ABOUT AFTYN
COMING HOME.
An active Girl Scout until she was 18, Aftyn grew up in Knoxville and started her advocacy career early. She attended high school in Knoxville where she was nominated to represent her high school in the Knoxville Mayor’s Youth Council in addition to achieving her Girl Scout Gold Award. Following graduation, Aftyn attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the Liberal Arts Honors and the Psychology Honors programs. In 2016, she graduated from UT Austin’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work with a MSW specializing in disability studies and public policy.
In 2016, Aftyn watched the election night returns abroad where she had been working for the United Nations advocating for LGBTQIA refugees and forcibly displaced persons. Unlike many of her peers, Aftyn decided to return to Tennessee because she wanted to advocate for people at home. When she returned, the first person she met with was Rep. Gloria Johnson who helped Aftyn, like so many others, get involved with politics.
FIGHTING BACK.
In 2017, Aftyn was hired by the Tennessee Justice Center as their healthcare community organizer and she was thrown into the chaos of preserving the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. She traveled across the state raising awareness about the Trump administration’s attacks on healthcare and putting pressure on Tennessee’s elected officials to pass policies for the uninsured and families with kids with disabilities. During this time, she also became “infamous” for her political theater stunts including trolling former Congresswoman Diane Black via her character “Diantoinette.”
She organized with many state legislators during this time including Senator Charlane Oliver, Rep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. John Ray Clemmons and Rep. Craig Fitzhugh.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
In 2018, Aftyn was hired by a national organization called Indivisible, where she campaigned for progressive policies and candidates and held Tennessee’s federal and state representatives accountable for their policy votes. This was also the year she helped launch the Enough Is Enough TN campaign, supported by Dr. Michelle’s Dauber national PAC Enough is Enough, to raise awareness of former Rep. David Byrd, a rural legislator who had sexually assaulted underage girls when he was their basketball coach. Aftyn and some of the women featured in the photo spent nights - yes, literally spent the night - in the Capitol demanding the resignation of Rep. David Byrd. Rep. Gloria Johnson and Rep. Mike Stewart bought pizza and snacks while keeping them company as they slept in sleeping bags on the Capitol marble floor. They were unsuccessful at removing Rep. Byrd but wouldn’t go quietly. Aftyn would be arrested on the last day of the 2019 legislative session, protesting former Speaker Glen Casada, now under federal indictment.
SHAPING THE FUTURE.
Since 2021, Aftyn has served as the Campaign Director for RuralOrganizing.org, a national political organization focused on empowering small towns and rural communities. In this role, she has led the organization's electoral strategy and execution while shaping the political and policy landscape affecting rural areas. In 2023, RuralOrganizing.org played a pivotal role in passing the RECOMPETE Act, a landmark federal legislation providing block grants to support distressed rural communities. In Spring 2022, the White House recognized the organization’s contributions by inviting them to celebrate the launch of a rural affordable broadband program. Aftyn attended, representing her tireless advocacy for reliable broadband access both nationally and in rural Tennessee.
Aftyn currently serves on the steering committee for the Southern Connected Communities Project, a non-profit dedicated to bringing internet connectivity to underserved or unserved areas, with an emphasis on community input and ownership, and Healthy and Free TN, an organization working to grow a reproductive justice movement across race, class, and gender in Tennessee.
Aftyn’s international, federal, and state experience has prepared her to serve in the Tennessee State House and shape the future into one that works for us all.
Photo by the wonderful Matt Ferry
ENJOYING LIFE.
When Aftyn isn’t at the Legislature or out in her community, she’s at home snuggling with her animals Franky (the pug), Lilly (the chonky cat), and Nug (the chaos agent), or watching RuPaul’s Drag Race at home with her partner Chris and his kids. If you want to follow Aftyn’s animals on the campaign trail, be sure to check out the animals’ Instagram account called “ChonkyTonk.”
Once a month, she makes the trek back to Knoxville to see her parents, Bruce and Julianne, who have put up with her for 35 years and are her biggest fans. She also loves her little brother Landyn, who was obsessed with the Roman Empire even before it became a popular internet trend.
P.S. If you need a podcast recommendation, Aftyn’s mom created “Red State, Blue Mom” which has over 1 MILLION views. Download the latest episode by clicking here.
