Laphonza Butler is the president at EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, whose mission is to elect Democratic pro-choice at every level of government.

As a leader in Democratic politics, campaign strategy, and the labor movement for two decades, Butler has dedicated her life to empowering women and supporting them in finding their voice.

Prior to joining EMILY’s List, she served as Director of Public Policy and Campaigns in North America for Airbnb. She was also a partner at SCRB Strategies, a political consulting firm where she worked with candidates up and down the ballot, and was a senior advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Butler spent 10 years as the president of the biggest union in California, and the nation’s largest homecare workers union, SEIU Local 2015. She was elected to this position at just 30 years old, one of the youngest to take on this role.

As president, Butler was the leading voice and architect of efforts to address pay inequity for women in California, and a top advocate for raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour – the first state in the nation to do so.  That effort also gave hundreds of thousands of home workers access to paid time off.

She is a member of the University of California Board of Regents and a board member for the Children’s Defense Fund and BLACK PAC.

Butler grew up in Magnolia, MS, and attended one of the country’s premier HBCUs, Jackson State University. She lives in Maryland with her partner Neneki Lee and their daughter Nylah.