Emily is an urban planner by training with fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of public policy, planning, and communications. She has worked for five cities across California in roles spanning economic development, long-range planning, transportation, and climate. Over the course of her career, Emily shifted into communications and public engagement after experiencing firsthand that successful policy implementation hinges on how people understand the work, whether they trust it, and if they are motivated to take action.

Emily served as the first Communications Director for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (now the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation), where she built and managed a seven-person team supporting more than 200 staff across five state departments, including the Strategic Growth Council and Racial Equity Commission. She later served as a Vice President at Resilience Action Partners, where she focused on public-sector engagement and risk communications for complex, high-stakes initiatives for FEMA. In 2025, Emily founded Open Media, a California-based communications firm that helps public-interest organizations and government turn strategy into action, build trust with communities, and support long-term systems change.

She is a graduate of UC Davis and the Technical University of Berlin. In her free time, Emily loves to mountain bike, woodwork, and read.