2021 CHSA
Advisory Committee
Jeyben Castro: Co-Chair
Jeyben Castro serves as Director in the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion at the U.S. House of Representatives. Created by law during the 116th Congress, the office works to develop and promote best practices for diversity and inclusion in areas such as personnel recruitment, retention, promotion and performance reviews. Mr. Castro leads outreach and engagement strategies to Republican members, committees and other House offices. Mr. Castro’s prior experience on the Hill includes serving as Outreach Director for the United States Senate Republican Task Force on Hispanic Affairs under Senator Orrin Hatch. In this capacity, he worked with Senate Republican offices to forge strategic alliances with community-based organizations and leaders across the country to address, educate and create solutions to issues impacting the Hispanic community. In the private sector, Mr. Castro’s experience includes developing community-based initiatives and strengthening Hispanic engagement as a Senior Community Engagement Manager for a public utilities company and promoting corporate citizenship as a Public Affairs Manager for a Fortune 500 company. A strong believer in public service and civic engagement, Mr. Castro proudly served ten years in the U.S. Navy and in 2012 joined the Republican National Committee as one of six Hispanic Outreach Directors in charge of the Hispanic Vote for the Presidential election. In 2013, Mr. Castro joined the team at Leadership Institute (LI), one of the nation’s premier organizations responsible for training activists, students and leaders. He continues his commitment to youth civic engagement as a volunteer faculty member at LI. Mr. Castro was born in El Sauce, Nicaragua and migrated to Miami, Florida when he was ten years old. He serves as a board member of the Latino Student Fund and the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute at George Washington University. He currently lives in Maryland and is a graduate of George Mason University. |
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Emily Benavides
Emily Benavides is a Republican communications operative, with extensive statewide and presidential campaign experience in national and Hispanic media. Benavides is currently serving as Senator Rob Portman's Communications Director, strategically advising him on his media presence in her home state of Ohio and nationwide. Prior to joining Portman's Washington, DC Senate office, Benavides worked on the Jeb! 2016 presidential campaign as Traveling Press Secretary and Hispanic Communications Director. Throughout the 2016 primary, she managed Governor Jeb Bush's media booking, surrogate booking, and Hispanic media operations as well as managing media on the ground across the country while traveling with the candidate. In 2014, she served as Communications Director for Governor Rick Snyder’s victorious re-election campaign in Michigan. In this capacity, she managed communications strategy for the campaign, building a content driven media engagement plan in coordination with a forward thinking digital campaign. During the 2012 election cycle, Benavides was Florida Press Secretary and National Hispanic Press Secretary for the Romney campaign, and prior to that, Specialty Press Secretary for the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Benavides was named one of the 40 under 40: Latinos in American Politics in 2014 by The Huffington Post. They went on call her “one of the Republican Party's top Latina communications operatives.” In 2015, she was recognized by Cosmo for Latinas with a Fun, Fearless award for outstanding contributions in the political arena. Benavides has also served as Communications Director for the Hispanic Leadership Network, an initiative of the American Action Network. She began her career on Capitol Hill as a staffer for Congressman Robert Aderholt of Alabama. |
Eduardo Lerma
Eduardo Lerma is the Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Verónica Escobar (TX-16). The El Paso native most recently served as Director of Outreach at the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, where he helped in the development of the Senate Democratic agenda. He also served as a liaison on behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus on issues relevant to the Latino and Asian American communities. Prior to that, the Santa Clara University graduate spent nine years in the House of Representatives, including time as Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Legislative Assistant to former California Congresswoman Loretta Sánchez, as well as with the House Small Business Committee. |
Michele Exner
Michele Exner is currently serving as the Communications Director for House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23). In this role, she helps to lead a press team in crafting the Leader’s communication strategy to further his vision for national and district priorities. Prior to returning to Capitol Hill, she worked as the Director of Communications for CBS News' Washington, D.C. bureau where she oversaw all media-related matters affecting the major network, in addition to working on promotion efforts for their Sunday flagship public affairs program, "Face the Nation." From June 2016 through June 2018, Michele was the Press Secretary for Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). She was the on-the-record spokesperson for the senator and spearheaded the development of press-specific strategies, including booking interviews and developing statements/releases. Before beginning her civilian career, she served as an active duty Marine from 2007 through 2014 as a Public Affairs Officer. From 2008 to 2011, Michele was homebased at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. During her time there she went on two overseas deployments: 10-month deployment to Al Anbar Province with 2nd Marine Logistics Group in 2008 and a 6-month deployment in 2010 where she worked as the staff assistant to the commander of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, Africa. During her time on active duty, Michele also returned to her alma mater in 2012 to serve as a Company Officer at the United States Naval Academy. She served as a mentor and leader to more than 300 students during her tenure. Michele is a native of Hoboken, NJ and first generation American. She graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy where she earned a BS in Economics. She also has an MPS from the University of Maryland in Leadership, Education, and Development. |
