Andrea Batista Schlesinger

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Andrea Batista Schlesinger (born October 27, 1976 in Brooklyn, New York) was until 2009 the Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute. In February 2009, she took a leave from that position to work as a policy adviser to the re-election campaign of Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.[1]

Background

Andrea was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by a Dominican mother and a Jewish father. Andrea grew up in Sea Gate, outside of Coney Island. Her background led to a passion for protecting the American dream, and her political interests in high school led to her appointment as the student representative to the New York City Board of Education. Andrea later studied public policy at the University of Chicago. Since then, she has worked in various capacities to promote educational equity and youth empowerment. Andrea directed a national campaign to engage college students in the discussion on the future of Social Security for the Pew Charitable Trusts, and served as Director of Public Relations of Teach For America before working as the education advisor to Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.

From 2002 to 2009, Andrea Batista Schlesinger led the Drum Major Institute, a think-tank originally founded by an advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Under Andrea's leadership as Executive Director, DMI released several policy papers to national audiences[2][3] including: Congress at the Midterm: Their Middle-Class Record [4] and Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class [5].

Publications

Andrea has been published in New York Newsday, Crains New York Business, The Mississippi Sun Herald, New York Daily News, Alternet.com, Tom Paine.com, New York Sun, Colorlines Magazine, The Chief-Leader, and City Limits Magazine. She is also a contributor to The Huffington Post and is on the Editorial Board at The Nation.

Accomplishments

Andrea has received much recognition for her work, including:

• Awarded “40 under 40 Rising Star” by Crain's New York Business.

• Named “35 under 40 Rising Stars, The Next Generation of Political Leaders in New York” by City Hall Newspaper.
• Recipient of LatinaPAC’s Dolores Huerta Award for “making great strides in promoting progress in our community.”

• Named “Expert of the Week” by Fenton Communications' and the White House Project’s SheSource program[6], a project promoting left-wing women policy experts to television and radio.

External links

• Listing of articles by Andrea Batista Schlesinger
• New York Times interview with Andrea Batista Schlesinger
• Interview with Andrea by Feministing
• Crain's New York Business Bio on Andrea