From a Dream to
a Movement
Vote Run Lead trains women to run for office and win, reaching over tens of thousands of women across America. Our alumni serve on city councils, county boards, state houses, supreme courts, and Congress.
From a Dream to
Alums In Action: Alumna Alicka Ampry-Samuel helped introduce ranked-choice voting as a NYC councilmember, saying “[It] ensures voters in historically disenfranchised districts are not further pushed out.” It also increases representation for women and people of color.
VRL training attendees work in small groups to practice campaign strategy and learn the fundamentals needed to run effective campaigns.
Alums In Action: MN State Representative Kristin Bahner helped pass the Protect Reproductive Actions (PRO) Act, safeguarding private reproductive choice, banning local abortion restrictions, and ensuring access to contraception, sterilization, and family planning.
VRL alum JoCasta Zamarripa stands with event attendees wearing our original VRL lips tee.
Alums In Action: State District 22 Sen. Brittany Pettersen (now Congresswoman) speaks at a press conference for a “red flag” bill that’s being introduced in the state legislature, Feb. 14, 2019
VRL Founder and CEO Erin Vilardi, Co-Founder Rhonda Briggins, and an aspiring candidate talk during VRL/A’s first national training for future candidates and campaign managers.
Alums In Action: Alumna Alicka Ampry-Samuel helped introduce ranked-choice voting as a NYC councilmember, saying “[It] ensures voters in historically disenfranchised districts are not further pushed out.” It also increases representation for women and people of color.
VRL training attendees work in small groups to practice campaign strategy and learn the fundamentals needed to run effective campaigns.
Alums In Action: MN State Representative Kristin Bahner helped pass the Protect Reproductive Actions (PRO) Act, safeguarding private reproductive choice, banning local abortion restrictions, and ensuring access to contraception, sterilization, and family planning.
VRL alum JoCasta Zamarripa stands with event attendees wearing our original VRL lips tee.
Alums In Action: State District 22 Sen. Brittany Pettersen (now Congresswoman) speaks at a press conference for a “red flag” bill that’s being introduced in the state legislature, Feb. 14, 2019
VRL Founder and CEO Erin Vilardi, Co-Founder Rhonda Briggins, and an aspiring candidate talk during VRL/A’s first national training for future candidates and campaign managers.
Alums In Action: Alumna Alicka Ampry-Samuel helped introduce ranked-choice voting as a NYC councilmember, saying “[It] ensures voters in historically disenfranchised districts are not further pushed out.” It also increases representation for women and people of color.
VRL training attendees work in small groups to practice campaign strategy and learn the fundamentals needed to run effective campaigns.
Alums In Action: MN State Representative Kristin Bahner helped pass the Protect Reproductive Actions (PRO) Act, safeguarding private reproductive choice, banning local abortion restrictions, and ensuring access to contraception, sterilization, and family planning.
VRL alum JoCasta Zamarripa stands with event attendees wearing our original VRL lips tee.
Alums In Action: State District 22 Sen. Brittany Pettersen (now Congresswoman) speaks at a press conference for a “red flag” bill that’s being introduced in the state legislature, Feb. 14, 2019
VRL Founder and CEO Erin Vilardi, Co-Founder Rhonda Briggins, and an aspiring candidate talk during VRL/A’s first national training for future candidates and campaign managers.
How We Operate
We are values-driven
Working outside of partisan politics, Vote Run Lead uplifts those who raise their voices against all forms of discrimination, who work to protect our democracy, and who fight for the expansion of rights.
Women in power is good for everyone
We believe in the power of women: Intersectional, varied, across the entire gender spectrum to deliver a more prosperous future not just for women and girls, but men and boys and gender-expansive people.
Our strategy is rooted in data
Our data team works year-round to track and analyze results, to build more effective, efficient programming, and to accelerate progress.
We are authentic
We say what we think. We do what we say. Our alumni are the same. We urge them: “Run As You Are”— and they are wildly successful because of it.
Meet the Founder and CEO
Erin Vilardi is the Founder and CEO of Vote Run Lead (VRL) and Vote Run Lead Action (VRLA), independent nonpartisan sister organizations working to create a reflective democracy in which women hold more than 51% of public office. Her work has recruited and trained tens of thousands of women and gender-expansive people to run for office, advancing her mission to increase their representation and political power, particularly in key state legislatures.
As an expert on women’s leadership, democracy, and social change, Erin has two decades of experience scaling positive impact for women in both the public and private sectors, including partnerships with Fortune 100 companies, global girls’ initiatives, and the U.S. Department of State. She serves on the advisory boards of Future Forward Women, the Brennan Center for Justice, and RepresentWomen and is a Keseb Global Democracy Fellow.
Erin has appeared at the Skoll World Forum and Personal Democracy Forum and has been interviewed by CNN, NPR, CSPAN, BBC, PBS, and others. Her work and writing have appeared in Oprah Magazine, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, New York Magazine, and more. She is the co-author of the Athena Core10©, an innovative set of leadership competencies for 21st-century women leaders, and serves as Executive Producer of Ann Richards’ Texas, a documentary about the pioneering governor.
Erin lives in the historic Harlem neighborhood of New York City with her husband and children.
VRL in the News
In This Historic Moment, 12 Thought Leaders Make The Case For Women And Diversity In Politics And Leadership
Erin Vilardi, CEO and Founder of Vote Run Lead Action is quoted alongside Anita Hill, María Teresa Kumar, Jasmine Crockett, Gloria Steinem, Gretchen Whitmer, Nancy Pelosi, Carol Jenkins, Glynda Carr, Erin Vilardi, Reshma Saujani, Ted Bunch and Kimberly Peeler-Allen: “I think the country and the world really know the untapped political power of women, the untapped political potential of asking women to run for public office, to serve on advisory boards, to get appointments. We literally make government better.”
Melinda French Gates: Why I’m Focusing on Getting More Women In Public Office
The challenge is that running for office is a demanding, unpaid, time-intensive, sometimes even dangerous job that is often made still more difficult by how hard women—and particularly women of color—have to work to convince donors and party gatekeepers that they are viable candidates worth investing in. On such an uneven playing field, it helps to have external support. One organization I’ve partnered with, Vote Run Lead, trains women on the skills they need to run for office, from overcoming fundraising deficits to dealing with threats and online harassment. Last year, candidates who had previously participated in Vote Run Lead’s program had a win rate of 68 percent, including the first three Black women ever to serve in Minnesota’s state senate.
Presenting: The Help Elected Women Really Need
We interviewed dozens of women in office about the many hurdles they face at work. And while no two people’s experiences were exactly alike, here are the six most prevalent pain points we found—plus how to circumvent each of them.