Jesse Tolkan

Jessy Tolkan, Manager of Voter Outreach for Grassroots Campaigns Incorporated, is a rock star of youth voting and empowerment. She got her start as a student activist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her degree in political science and African-American Studies. While at UW-Madison her work included organizing student vote coalitions in 2000 and 2002, helping to elect Representative Tammy Baldwin to office, and engaging students in local politics through her own bid for the Madison City Council at age 19. After graduation, Tolkan worked as the Wisconsin State Director for the New Voters Project, registering over 130,000 18- to 24-year-old voters across the state and helping to produce one of the highest youth voter turnout rates in the country. She is currently the campaign director for the Campus Climate Challenge and was recently named one of the Real Hot 100.