Emily was born and raised in Massachusetts. Majoring in politics, with a double minor in women studies and African American studies, she graduated Oberlin College in 2001. Bitten by the labor bug early through college activism and a post-graduation year spent working with union members in Mexico City, Emily became a union organizer with Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In 2007, hoping to combine her belief in collective action with her passion for international work, Emily completed a master’s degree in international affairs at The New School in New York. After a brief stint as an organizer trainer in Peru and Mexico, Emily returned to the U.S. to work as a senior research analyst for the Teamsters Union, and was part of a small team charged with crafting organizing and campaign strategy in the school bus industry. Her team’s work led to the successful organizing of more than 20,000 school bus employees into the union. She is currently the deputy chief of staff at Community Change, a D.C.-based national nonprofit working to empower low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to fight for progressive policy change. When she’s not bringing it to the man, Emily is working on home construction projects with her partner, Jim, cooking with her three-year-old daughter, Magdalena, or trying to control her unwieldy dog, Potato Chip.