing and public policy work.

After graduating from WestPoint I spent 7 years in the Army as a helicopter pilot. My husband and I settled in Maine after we left the Army. I enjoyed several years as a stay at home mom. That’s when I became involved in a variety of volunteer opportunities and then political organizations. I began my own small business because it allowed me to stimulate me my mind, earn money but still afford me the freedom to continue my volunteer and political involvement while still putting my children first.

Christiana Stephenson - Christie is a senior at Brown University majoring in Music and International Relations. At Brown she has served as head tour guide, a women peer counselor, and as a senior peer business manager for the Brown Daily Herald. During her summers Christie has been a server at the Jordan Pond House in Arcadia National Park and interned in Washington D.C. for Common Cause and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree. In addition to being an avid musician, Christie also enjoys running, crossword puzzles, and following the Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots and Boston Celtics.

Jenna Vendil, 25, is a local organizer living on Portland’s Munjoy Hill. She believes in the power of education to change people’s lives and create opportunity, because she’s experienced that transformation firsthand.
While being raised primarily by a single mother and her great-aunt, Jenna also found positive role models and mentors in her teachers who encouraged her to hard work and set high goals.

Charlotte Warren currently serves as the Associate Director of the Maine Women's Lobby team.  Her responsibilities include planning and conducting membership outreach and communications strategies for the organizations, along with managing efforts to recruit and retain new members and activists.  Her experience includes over 10 years as a Mathematics adjunct faculty member as well as a Math / Science Learning Specialist at Kennebec Valley Community College (KVCC), working to increase the success of first-generation and low-income students and students with disabilities.

I was born and raised in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I married into a multi generational fishing family in Harpswell where I live with my husband and our two children.I am currently the Development Director for Maine State Music Theatre, which is a not for profit theater in Brunswick.  Prior to working at MSMT I was lucky enough to be a stay at home mother for 11 years.I was also a member of Prime Time Parents in Harpswell for 8 years.  Five other women and I wrote an original play, produced the shows using local parents, teachers and community members as actors.