Kesha Ram is used to breaking barriers. At the age of 34, she already has an impressive list of firsts: she was elected to the Vermont House in 2008 at age 22, becoming the youngest member of that body. Earlier this month, she was elected to be a state senator from Chittenden County, Vermont’s most populous county. Ram, who was born to an Indian father and Jewish American mother, will become the first woman of color to serve in the Vermont Senate.

"I want to I give credit to Donald Trump," Ram says. Prior to Trump's election, "nobody felt like we had any racial justice issues in Vermont. After 2016, a lot of people woke up to the racial reality of a lot of Americans and a lot of Vermonters. ...Now I feel I have the wind at my back to advance racial, economic and social justice issues."