My Candidacy for DNC

 

Hi! I’m Prameela (pronounced Prah-mee-lah), and I am running for one of 20 Democratic National Committee (DNC) membership seats to represent California, of which ten are for those identifying as female and ten for those identifying as other than female. My pronouns are she/her/hers. I am not an incumbent. Once elected, NorCal will be better represented, given we currently are only 25% of the DNC membership from the CDP. I would be the only AAPI woman representing the CDP on the DNC.

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Personal Background

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I was born in India and immigrated to the US when I was four years old. My father was a mechanical engineer and my mother was an incredible homemaker. Growing up, my father’s job took us to Massachusetts, Alabama, Missouri, upstate New York, and New Jersey. We faced our share of challenges as a family but always found ways to build strength to meet those challenges. Mom was always a pillar of strength and my lifelong inspiration, but don’t let her know I told you that! Over the years, we built resilience and always sought to remember the lessons learned along our journey. My grandfather was imprisoned several times as part of the Gandhi led non-violence movement. We know that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. revered Mahatma Gandhi and was inspired to adopt those principles in the fight he led for justice and equality. My son came a couple of weeks early and was blessed to share Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. I view that as a message from my grandfather that the struggle is far from over. With that fight in my DNA and refusal to look the other way, I’ve embraced activism; identifying pressing issues and making the most effective and impactful contributions possible. Fun Fact: My first job at age 12 was corn packing at a local farm for 10 cents a crate. Purchasing my own school clothes was empowering. 

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Professional Background

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After an early career in public accounting and in industry, I began a corporate accounting, finance and business consulting practice. This involved supporting public and pre-public, high growth and start-up companies in high tech, biotech and service industries including process transformation and implementation of corporate governance policies. Corporate governance and compliance projects were with a strong emphasis on holding executive management accountable for transparency and integrity within their financial reporting.

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My finance, accounting, and business training and related project/program management skills have also served well for organizing in support of local, state, and national level campaigns. This, coupled with some of my strategic initiatives, has had a positive impact at each level of the Democratic party. This is further described below.

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Democratic Party Engagement

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County-Level - As Finance Director of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party (SCCDP) from February 2017 to July 2019, I was responsible along with our then new SCCDP Chair, for taking our party from a red to black financial position. I developed a recurring donation program called Fight for Democracy and working to build a solid base of support. I currently serve as Treasurer of the Santa Clara County United Democratic Campaign.  

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State Level - In January 2019, I was elected as the AD24 EBoard representative to the California Democratic Party. Prior to this in 2017, I was an appointed DSCC delegate and CDP EBoard member through the SCCDCC and have never missed a  CDP EBoard meeting or CADEM convention. In July of 2019, I was appointed to the CDP Rules and Bylaws Committee. Being part of a long-overdue adoption of a new and comprehensive Code of Ethics for the CDP was especially meaningful.

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National Level - I am currently on the DNC National Finance Committee and am proud to have contributed to investments in the Democratic Party at every level and continue to do so. Recognizing the importance of building our party infrastructure and protecting the vote (given the gutting of the Voter Rights Act in 2013), I founded an ongoing speaker series, prameelaSpotlights, launching with a very special guest, Congressman Adam Schiff in August 2019. The mission of prameelaSpotlights is to create awareness around raising the bar for our candidates and elected officials, ensuring more effectiveness, transparency, integrity, and accountability while utilizing the events organized to raise funds for investment in Democratic Party infrastructure at the County, CDP, DNC levels and also supporting voter protection efforts through Fair Fight, founded by Stacey Abrams. Investments in party infrastructure AND protecting the vote are both critical endeavors. You may visit prameelaSpotlights.com to learn more about the progress made thus far in raising funds for each level of the Democratic Party - the SCCDP Fight for Democracy program I developed in 2018, a CDP fundraiser planning in progress, a DNC fundraiser headlined by President Obama in November 2019 and a fundraiser for Fair Fight headlined by Stacey Abrams in December 2019. I am currently on the DNC National Finance Committee. Some key Senate and House races have been and will also be supported.

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For further background, I traveled extensively in 2008 to swing states for the presidential election. I was appointed to and had the honor of serving on the 2008 DNC Platform Committee and was part of the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I submitted approximately 15 amendments warranting a separate meeting with the drafting committee to discuss and address them. Eliminating caucuses, stronger healthcare plank and stronger separation of church and state language were among them. Since that time, recognizing that politics is local, my activism has included support for candidates at the local, state and national levels. In 2016, with a willingness to put my consulting business on hold for six months, I was recruited as volunteer staff for the presidential campaign at the county level engaging over 2500 volunteers. It was an honor to serve as a delegate for our nominee to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

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My strong connections to grassroots organizations throughout NorCal, with several in SoCal and across the country were built by a decade of activism that included canvassing in Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Washington and Oregon and serving as precinct captain during caucuses in multiple precincts in Nevada, Texas and Washington state. The grassroots conversations being held in our respective districts, states and across the country are relevant discussions to take to the DNC. I believe with my record of engagement and impact, I am well equipped to represent our state at the DNC level.

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