PoliticaCT 2021-2022 Board of Directors

Janée Woods Weber serves as PoliticaCT President.
Janée is the Director of Organizational Culture at the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, a philanthropic organization that focuses on equity in education in Connecticut. She previously was a Program Director at Everyday Democracy, helping communities across the country build capacity to engage in dialogue and action planning to create positive change. She serves on the Board of Directors for The Greater Hartford Arts Council and Training for Change. She is the Co-Chair of the CT Working Families Party, and is also a founding member of CT Black Women. Janée was appointed to the 2018 Lamont-Bysiewicz Transition Policy Committee for Women and Girls and the 2019 Steering Committee for the Governor’s Council on Women and Girls, serving on the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and Workforce Equity.

Jamie Mills serves as PoliticaCT’s Treasurer.
Jamie was most recently Director of Fiscal Policy at Connecticut Voices for Children, a research-based think tank that advocates for policies that benefit the state’s children and families.  She was previously Senior Advisor for Policy Analysis for the State of Connecticut’s Office of Policy and Management.  For over 25 years, Jamie worked an attorney representing employees and unions, advocacy organizations, and victims of sexual assault and abuse. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law where she has taught Gender, Sexuality and the Law and a Civil Clinic in LGBT issues.  She was selected as a Connecticut Super Lawyer each year from 2007 through 2016, representing the top 5% of attorneys in the state, by Law & Politics and Connecticut Magazine.

Eva Bermúdez Zimmerman serves as PoliticaCT Secretary.
Organizing for over 13 years, Eva is currently Director of Child Care and Field Organizing for CSEA SEIU.  Eva garnered close to 80,000 votes in the 2018 Democratic Primary for Lieutenant Governor.  Born and raised in Hartford, she later served as an elected member of the Newtown Legislative Council during the period the town is most known for.  In response to low voter turnout in previous elections, Eva started Road to Rights, a voter registration coalition to continue civic education and engagement year-round.

Marilyn Moore is a State Senator for the 22nd District, which includes the communities of Trumbull, Monroe, and sections of Bridgeport.  First elected in 2014, she is currently serving her third term. As a lifelong Bridgeport resident and community activist, Marilyn has been a force in advocating for health equity, living wage jobs, and legislation that supports and protects communities. Recognizing the rapid increase in morbidity and mortality rates among low-income minority women with breast cancer, Marilyn founded and became President and CEO of The Witness Project, which seeks to address and reduce breast cancer mortality. She is also a member of several boards, including End Hunger CT, Network Support Team CT Food Systems Alliance, and the Food Solutions New England Coalition.

Susan Yolen recently retired after over 30 years as Vice-President for Policy & Advocacy at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.  In that capacity, she served for a number of years on the national board of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and its Federal PAC. Locally, she administered PPSNE’s two 501-c–4 organizations, PPVotes!CT and Rhode Island, as well as the state PACs that Planned Parenthood operates and which engage in independent expenditures in both states. She graduated from William Smith College and has a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University. She lives in the Westville section of New Haven with her husband, Tim, an attorney, and is the mom of two grown children with two granddaughters.

Vanita Bhalla serves multiple organizations as she works to make CT more progressive and inclusive. She is a Representative from the 32nd District to the State Democratic Party, where she serves on the leadership team for the CT AAPI Caucus. She serves as Vice Chair of the Woodbury Democratic Town Committee, as well on the Woodbury Board of Assessment Appeals. She is a member of the first class of the Emerge program, which has a focus on helping Democratic women get elected. Vanita is a co-founder of WeCAN, an Indivisible group founded in 2017. She has helped lead multiple campaigns and joyfully volunteers for candidates both locally and nationally. After graduating from UCONN with a BS in Biochemistry and a MBA, Vanita worked in Sales and Marketing at Procter and Gamble, Tambrands, and at Gillette. In 2002, Vanita made a career switch to recruiting. In 2015, she started her own business as a Career Coach.

Evelyn Mantilla has ten years’ experience as a Representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, representing one of the state’s lowest income districts. As an activist and legislator, she has spent her professional career working on civil rights and equality issues – particularly focusing on her work with disenfranchised communities. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve as Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives as well as the first openly gay woman in the Connecticut General Assembly. She has held leadership positions with the National Council for Community and Justice and the Hartford Sexual Assault Crisis Service, and has received awards from the Connecticut Institute for Community Development and the National Association of Social Workers, among others. Evelyn has also worked as an advocate for women’s rights and as a small business owner consulting to nonprofits, businesses and electoral campaigns for over 25 years.