Rayan Semery-Palumbo

Biography

Rayan Semery-Palumbo is a policy economist and policy advocate committed to creating an America that honors the people who hold it up. He completed his DPhil in Public Policy & Economics at the University of Oxford in 2025. Rayan is the National Director of Strategy & Narrative for the Living Wage For All Coalition, where he leads national campaigns to raise wages to a true living wage. He is a Fellow at the Economic Security Project, where he works on worker-centered responses to AI and automation. He is a contributing author of the forthcoming book What Has Democracy Done For Me Lately? (The New Press, 2026). Rayan grew up in poverty and experienced homelessness as a child in Arizona. He graduated from Yale University and earned both an MPhil in Politics (Comparative Government) and a DPhil in Public Policy & Economics at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He writes at American Dreams & Nightmares (rayansemerypalumbo.com). Rayan is from Arizona and lives in New York City.