Courtney Ruark-Thompson is a member of the Cherokee Nation and has a wide range of non-profit, political and policy experience. She has worked on a Presidential campaign, worked as a consultant, and worked with party organizations. While working for the Democratic National Committee in Oklahoma, she helped ensure big wins for Democrats in Oklahoma, and specifically focused on getting youth more motivated, involved and mobilized, and recruiting more women to run for office.

Serving as Chief of Staff for the INDNs List non-profit organization, she concentrated her talents and efforts on recruiting more American Indians and Alaska Natives to get involved in the political process to get to the polls and put their names on the ticket.

Courtney currently works as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, and lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband, Grant Thompson, and her fish, George. She loves to read contemporary fiction and once wrote a novel in one month. If you ask, she will definitely bake you a treat or play you in Scrabble.