Sheila Kuehl
When Kuehl was elected as a Democrat to the California Assembly in 1994 a Republican majority was seated for the first time in 20 years. This was due largely as an out-flowing of the enthusiasm stoked up by Newt Gingrich's strategy supporting Republicans for the Federal Legislature. Kuehl recalled "The Republican majority was quite a different kind of Republican, not a moderate, not a Rockefeller Republican. They were primarily Bible-thumpers and very right-wing. So it was not the most welcoming Republican group, though they loved Zelda Gilroy, and it was very difficult for them because they already liked me so much…. And to their surprise, we all got along very well. ...The Republicans were pretty horrible about LGBT stuff. They all virtually said stuff like, 'Well, they're all spawn of the devil, oh, but not you, Sheila….'"
Jameela Salem Al Muhairi
Jameela graduated from the United Arab Emirates University where she studied Management. She worked at the Ministry of Education from 1995 to 2004. From 2004 to 2007 she was the Executive Director of Dubai Knowledge Village. She was the Chief of Dubai School Inspection Bureau at Knowledge and Human Development Authority. She was made the State Minister of Public Education of the United Arab Emirates in February 2016. She sits on the board of the charity Dubai Cares Foundation. She was a panelist on the Equity in Education: Delivering on SDG4 hosted in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She founded the school targets initiative that aims to monitor schools and reward outstanding results from them. She described education as fundamental element needed for the development of United Arab Emirates and an investment in the country's youth, as she outlined the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda.