Our Executive Director

Jaynie Parrish (Diné) is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up in Window Rock and Kayenta, AZ on the Navajo Nation. Since 2011, Jaynie has been helping progressive groups be more inclusive by training and hiring Native people in political and issue advocacy spaces so that they can lead and represent their communities. She is the Executive Director and founder of Arizona Native Vote, a non-profit, non-partisan organization is dedicated to building political power in rural and tribal communities.

From 2020 to 2023, Jaynie served as the Executive Director of the Navajo County Democrats and Northeast Arizona Native Democrats. This initiative delivered a significant number of Native votes that helped carry Arizona in the 2020 general election. She previously served as the Social Media Manager at EMILY’s List.

Jaynie taught American Indian Studies and Women and Gender studies at the University of North Dakota. She has worked with Intertribal Sports, the National Indian Gaming Association, Rock the Vote, and Arizona State University, Office of the President. While at ASU Jaynie worked with Mr. Peterson Zah and American Indian programs to create partnerships with tribal governments and help increase student enrollment, retention, and graduation rate. This effort was one of the first of its kind and is now a model nationwide. In 2016, Jaynie was professional staff for the Denise Juneau for Congress and Hillary Clinton campaigns and then started her own digital practice, Parrish Digital, that specializes in digital organizing for tribes and organizations. She was named a 2023 Munzon Instituto fellow and to the 2024-2025 Project Overzero cohort.

Jaynie is an alum of Arizona State University and the Harvard Kennedy School.