Her Story
About Grace
I just graduated with my Master's of Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University this past month, and I've been working as a graduate fellow at the Aspen Institute's financial security program for the past year on the public benefits team. My work is essentially focused on helping to improve financial security for all Americans, but especially low- to middle-income households, and helping to optimize and modernize our public benefit programs and safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid to help expand access and improve economic mobility and opportunity for those households. My day-to-day involves coordinating a coalition of different policy organizations and civic tech organizations for our safety net response network, which works on improving safety net programs through front-end design, working with beneficiaries, government programs, and state governments to optimize pain points and improve access. I also help with our person-centered communities of practice, which is a coalition of organizations working to improve person-centered approaches in policymaking to ensure that lived experiences are captured within policy design, since people with lived experience have perspectives that are more valuable than any other perspective we could receive from the field. Additionally, I work with our insights and evidence team to understand how young adult public trust in government and institutions might be declining and how this feeds into low participation rates in benefit programs, using research from focus groups and studies to find policy solutions. I'll soon be transitioning to the Maryland Department of Health as a health policy analyst for their Medicaid team, continuing my work on improving and expanding access to essential safety net programs for families in need.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Grace
01What do you attribute your success to?
First, I will say my faith. I'm a woman of faith, so I believe everything that I have and the reason why I'm still standing strong despite the highs and the lows is because God always helped me endure it all, and helped me continue to go, continue to stay strong, and continue to believe in myself, because if you don't believe in yourself, who's gonna believe in you? So, I would say my faith has been the firm foundation of my life this whole time. But apart from that, obviously, my community, my village, my family, friends, those who have always been there to support me. I almost call them my board of directors, people I know I can call on when I need to hear some advice, or when I need to throw something back at them, bounce a ball at a wall and see what comes back when I need to just hear some more ideas or hear another perspective. So that's been very helpful for me. I'll say those are the two main things.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to make sure that you're never losing sight of what called you into the work in the first place, because I think a lot of times we can get caught up in the nuances. Especially now, the job market is crazy, the political landscape is crazy, and there's so many things that can arise that can distract you from what the heart of it all is for, what policy is for, and that's to help bridge the gap, to help bring justice to those in need. So always make sure you're regrounding yourself, you're always recalibrating yourself to your North Star of what you came into this for in the first place, and I think that will help you to stay on balance, and to also just give you motivation and encouragement when things are looking a little rough, or things aren't looking as clear and cut as you want them to be. Just remember what you're here for, what called you into this space in the first place, and not forgetting yourself through it all, not forgetting your identity through it all.
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