The 2014 Ballot
After careful and committed deliberation, the 2014 Election committee is excited to announce the candidates for this year’s Election of the Coffee Party Board of Directors.
It is our hope that members will seize the opportunity to vote and help to shape the bright future of the Coffee Party. We all hold a shared passion of participation in Democracy and affecting change. As a community, we can all contribute to the process of moving forward and in working together, we can strengthen the mission of civility and active participation.
The elections are from July 10-13 for anyone that became a dues paying member by June 7. Now is the time to start getting to know your candidates, starting with their bios below.
The candidates you choose will help lead us into our next evolution. These individuals have pledged to dedicate themselves to the business of running The Coffee Party’s National Organization. We thank them all and applaud their participation, just as we do your participation as a voting member.
Let the campaigns begin!
Bios submitted by candidates
Candidate: Debilyn Molineaux
Position: President
Signed Coffee Party Campaign Pledge: Yes
Bio:
Debilyn Molineaux is a change agent. At Living Room Conversations, she coordinates teams to engage co-hosts and collaborates with organizations to utilize Living Room Conversations. She is the Project Coordinator for Center for Transpartisan Leadership which will include training for transpartisanship. As an advisor to Ingenuity Innovation Center, Debilyn has co-facilitated the board retreat to bring idealism into action in a new economy model and acts as an advisor. In addition to her various roles with these organizations and projects, she is a networker and bridge builder, connecting people with people, people with their passion and people with resources. She draws from her work as Executive Director of Coffee Party USA, co-founder of Changing the Game, COO for Transpartisan Center and a 20-year career in small business ownership (advertising/ marketing). Debilyn has dedicated her life to facilitating our evolving social contract. Debilyn brings an enormous amount of coaching and personal development tools to her work. Her unique perspective on personal empowerment combined with her fresh approach to providing support and feedback provide a win-win for everyone. Her true gift is helping visionaries and movements to ground ideas and improve activity. Her work also creates space for common ground to emerge, which is central to success.
Candidate: Jeanene Louden
Position: Treasurer
Signed Coffee Party Campaign Pledge: Yes
Bio:
My life as an activist began as I listened to Dr. King speak about social justice. My life as a person who knew how to work started even earlier. The melding of my sense of duty and my work ethic is what has brought me to and kept me in Coffee Party USA.
I am a good soldier. I keep my word. I am committed to doing my job well and I am not too proud to ask for help. As a matter of fact, I would rather work as a part of a team. I believe that the creative tension that diverse individuals bring to any meaningful conversation is the spark that ignites a truly magical and powerful thing: teamwork.
I am proud of what I have done and what I hope to do in this life. I am a 62 year old daughter, sister, wife, mother, auntie and retired business owner who believes I have a responsibility to act to do things that support my values and confront things that do not serve justice as I see it.
And in our process of making things right together, someone has to take care of the money. I can do that as Treasurer. Even ‘the revolution’ needs folks like me in the background, taking care of business.
Candidate: Tonya Jefferson
Position: Director At-Large/Channels
Signed Coffee Party Campaign Pledge: Yes
Bio:
Tonya N. Jefferson graduated from Clover Hill High School at the tender age of 17 in 1990. She then attended the University of Virginia where she double majored in Asian Studies and History and graduated a year early at the age of twenty in 1993. Upon graduating, she decided to work overseas as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in South Korea. Her Asian Studies background enabled her to embrace the Korean culture and she made a name for herself singing in Korean on national television twice. Her love for people, diversity, and multiculturalism has enabled her to collaborate with many people throughout the world. She has traveled to nearly twenty countries throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.
She also possesses a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from American University and an MBA-Global Management degree from the University of Phoenix. She needs to complete her dissertation to obtain an Ed. D. Special Education degree from George Washington University.
While living in Prince George’s County, Maryland, her community organizing experience blossomed via volunteer positions such as President of Truman Manor Homeowners’ Association, Largo Civic Association Education Chair, ACLU-Prince George’s County Chapter Executive Board member, ACLU-National Capitol Area Executive Board member. She was also the Washington Teachers’ Union Building Representative for Seaton Elementary School in Washington, DC.
Although she taught ESL for three years in South Korea, one year as an adjunct professor at Prince George’s Community College, and eight years for DC Public Schools, she dabbled in real estate, the mortgage industry, and business development. As a business owner, she secured several government education contracts, specifically with the U.S. Department of Education and the Maryland State Department of Education. Currently, she is an ESL Adjunct Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.
