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Layla Zaidane

Layla Zaidane is the President and CEO of the Millennial Action Project. She joined the team in 2016, previously serving as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, where she advised on strategy across MAP’s teams and programs and managed the organization’s staff and operations. A nationally recognized expert on youth engagement, Layla has been featured in outlets including Forbes, The Washington Post, New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Refinery29, The Huffington Post, and McClatchy.

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    Leadership

    Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

    Layla Zaidane
    https://twitter.com/layla_says?lang=en
    December 30, 2022
    Millennial Action Project's Rising Star Award winners

    Aaron Pilkington (left) and Jeremy Gray won the the Millennial Action Project's Rising Star Awards.

    Millennial Action Project'

    As 2022 draws to a close, The Fulcrum has invited leaders of democracy reform organizations to share their hopes and plans for the coming year. This is the ninth in the series.

    Zaidane is the president and CEO of the Millennial Action Project.

    Empathy and humility are underrated attributes of great political leaders. In this era of historic polarization, different political tribes reward leaders for different reasons. What traits do we celebrate? Who are we spotlighting? How does this recognition influence the society we’re creating?

    As a nation, our social contract has frayed. Trust is broken. We need a path to civic renewal. That path requires empathy for people not like us, and it will be charted by leaders, both in and out of office, who have the humility to understand they need their opponents to heal the divide. This is the type of leadership worth celebrating.

    I have good news: there are people, even elected officials, who are working all throughout the country on mending divisions. Gen Z’ers and millennials in particular are dissatisfied with the divisive politics of our parents’ generation. They understand trust and relationships power good governance. Through my work with young state lawmakers, I see firsthand how the most productive and effective leaders are the ones willing to get to know their political opponents. They invest time in establishing trust with the other side so that they can work together to pass policies with real impact. And it works.

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    Leadership

    The state of young leadership

    Layla Zaidane
    https://twitter.com/layla_says?lang=en
    November 16, 2022
    Millennial Action Project; 2022 Future Summit

    Legislators join the author, Layla Zaidane (left) at the Millennial Action Project's 2022 Future Summit.

    Millennial Action Project

    Zaidane is the president and CEO of the Millennial Action Project.

    It’s no surprise that Gen Z and millennials operate differently from older generations on everything from when they get married to how they approach money. But one thing the most diverse generations yet are doing differently is surprisingly under-reported: They’re bringing a new and more effective style of leadership to legislatures across the country.

    Not only have we seen them prioritize future-focused solutions on issues like climate change, criminal justice reform, cost and access to higher education, and more — but they’ve done so in a more collaborative and bipartisan fashion than their older peers. At my organization, Millennial Action Project, we’ve been tracking these young agents of change and recently released a report called “The State of Young State Leadership.” Here’s what we found:

    Young people only make up 20.7 percent of state legislatures. That’s right – despite being the largest generation, millennials and Gen Z only make up one-fifth of our nation’s state legislative chambers. While the average age of the country is 38, the average age of a state legislator is 56. I’ll let you guess what the average age of Congress is. And unfortunately, indications point to state legislatures and Congress only getting older.

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