Ms. Ortega collaborates across various Children Now departments, including the President’s office, development, communications, Children’s Movement, Salesforce and Home Visiting teams, and provides project management and advisory support in various capacities. In addition to her roles across the organization’s infrastructure teams, Ms. Ortega manages and cultivates the organization’s fiduciary and advisory boards, and directs the Student Leadership Summit Project, a conference that’s created by student leaders to cultivate and empower student leaders.

Prior to joining Children Now, Ms. Ortega interned for Congresswoman Barbara Lee in her Oakland offices. In addition to providing support to constituents, she conducted research in various policy areas, including health access, mental health, and homelessness. While interning for the Congresswoman, Ms. Ortega also worked in the Dean’s office at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, where she supported major events and managed communications to the school’s alumni and student networks. She also participated in the prestigious Health Career Connections program, where she interned for Kaiser Permanente Regional Offices. Her work, which continues to be implemented in Kaiser hospitals, positively impacted the practice of more than 4,000 Kaiser staff in the Northern California region.

Ms. Ortega has a Master in Public Health with a concentration in Leadership in Practice from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; she is also a member of the Delta Omega Honorary Society for Studies in Public Health. Ms. Ortega also has a B.A. in Public Health and a minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley.