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2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, so we’re running a Q&A series this year called “The Women in Charge,” focusing on California women who are doing groundbreaking things in policy and politics, both here in the Golden State and around the nation.

Because it’s also an Election Year, we’re going to talk with the women in charge of getting other women inspired to run for political office, funding them so they can go the distance, and training them so they’ll succeed.

California is home to innovative organizations that are getting more women elected and appointed to top spots on local, state and national levels.

* California Women Lead is the state's first, and still only, nonpartisan organization that encourages and mentors women to run for office or apply for an appointment at the state or local level.

* Emerge California is a top training program for Democratic women who want to run for office (graduates include Eleni Kounalakis, California’s first female Lieutenant Governor, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf).

* Fund Her, the first political action committee focused on electing progressive women, provides that badly-needed financial support to ensure their candidates are well-positioned to win.

*And Ignite goes all the way down to the K-12 grade level to train young women who want to become the next generation of political leaders.

Join us for a conversation in Downtown Sacramento with some inspiring political leaders who know how to maneuver through the political world, and teach other women how to navigate successfully, too. We’ll ask for their opinions on the Presidential campaigns of Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, get their take on the attention surrounding “The Squad” of young Congresswomen in Washington D.C., and the rise and fall of former California Congresswoman Katie Hill; and they’ll explain the pros and cons for women when vying for office and government appointments in California and nationwide.

PANELISTS

* Esmeralda Cortez Rosales, West Coast program manager for Ignite National

* Samantha Farmer-Helton, chief political strategist for Fund Her, and deputy political director for Consumer Attorneys of California

* Lindsey Nitta, executive director of California Women Lead

* Melanie Ramil, executive director of Emerge California