Erin
LOOS
CUTRARO
Founder and CEO of
She Should RunWomen hold fewer
than one-third of
federal and state leg-
islative and executive
elected offices in the
U.S. With her nonpar-
tisan group, Cutraro
hopes to shift the bal-
ance by finding “that
woman who is getting
it done in her own way,
in her community, in
her workplace, but is
not yet even consider-
ing elected office as a
possibility.” With online
leadership training
and networking, her
organization helps
women explore that
possibility—and pre-
pare to pursue it.
Christabel
CRUZ
Director of New Leadership
at the Center for American
Women and Politics at
Rutgers UniversityCruz casts the non-
partisan program that
she oversees as a way
of “making sure that
college women have
the tools they need to
become responsible
public leaders.” In more
than 20 states, college
students from two-
and four-year schools
are recruited for work-
shops that coach them
in political skills, such as
networking and public
speaking, and encour-
age them to think
about how they can
advocate for their com-
munities. “Most women
are leaders,” says Cruz.
“They just need the
tools and the resources
and the push to see
themselves that way.”
106 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC