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Meet The Team

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Becky Arrendondo

Co-Founder

Hazel Weathers retired from the IBM Corporation following a long rewarding career in technical support, marketing, and management. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and after living in several states, over 30 years ago, moved to the Plano/North Texas area. She’s been a community activist since 2008; in the ensuing years, she’s served as precinct chair, voter registrar, poll worker, and a leader, officer, or board member for multiple community and political organizations. She is a passionate civil rights advocate and a staunch supporter of voting, human, and women’s rights.

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Blondene Taite

Co-Founder

Blondene Taite is a retired educator from Oklahoma City, where she taught in Oklahoma City Public Schools. 

A mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she relocated to Collin County, Texas in 2010,  where she soon began working as a community activist, registering voters, serving as a precinct chair, poll worker (judge, alternate judge, clerk), VDR and campaign worker.
Blondene volunteers in Frisco ISD. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

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Elisa Klein

Co-Founder

Elisa Klein is a PTA mom, volunteer, and small business owner. She is originally from El Salvador and her immigrant experience has shaped her views on the importance of advocating for public education, women's rights, and the impact of community involvement. 

Elisa and her family reside in Plano.

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Jackie Shaw

Co-Founder

Jackie is a native of Oklahoma, and currently a resident of Flower Mound, TX.

She is the Director and Owner of Shaw Child Care. Jackie is also a community leader whose goal is promoting ideals and values within our communities through grassroots organizing and educating.

Within the areas of education, policing, racial equity, and voting, and engaging the community to participate in the civil process. 

Jackie encourages voter participation in early voting and educates voters about elections and their voting rights.  To be sure their vote is an informed one, she encourages voters to learn about the candidates and their stances on various issues before Election Day. Her involvement includes bringing awareness to the public on election reform and also advocating at the municipal, county, state, and national levels.

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Jocelyn McMurray

Co-Founder

Jocelyn McMurray, retired from ATOS as a technical Program/Project Manager supporting international IT outsourcing programs for Global Clients.  Jocelyn was born and raised in Detroit Michigan.  Working for a National Commercial Bank, for over 20 years, she was relocated to Dallas, Texas 25 years ago to manage and grow the IT infrastructure of the Texas Affiliate to expand its footprint allowing it to become a major presence in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston.

Jocelyn is an active golfer and has organized and belonged to numerous Golf Associations that support Black Women in Golf.  She also devotes time supporting Denton County, politically.  She has been a poll worker, a voter registrar for Denton, Dallas and Collin Counties, Precinct Chair in Denton County and currently an Alternate Judge on the Denton County Elections, Voter Board since 2017.

Jocelyn has worked to form the Black Women Community Power, of Denton County, that has worked on numerous projects that support voter registration, voter education and community empowerment for municipal elections.

Jocelyn is a current member of the Denton County Democratic Party, NAACP, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and a founding member of Women of Color, WOC.  Her passion is to be a part of strategic, strong and aggressive teams that work toward voter rights and education.

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Rekha Shenoy

Co-Founder

Rekha Shenoy is a dentist and a public health professional working for a non-profit in the Dallas area. She has lived in the Dallas metroplex for almost 18 years. She has lived in Plano for the last 14 years with her family. Her daughter attended Plano schools and now lives in Austin. Rekha was born and raised in Bangalore, India, and immigrated to the US in 1999. She started getting engaged in issues, like common-sense gun reform with Moms Demand Action, when she became aware of the lax gun laws in the State of Texas. She is a graduate of Leadership Plano, Class-36 (the best class ever). She is also a precinct chair and is involved in the League of women voters of Collin County. She is also involved with SAAVETX (South Asian American Voter Empowerment). Rekha is passionate about issues pertaining to racial equity, women's rights, and health care. 

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Rekha Suryanarayana

Co-Founder

Biography.

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Rocio Hernandez-Gosewehr

Co-Founder

Biography.

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Vielka Harrison

Co-Founder

Vielka Harrison was born and raised in Panama City, Panama.  She has since resided in multiple states and countries before settling in North Texas for the past fourteen years.  With an undergraduate degree in Latin American Studies/Sociology and graduate degree in Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management, she was well positioned for career opportunities in bilingual education and human resources administration.  She became interested in volunteerism and activism, and since 2018 has served on the board of a local organization, chaired key fundraising projects, worked on local campaigns, and participated in multiple community outreach activities.  She is also an avid reader and loves to travel nationally and internationally.  Vielka is the spouse of a retired army officer and the mother of two daughters.

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Hazel Weathers

Co-Founder

Hazel Weathers retired from the IBM Corporation following a long rewarding career in technical support, marketing, and management. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and after living in several states, over 30 years ago, moved to the Plano/North Texas area. She’s been a community activist since 2008; in the ensuing years, she’s served as precinct chair, voter registrar, poll worker, and a leader, officer, or board member for multiple community and political organizations. She is a passionate civil rights advocate and a staunch supporter of voting, human, and women’s rights.

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