Page 20 - The Indian EYE 021921

North The Indian Eye

AmERIcANnewsline

20 February 19, 2021

nyc mayoRaL eLection

meet sasha neha ahuja who is

andrew yang’s co-campaign manager

The former presidential candidate hires Indian American who has worked with Chair of New York
City’s Equal Employment Practices Commission and New York Taxi Workers Alliance

Our Bureau backgrounds, experiences and
views, and I’m proud to have all
NEW YORK, NY these folks fighting with me for

ormer presidential candi- New Yorkers.”
date Andrew Yang, who Yang has previously de-
Fis now officially enter- nied accusations he allowed a
ing the race for Mayor of New work culture hostile to wom-
York City, has announced Indi- en during his presidential run.
an American Sasha Neha Ahu- More recently, he faced crit-
ja as his co-campaign manager. icism after he required some
According to Ahuja’s Twitter mayoral campaign staffers
handle and a report in the New to sign non-disclosure agree-
York Times, Ahuja is a long- ments, which attracted the ire
time community organizer and of Maya Wiley, another may-
a member of the NYC Commis- oral candidate. The campaign
sion on Gender Equity joined has since ended the practice.
Yang’s NYC Mayoral Campaign. Ahuja, now a co-campaign
Ahuja tweeted: “TY to manager for Yang, said in a
my village for reaching out & statement Friday that she was
checking in on me. More than taken aback by the accusations
anything, I’m honored to be when she heard them, but nev-
part of the tiny handful of wom- ertheless decided to join up
en of color to co-lead a citywide with the former presidential
campaign, joining the ranks of candidate.
NYC strategists who admire.” “It’s incredibly important for
She also thanked Yang for see- Ahuja and Yang have con- she tweeted, linking to a story us to listen to the experiences
ing her leadership. flicted with each other in the about the accusation. “Wish I of all people in the workplace
The New York Times arti- past. In 2019, Ahuja, then a lo- could say it was unbelievable”, especially those who tend to
cle also highlighted that earlier cal progressive activist, made according to a report in Polit- experience discrimination most
when Yang was a presidential some remarks after the New ico. frequently — people of color,
candidate, Ahuja had criticized York City Commission on Gen- Yang brushed off the tweet women of color, LGBTQ folks
him when she hinted that sto- der Equity held a hearing that and said that he deliberately and those of us whose identi-
ries of gender discrimination included testimony from a for- assembled a team with a variety ties check all the boxes,” she
against him could be credible. mer Yang employee who said of viewpoints. said. “It is also important to
The story was about Yang al- she was fired after getting mar- “The rest of the field can fo- make sure all sides are heard
legedly firing an employee after ried. Ahuja sits on the com- cus on my staffer’s tweets from and promote a workplace cul-
she got married. He had con- mission and chairs another city years ago, but we’re focused ture that is inclusive and com-
sistently denied the accusations. body focused on preventing on the big ideas like cash re- mitted to equity.
Yang is one of the several workplace discrimination. lief, COVID-19 response and “That’s why when I had the
candidates running to replace “Kimberly Watkins testified economic recovery that New chance to work for Andrew
Mayor Bill de Blasio. He is an that Presidential Candidate Yorkers expect their next may- and build that type of cul-
entrepreneur and through his @AndrewYang fired her after or to deliver on,” Yang said in a ture on a mayoral campaign, I
campaign for President gained she got married because she statement. “I wanted my team jumped at the chance and am
national name recognition. wouldn’t want to work as hard,” to represent a diverse array of Continued on next page... >>

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