Zara (she/her) is an enrolled member of the A’aniiih (Gros Ventre) and Nakoda (Assiniboine) Tribal nations of Fort Belknap, Montana. Born in Spokane, her Dad served as a solar meteorologist for the Air Force for 22 years, and she grew up at many solar observatories around the country and the world. (Western Australia was her favorite.) She graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2003 with a BA in English Literature, and she completed half of an MLIS at the University of Oklahoma before she realized it simply wasn’t her passion.

After working as classified staff for a few universities, Zara found her passion and began her career as a professional organizer, cutting her teeth on Higher Education labor campaigns with the American Federation of Teachers, where she also worked on multiple electoral campaigns, including the AFL-CIO portion of the Hillary ’16 campaign in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Later, she worked as an organizer within the Political Strategies Department of the ACLU of Washington, advancing legislative advocacy through collaboration within coalition spaces across multiple issue areas.

Zara believes strongly in community power — particularly for members of marginalized, disenfranchised, and exploited communities — if we are to make a truly significant shift away from late-stage monopoly capitalism and systemic white supremacy. In her spare time, she plugs away at one of the two novels she is writing in perpetuity, explores the PNW with her partner, Kurt, and their two Corgi mixes, Hub and Walter, and spends regular time at her local hot yoga studio. She thinks way too much about backyard birdwatching.