Meet Elizabeth Anderson
Growing up below the poverty line in rural Alabama, Elizabeth has lived through many of the struggles that regular people face every day. From small town girl to mama to business owner, she has always known how important it is to have people in government who represent the needs of everyday Alabamians. And that with real representation, we can enact real change to improve lives.
Elizabeth's Story
Like 16% of Alabamians, Elizabeth grew up below the poverty line. In her small town of Childersburg, Alabama, she was grateful to be a recipient of free school lunches, public health services, SNAP benefits, and public education. Her early life was difficult, and was spent moving frequently within her rural community. Having so little in life, it was clear to her from an early age that government policy can mean the difference between whether children get a warm meal or whether they starve.
"Poverty is not a moral failing. It is a policy choice."
She went on to become a first generation college student at the University of Alabama with the help of a Pell Grant and scholarship aid. Without these options, her family would never have been able to pay for school. As she studied and learned about the world, she began to learn more about the impact that policy choices make on everyday families. And not just safety net benefits: everything from housing policy to business regulation to tax code to civil rights can directly impact real people and how they put food on the table.
After graduating with a degree in music, Elizabeth went on to start a career in the tech industry and worked her way up to senior leadership. She fell in love with tech because she saw it as a way to make the world a better place through innovation. Access to technology can improve outcomes in education, healthcare, logistics, and more. But unfortunately, she also found that badly created tech products can cause real world harms. This led her to start her own company, LunarLab, with a co-founder. LunarLab has a focus on designing software that is intuitive, user-friendly, profitable, inclusive, and ethical. With a unique structure as a public benefit corporation, her business always puts people over profits. At the same time, her experience allows her to understand the challenges that businesses face every day.
In addition to running her business, Elizabeth is a wife and a mother to two daughters, for whom she wants to create a better world. She has always felt called to do her part to help others, and is a lifelong activist and volunteer. She also runs a book club dedicated to expanding awareness of intersectional women's issues.