Virginia is a Consultant with The Art of Applying®. She is currently a 2nd-year MPP student at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. At Harris, Virginia serves as the Director of Finance for the Urban Policy Student Association, and as the Vice President for Minorities in Public Policies Studies. This summer she worked as a Community Development and Policy Studies intern with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. At the Federal Reserve, she conducted research on policies for economically-distressed areas and opportunities for banks and non-profit hospitals to collaborate in community development activities.
Prior to Harris, she worked as a transportation planner at the Transportation Agency for Monterey County. There she administered the County’s $15 million bus funding programs, and she served as project manager for the development of a regional 28-mile trail. She also worked on successful grants to fund passenger rail ($10 million), and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects in Monterey County ($10.3 million).
Virginia is from Gilroy, California. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley. She is a first-generation college graduate, and now the first person in her family to be in a professional graduate program. She is passionate about urban planning, social policy and being a mentor for other first-generation students. She enjoys admiring Chicago’s architecture, and cooking for her family and friends.
