Bio & Contact

Rayan Semery-Palumbo is committed to creating an America that honors and respects the people who hold it up. Despite his mother’s lifelong work, Rayan grew up in poverty and experienced homelessness as a child. He went on to Yale and then Oxford, where he earned a PhD in Public Policy & Economics as a Rhodes Scholar.

He is leading national campaigns to raise incomes, as a part of One Fair Wage, where he serves as the Director of Narrative Strategy at One Fair Wage and for the Living Wage For All Coalition. He is a Fellow at the Economic Security Project, where he works on the future of cash policy. He leads a project, alongside Andy Stern (President Emeritus of SEIU), on worker protections against AI and automation. He is a contributing author alongside Saru Jayaraman of the forthcoming book What Has Democracy Done For Me Lately? (The New Press, 2026).

He writes at American Dreams & Nightmares.

Rayan is from Arizona and lives in New York City.

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For speaking or writing inquiries, please email: press@rayansemerypalumbo.com

For advising, consulting, or other inquiries, please email: contact@rayansemerypalumbo.com

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For more information about Rayan’s background, please read the About page.

For more information about this publication and Rayan’s professional work, please read Start Here.