FRANCESCA LEIGH-DAVIS 💄
Co-FOUNDER
Francesca Leigh-Davis is a Richmond area transplant from the Tidewater area. She attended high school in the city and later returned to the area after marriage. Looking for a way to serve the community, Fran began volunteering for various non-profit organizations, registering voters and following local politics for fun. When she’s not sending emails for a living as an HR professional, she’s operating Francesca’s House of Flowers, a floral and event planning service. She loves to cook, travel, garden, raise the #DirtKid, and live tweet RVA social and political events all through these twitter streets. Fran likes her food spicy, her bourbon aged, and her tea piping hot. She is an FCC violation in stilettos. Join her in the shade every Wednesday on RVA Dirt’s Municipal Mania and on Twitter @rvadirt!
Melissa M. Vaughn 🐝
Co-FOUNDER
Melissa Vaughn is the President of Virginia Center for Public Press, the nonprofit parent company of WRIR-LP 97.3FM Richmond Independent Radio, where she hosts and produces talk and music radio shows. She has multiple side hustles including podcast editing, cake baking, wreath and jewelry making.
Melissa lives in Highland Park with her husband, companion, 5 dogs, 3 cats, 6 or 7 fish, and a bunch of plants. Her interest in local politics began at age 11 when she accidentally watched a Richmond City Council meeting on Channel 57 in the 90s. Wild times.
In 2009, Melissa picked up Twitter which eventually led her to the seedy underbelly of social media -- #rvapolitcs and the creation of RVA Dirt alongside Fran and member emeritus Jessee Perry. Their shared knowledge and passion for civic engagement and education, mixed with heavy doses of humor and opinion, changed the game in local political discourse and paved the way for Melissa's career in radio and community service. She is grateful for the opportunities and learning experiences that have arisen from being a member of RVA Dirt.
Emily Kavanaugh 🛋
EDucation correspondent
Emily Kavanaugh is a mom, nurse, and native Richmonder. She spends her days fighting against insurance regulators, and for LGBTQ+ students’ rights and language justice. She serves on RPS’ Student Health Advisory Board, following in the example of her dear parents who also served the health needs of the Richmond community for many decades.
Emily has a great interest and appreciation for diverse and fluid cultures. Her life in Hampton Roads and rural Kentucky offered an up-close look at generational political ideologies. She’s also loved her second-hand exposure to the Argentine culture via her partner and step children.
Emily is passionate about making school board meetings accessible. She live tweets them from her couch 🛋 - usually with her teenager peeking over her shoulder.
She has absolutely no relation to the Supreme Court Justice with the same name. (Asco!)
Becca DuVal 🪴
Education Correspondent
Becca is a long-time Virginia resident who split her childhood between family properties in the booming NOVA suburbs and the sleepy gravel roads of central Pennsylvania. She graduated JMU into the Great Recession (and too broke for grad school); so she spent her 20’s married and raising a couple of kids instead. She moved to the Fan with her family in 2016, where insufficient closet space hastened her to transition away from hobbies like sewing and photography, and into interests like history, and government.
Becca is also a recovering middle child, which largely explains her obsession with politics and amateur punditry: she’s fixated on fairness, always asking “why?”, and a bit too comfortable stirring the pot.
Becca is most invested in School Board these days. She believes the only way to preserve public education for future generations is to ensure that there are local leaders competent enough to defend it against the state and federal politicians dismantling and defunding it.
She prefers her plant collection to most people, which is why you’ll see her as 🪴 over on the RVA Dirt twitter feed.
JESSEE PERRY
Co-FOUNDER | Member Emeritus
Website: www.jesseeperry.com
Instagram: @BossRVA
Twitter: @BossRVA
Facebook: bossrva804