Miguel R. Salazar
Miguel R. Salazar is currently the Communications Director for the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs serving under the leadership of Chairman Mark Takano. He previously served as the Communications Director for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus under Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham and Chairman Joaquin Castro. Prior to that he was the Communications Director for Congressman Ruben J. Kihuen and served as the National Press Secretary for the House Democratic Caucus under Chairman Xavier Becerra. He is a graduate of The George Washington University, a native of San Antonio, Texas, and a Captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. |
Caitlin Soto
Caitlin Soto is Investigative Counsel for Chairman Chuck Grassley (IA) of the Senate Finance Committee and works on healthcare oversight and investigation matters. She previously served as Health Counsel to former Chairman Orrin Hatch (UT) before he retired at the end of the 115th Congress. She’s a graduate of the American University and the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. She’s Cuban-American and originally from Fort Lauderdale, FL. |
Joleen C. Rivera
Joleen currently serves as Senator Cortez Masto’s (D-NV) Legislative Director and Chief Counsel where she oversees the Senator’s legislative agenda across five Senate committees. Joleen specializes in immigration, judiciary, civil rights, government oversight and labor issues. Previously, Joleen served as Legislative Director for Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27) and as a Policy Counsel with the Women’s Refugee Commission. Additionally, Joleen worked at the AFL-CIO advocating for low-wage workers and represented workers in employment discrimination cases. She holds a JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School. |
Victoria Rivas
Victoria Rivas serves as the Legislative Director for Congressman Pete Aguilar (CA-31), where she oversees the Congressman’s legislative strategy and focuses on appropriations, homeland security, immigration, and transportation policy. Victoria previously worked as a Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. In this role, she handled the Congresswoman’s homeland security appropriations, immigration, foreign affairs, and national security portfolio and was the primary staffer for the Congresswoman’s landmark legislation, H.R. 6, the Dream and Promise Act of 2019. A California native, Victoria began her career working for former Congressman Xavier Becerra (CA-34). She graduated from U.C. Berkeley and is pursuing a master’s degree in Military Operational Art and Science from the U.S. Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College. In 2019, Victoria was named a Latino National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader by the Diversity in National Security Network and the New America Foundation. Passionate about building a diverse and inclusive congressional workforce, Victoria was previously elected as the President of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association. She is also a member of the LGBT Staff Association. |
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Christine Godinez
Christine is a seasoned congressional staffer with committee and personal office experience. She focuses on transportation security policy in her current role and has previous experience working on a broad array of domestic policy issues, including immigration, health care, education, labor, nutrition, seniors and family issues, and more. Christine finds public service deeply rewarding and strives to make a career as a homeland security policy expert in government. Christine is passionate about increasing diversity in the federal workforce, which is what inspired her to serve as Vice President and President of the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association (CHSA) from February 2018 to February 2021. CHSA is a congressional staff organization dedicated to recruiting, retaining, and advancing Latino and Hispanic staffers on Capitol Hill. In her free time, Christine enjoys learning new languages, exercising, and playing softball during the summer months with the CHSA Chili Dogs. |
Xenia Ruiz
Xenia is the Director of Outreach for Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark. She previously served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom O'Halleran as well as a senior staffer to Rep. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Pete Gallego. She is also the Founder of the Dreamers Congressional Staff Association (DCSA). Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, she worked as a policy expert and advocate for seniors and people with disabilities at the Center for Medicare Advocacy. She began her career organizing on immigration issues in her home state of Florida before working on several Democratic campaigns. She has been published in the Tampa Bay Times and the Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. She graduated from the University of South Florida and lives in Arlington, VA where she is active in her community as a Commissioner on the Status of Women (CSW). |
Wendy Hamilton
Wendy Hamilton is the Outreach Associate for Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark. She is from Tampa, FL but originally, her family is from Panama City, PA and Kalama, WA, and she has lived most of her life on military bases around the world. She previously served in the offices of Representatives Kathy Castor, Brenda Lawrence, and Pramila Jayapal. She has worked extensively on education legislation and issues pertaining to women and families and led an initiative in the Tampa Bay Area to increase HPV vaccination rates in the state of Florida. She sits on the executive board of the Congressional Arts and Fashion Association and in the past has served on the board of the Congressional Black Associates. She is an avid biker and a professional makeup artist. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida majoring in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies. |