NEW JERSEY – Imani Oakley, Esq. former Legislative Director of NJ Working Families, joins #EyesOnNJ to host her 16th episode of “Upfront Now!” today at 5:00PM.
Imani will touch upon
- Discussing Legislative Redistricting
- Interview with Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina, Activista Rise Up
Dr. Patricia Campos-Medina, Activista Rise Up
Visionary leader and educator with research, policy, legislative and program development experience. Applied experienced on the development of strategic union organizing, electoral and worker justice community campaigns. Strategic negotiator around changing organizational dynamics managing complex issues and budgets at the highest levels of decision making in labor movement and social justice organizations at local and national level.
Currently, she is the Co-Director of The Worker Institute, ILR-Cornell University where she is a member of the leadership team that oversees the successful management of the Institute’s vision and mission to advance collective bargaining, worker rights and economic justice via research and education on contemporary labor issues, to generate innovative thinking and solutions to problems related to work, the economy, and society.
Dr. Campos-Medina is an advocate for women empowerment. She is the current President of Latinas United for Political Empowerment Inc., an organization by Latinas for Latinas, that focuses on advancing policies that give a voice to Latinas in public policy and in politics. She currently serves as a board member of PODER PAC, a political action committee advancing women representation in government and politics. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee for Eleccion Latina/Ready to Run, a joint program of LUPE and the CAWP-Eagleton, Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Dr. Campos-Medina has been recognized as one of New Jersey’s most influential political leaders by several publications: InsiderNJ’s 100 Policymaker in 2019, 2018, and 2017; Observer/Politicker’s 100 Power List in 2016; PolitickerNJ’s Top 51 Most Influential Latino Leaders in New Jersey for 2015. In 2017, Patricia was recognized as one of El Salvador’s “100 Most Influential Women in the Diaspora,” an honor that she is especially proud of as an American citizen of Salvadoran descent.
Imani Oakley, Esq.
Imani R. Oakley, Esq was the Legislative Director & Regional Organizer for New Jersey Working Families. Imani is also an alum of New Leaders Council-New Jersey and is currently fulfilling the role of NLC-NJ Institute Co-Chair where she is responsible for constructing and facilitating a six-month curriculum for New Jersey’s emerging leaders.
Recently, Imani was voted-in as the Political Director for the Young Democrats of America’s Woman’s Caucus. Imani also currently holds the position of Northern Vice Chair for the New Jersey Young Democrats and was previously the Executive Chair of the Essex County Young Democrats. Imani is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Assemblywoman Britnee N. Timberlake and has also served as a Constituent Advocate for Senator Cory A. Booker where her portfolio consisted of affordable housing, mortgages, taxes, student loans, consumer protection, pensions, and postal service issues. In 2018, Imani was honored to be the Keynote Speaker for the Montclair Branch NAACP’s 102nd Thurgood Marshall Freedom Fund Dinner and Awards Ceremony where she spoke about the theme “Face the Hate and VOTE” with an emphasis on protecting the voting process for the nation’s most vulnerable communities.
Imani has also been a strong advocate for criminal justice reform. In 2017, Imani was a panel speaker for the 2017 International Drug Policy Reform Conference where she spoke about her experience in effecting D.C.’s local marijuana legalization laws and what students can do to effect drug policy reform on their campus and in their communities. Furthering her endeavors to create positive change in drug policy reform, Imani was invited to participate in the 2016 Minority Cannabis Business Association’s Policy Summit where she helped draft model legislation for the legalization of marijuana in a manner that promotes access to the legal cannabis industry for marginalized communities.
As an unyielding advocate for the systemically powerless, in 2015, Imani was a legal observer during the anti-police brutality protests in Baltimore, Maryland, where she ensured that the First Amendment rights of protestors were not infringed upon. During this same year, Imani spent her summer working for the South African non-profit, Ndifuna Ukwazi, where she collected affidavits on property and sewage conditions from South African communities that suffered under Apartheid and are still experiencing Apartheid’s harsh effects, even in its aftermath.
Imani earned her Bachelor’s degree from Howard University, a Master of Arts degree from New York University, and a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. While enrolled in law school, Imani was enrolled in the Legislative Legal Clinic and drafted policy reports for non-profit organizations focused on criminal justice reform. As the Captain of Oral Advocacy for the Goler Teal Butcher International Moot Court Team at Howard, Imani distinguished herself among national and international competitors as the 2016 Best Oralist at the Susan J. Ferrell Intercultural Human Rights Moot Court Competition. Through her passion for both policy and her community, Imani hopes to continue to be a servant of the people and a trailblazer for progress.
