Gretchen Shugarts

I am a Mission Analyst working for a nonpartisan office within the Connecticut state legislature, a position I have held for approximately three and a half years. Before this role, I worked in a separate nonpartisan office within the legislature. I began my career in state government in 2013, and over the past 13 years, I have developed deep expertise in policy analysis, specifically in healthcare and insurance. My work focuses on examining racial and ethnic disparities in public health and social determinants of health. I am a Puerto Rican woman from New York who grew up poor in a single-parent household as a first-generation college graduate. What I am most proud of is that I now have a seat at the table, working for the state legislature in Connecticut, which is not something I ever in a million years thought I could accomplish. My educational background includes a double major in Sociology and Black and Puerto Rican Studies from Hunter College in New York, a Master's degree in Sociology from the University of Connecticut, and a paralegal certificate I obtained during COVID. All of these experiences combined have been perfect for where I am right now in my career.