The Project

About Eliana

When Eliana was fresh out of law school, she met with a mentor, a powerful California state director with the power to set policy for millions of people. 

“I want to do what you do. I want to see how government really worked from the inside”. 

Her response shocked Eliana. 

“Go out. Get some on-the-ground experience, and then come back to government.”

Eliana did just that. Prior to becoming a her current position, she worked as a senior research analyst at SEIU California, providing policy research and legislative analysis. She joined SEIU, after having spent a year representing unaccompanied immigrant minors, and two years in Bogota, Colombia, working as a senior researcher for a Global Human Rights Program at Dejusticia, a Colombian think/do tank. Before leaving for Colombia, Eliana worked as an immigration and family law attorney with California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation in Sacramento, directing an Equal Justice Works project called “Protecting Children of Immigrants.” 

Eliana recently began the second year of her Immigrant Integration Fellowship at California’s Immigrant and Refugee’s Service Branch, after a year in the Governor’s Office. 

​She has a JD from the University of Pennsylvania and an A.B. from Harvard University.