Sheila Kuehl
Kuehl was elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, becoming the first openly gay person elected to the California legislature. While running for office Kuehl found she was able to offset some negative stereotypes people had about lesbians thanks to their familiarity with her role as Zelda. She told an interviewer "When people know gay people personally, they tend to feel differently about the whole community. And all of a sudden, here's a person that they knew very well that they found out was lesbian."
Princella Smith
At the age of twenty, she spoke in prime time at the 2004 Republican National Convention held in New York City to re-nominate the Bush-Cheney ticket. She beat a thousand other entrants in an MTV essay contest for the privilege of speaking at the convention. Her status as a young black Republican woman drew national attention. Smith had earlier worked as an intern for the late Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, who as lieutenant governor of her state inspired her to become a Republican activist. She had early experience as a public speaker as governor of Girls State while in high school.