Erika was born and raised in New York and hopes to spend her career improving cities. Given her obsession with SimCity as a child, she has seemingly always been interested in urban policy and planning. She has interned at the Manhattan Institute, Gracie Mansion, the NYC Council, and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President. In 2013, Erika was appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Youth Board. Most recently, she served as wellness manager at the Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness, where she specialized in public health-related data evaluation, policy analysis, grant writing, coalition building and community outreach efforts aimed at creating solutions towards health equity. She also managed the Child Wellness Initiative, a coalition of over 60 partners working to improve health for Staten Island children and their families by focusing on healthy eating and physical activity. This past summer, she interned at The Burke Foundation in Princeton. When she isn’t thinking about the policies that shape cities, Erika loves listening to musicals, discovering new restaurants, and trying to make healthy food taste surprisingly good.