Advisory Board — Black Women's Congressional Alliance

Christina Henderson

Christina Henderson is an At-Large member of the Council of the District of Columbia. Christina’s career has been guided by the principle that one’s zip code should not determine your opportunity for success, and she is excited to work each and every day to make this principle a reality for all DC residents.
Prior to her election in 2020, Christina provided counsel to United States Senators, DC Councilmembers, and state and local education officials on an array of domestic policy issues which deeply impacts families and children.
Most recently, Christina served as a Legislative Assistant for then U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) handling education, workforce, postal and census issues for both the leadership and personal office. She is known for a commonsense approach to policy, a collaborative working style, and centering equity in her work.
Christina received her BA in Political Science from Furman University in Greenville, SC and her Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and a proud co-founder of the Black Women’s Congressional Alliance. Christina lives in Petworth with her husband and two daughters.

Kemah Morial-West

Kemah Dennis-Morial is Director of Global Public Affairs at AT&T where she manages third-party stakeholder engagements and relationships within the Black community to advocate business and policy objectives, a portfolio which includes leading national Civil Rights organizations, nonprofits, and advocacy groups.
Prior to joining AT&T, Kemah held several positions on Capitol Hill, including serving as a Senior Advisor to Congressman Cedric L. Richmond, Assistant to the Majority Whip, representing Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district, and as the Director of Member Services and External Affairs for the Congressional Black Caucus under Congressman Richmond’s leadership.
Kemah holds a Master of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and French from Tufts University. Kemah was born in Washington, D.C. but grew up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she spent 18 years. She is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish.
She is a proud co-founder of the Black Women’s Congressional Alliance.

Meaghan Lynch, Esq.

Meaghan Lynch serves as Federal Public Policy Manager at Airbnb, a role she has held since July 2022. In this role, Meaghan is helping shape Airbnb's policy priorities to support its goal to be part of the solution to the housing affordability crisis.
Meaghan most recently served as Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she was a Day 1 appointee in the Biden-Harris Administration. In this role, she was the principal spokesperson and aide to Secretary Marcia Fudge. Meaghan is a former staffer to Kamala Harris, serving as her spokesperson in the U.S. Senate. Meaghan helped elevate then-Senator Harris’ work as a national leader during the impeachment trial of President Trump and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on key issue areas such as voting rights and maternal health. During Congressman G. K. Butterfield’s (D-NC) tenure as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Meaghan served as his Communications Director and Counsel. There, Meaghan led the overall message development for the office and around Caucus priorities such as the CBC Tech 2020 initiative.
Raised in North Carolina, Meaghan is a graduate of North Carolina State University and Howard University School of Law. She is a member of the Maryland State Bar. Meaghan is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Chasseny Lewis

Chasseny Lewis has spent more than 15 years working to improve, reform, and strengthen various areas within the Democratic Party. As a critical member of management teams within the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and the Democratic National Committee, she has successfully managed stakeholder and donor relationships for principals.
During her supervisory roles, she helped develop and implement state, local and federal policy initiatives —while still making time to mentor the next generation of women in politics. Chasseny has built a career on connecting people and ideas, bringing a range of government and political experience, including most recently having served as Chief of Staff to Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA).
She currently works as Director of Federal Affairs for Shipt in Washington, DC. Chasseny pursued graduate school at Johns Hopkins University and undergraduate at Tennessee State University. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Yasmin nelson

Yasmin (Rigney) Nelson is a Senior Policy advisor in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office and a member of the firm's Public Policy & Regulation Group. Yasmin is an experienced policy strategist and advocate with more than a decade building coalitions, with a focus on creating client-focused campaigns. She advises clients on legislative and regulatory issues before Congress, the White House and the administration.
Yasmin has significant knowledge on issues related to finance, banking, housing, technology, healthcare and financial services, with an ability to communicate and advance complicated policy issues with political leaders, companies and stakeholders. She has served four senators and worked on a U.S. Senate committee, as well as on presidential and federal campaigns. She has a demonstrated history of bipartisan and bicameral work, aiding senators in passing legislation into law, shaping regulations and developing public policy proposals.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Yasmin was a partner and senior principal within the policy resolution group of an international law firm in its Washington, D.C., office. She provided consult to Fortune 1000 companies, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, industry coalitions and trade associations through the legislative, regulatory and public affairs aspects of government advocacy campaigns. She also counseled clients on a broad range of issues, including financial services, tax, technology, gender policy, equity, cryptocurrency, energy, environment, banking and labor.
Previously, Yasmin was the senior policy advisor to then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), where she was responsible for crafting and managing Sen. Harris' economic agenda, as well as advising on Congressional Tri-Caucus policy and political issues. As lead on Congressional Black Caucus for Sen. Harris, Yasmin concentrated on advancing policy initiatives with a focus on equity and inclusion, along with efforts to propose policies that would reform the tax code, increase access to capital for small businesses and expand the social safety net and advocate for greater equity in federal programming.
Yasmin also served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), as well as in the offices of Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), advising on economic and housing portfolios.
Yasmin holds a certificate in Fiscal Policy and Safety Net from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, as well as certificates in Economic Theory and the Application to Public Government, and Finance and the Economics of Taxation from Tax Foundation University. She also completed the We Lead Certificate Program for Women in Politics from the American University.
Yasmin is apart of the University of Maryland’s Smith Association of Women MBAs, Financial Services Professionals (FSP), PayOurInterns Board Member,
DaeLight Foundation Board Member, and
The Black Policy institute Global Advisor. She also is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Lakeisha Steele

Lakeisha Steele is CASEL’s Vice President of Policy. Before joining CASEL, Lakeisha served in the Biden-Harris Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the Department of Education.

Prior to her service in the Biden-Harris Administration, Lakeisha served eight years on Capitol Hill in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, most recently as Senior Education Policy Advisor on the House Education & Labor Committee where she led K-12 education policy, including the successful passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, for House Democrats under the leadership of Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03). Prior to her work on the House Education and Labor Committee, Lakeisha advanced priorities in K-12 and higher education for U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR1) and the Democratic Whip, United States Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL). She spent eight years working in the legal industry performing risk management for law firms.

She holds a bachelor's degree from Western Illinois University and a Master of Public Administration from American University. She is from Kankakee, Illinois and the beautiful southside of Chicago.