Angela was born in Colombia and migrated to White Plains at the age of 12. During high school, she was involved in various Youth Bureau programs. She was a mentor for the ACE program and a member of the Mayor’s Youth Council. Angela received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Ethnic Studies and International Relations in 2010 from Brown University. Upon graduating, Angela returned to White Plains and continued to be involved with the Youth Bureau. She was appointed to serve on the Mayor’s Youth Board from 2010-2012. Angela also mentored students through the Youth Bureau’s Mentoring Program. In 2012, Angela moved to California to pursue a PhD. Angela teaches and conducts research in the field of American politics with a focus on race, ethnicity and immigration.

Her dissertation won the 2019 American Political Science Association Best Dissertation Award in the field of Race, Ethnicity and Politics. Angela is also the recipient of multiple awards including the MSPA Women’s Caucus Graduate Student Award, UCLA’s Swarr Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper and the MPSA Latina/o Caucus Best Graduate Student Paper. Her research has been published in various journals and her work has been featured in The Monkey Cage by the Washington Post.

Angela owes much of her intellectual curiosity and success to her early days at the Youth Bureau, where she was empowered to become an engaged community member. This allowed her to experience first-hand the power behind community building and civic engagement. The opportunity to sit on the Mayor’s Youth Council at such a young age ultimately shaped Angela’s perspective on how political actors and institutions can grapple with a changing and diversifying population.