Andrea Dew Steele

Andrea Dew Steele is the President and Founder of Emerge America and is a passionate advocate for increasing the number of women in elected office at every level.

In 2002, Andrea co-founded the first Emerge affiliate in Northern California.  Struck by the incredible lack of women holding elected office at the local level in San Francisco, Andrea and a few friends decided that all politics is local and identified a market for an intensive political training program for Democratic women interested in running for office in Northern California.  Andrea worked tirelessly to develop a top notch training program in Northern California and in 2005 she founded Emerge America to replicate the model in all 50 states. 

Andrea was bitten by the political bug while in high school in Richmond, Virginia and at Tufts University, where while majoring in political science, she took a semester off to work on the Dukakis for President campaign.  As the Assistant to the Treasurer, Andrea was first introduced to the world of political fundraising.  After college, Andrea went to work for Senator Bob Graham in his senate office and eventually moved over to his campaign office where she raised money for him and other Democrats like Senator Patrick Leahy and Senate candidates Liz Holtzman and Carol Mosley Braun.  It was during these formative years that Andrea was swept up in the 1992 "Year of the Woman" and became increasingly interested in supporting women in the political sphere.

After pursuing a degree in International History from the London School of Economics, Andrea returned to Capitol Hill to work in the U.S. Senate for Patrick Leahy.  She worked on welfare reform addressing important issues like food stamps and school lunch programs, developing a further appreciation for the important role lawmakers play in introducing and supporting critical legislation.  Andrea left Senator Leahy for the Democratic National Committee where she served as Finance Director of the Women's Leadership Forum.  During that time, she travelled extensively doing major events with First Lady Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore while developing a strong network of women donors across the country.  It was also during that time that she met and became friends with her future boss, Susie Tompkins Buell, the former co-founder and co-owner of Esprit Clothing.  She left the DNC for the DSCC where she worked closely with many of the senators developing relationships with Democratic contributors from all over the country.

It was First Lady Hillary Clinton's run for the Senate in 2000 that prompted Susie Tompkins Buell to recruit Andrea to be her political advisor as well as run the Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation.  Together they raised over a million dollars for Hillary's senate race with signature events around the country, utilizing artists like Annie Liebovitz and Elton John to raise record amounts of money. Andrea worked with Susie to leverage her philanthropy and political contributions to create a powerful donor community in the Bay Area and beyond - raising millions of dollars for candidates, committees and organizations - with a special emphasis on women candidates. 

Through Emerge America, Andrea is leveraging her powerful connections in the Democratic community to build a potent women's political network of participants, alumnae, board and advisory board members, and trainers.  She is igniting a new Democratic women's movement at the local and state level, dedicated to changing the face of power, the face of politics and the face of leadership in this country.