Ida V. Eskamani is a first generation Iranian-American and the daughter of working people. Her parents met and found a home in Orlando, Florida working multiple hourly-wage jobs to make ends meet and build a better future for their family. From her parents comes Ida’s commitment to service.
In the last decade, Ida has worked for trailblazing campaigns, lawmakers, and advocacy organizations, including Florida’s LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Equality Florida, as well as Chief of Staff for Florida’s first openly LGBTQ+ Latinx lawmaker, Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith. She served as Legislative Affairs Director for Florida For All, a statewide collective of racial and economic justice organizations. For four years she led legislative efforts within the collective as well as wider coalition building with an emphasis on expanding democracy, criminal legal system reform, and community wealth issues such as preemption, housing, revenue, and corporate accountability. Her work centers directly impacted people, specifically Black and Brown communities, and low-wealth Floridians; and connects those communities to the legislative process with a collaborative governance perspective. Through this work she also builds legislative champions to take on key fights and secure victories; taking on corporate interests as well as the far right in the state legislature. She also supports local policy making, with an emphasis on housing policy.
Ida earned dual degrees in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Central Florida, as well as a Masters in Public Administration from the same University. She serves on several volunteer boards locally and statewide, and in her free time, Ida is a freelance music writer for the Orlando Weekly.