Michelle is a mid-career, hands-on public servant passionate about working at the nexus of politics and policy to get things done in government to improve people’s lives. She started her career as an intern at the U.S. Embassy-Lima a decade ago, and since then, has built a trajectory of over seven years from frontline positions of implementation, congressional and intergovernmental relations, stakeholder outreach, and the execution of short and long-term agendas for principals in Capitol Hill, a U.S. Embassy abroad, and the Environmental Protection Agency, where she currently serves as a political appointee and scheduler to the EPA Administrator.
In 2020, after earning an MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Michelle worked for President Biden’s campaign, leading Hispanic constituency outreach from the battleground state of Wisconsin. She has also worked as a research assistant following her passion for “action-oriented research” on topics like civic engagement, participatory democracies, civic technology, smart governance, e-democracy, collaborative and empowered participatory governance, among others. Michelle aims to run for office one day and is a current fellow of American University’s Women and Politics Institute’s We Lead program, training cohorts of women aspiring to run for office.