Position Title:
Campus Camp Wellstone Trainer
Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed is a writer, political organizer and recent graduate student in Los Angeles. She has been registering youth voters for the past ten years, since her undergraduate days at the University of Southern California. At the age of 25, she founded South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), a national organization that organizes South Asian American youth to have a political voice and get involved in the electoral process. In 2004, SAAVY ran campaigns in MI, NY, FL, GA, and CA mobilizing thousands of South Asians to the polls, while empowering a new generation of South Asian student leaders. She was honored by the Youth Vote Coalition in their 'Top 30 Under 30' Award.
This June, she received her Master in Public Policy degree with concentrations in Asian American policy, non-profit management, and critical race at UCLA's School of Public Affairs. While pursuing her Masters, she's had the privilege of working as a researcher in the Asian American community on various community projects, such as the Asian American Youth Vote report with APALC, and the Los Angeles taxi workers. Her thesis project entitled "Barriers to Student Voting" examines the various barriers that students in California face when exercising civic engagement. She currently works for a local Asian and Pacific Islander non-profit organization.
Taz is a featured co-author in the book, "Storming the Polls," and publishes in numerous publications, such as Alternet, Wiretap, PopandPolitics and syndicated on The Nation. An avid essayist, blogger, and poet, her work has been profiled in the International Museum of Women and Falling Star Magazine. She also sits on the board of the online youth magazine, WireTap Magazine.