Outstanding Contributions to Corporate America
MICHELE L. JAWANDO
ATTORNEY AT LAW
PUBLIC POLICY EXPERT
Michele Jawando ( @MicheleJawando ) is an Attorney, Public Policy Expert, Social Justice
Advocate, Familypreneur , and Afro-Tech Futurist with a lifelong dedication to public service.
She currently serves as Head of U.S. Strategic Engagement and Public Policy Partnerships at
Google . As a member of the Public Policy team she is responsible for developing strategic
relationships and partnerships with nonprofits, think tanks, elected and thought leaders across
the U.S.
Prior to joining Google, she served as Vice President at the Center for American Progress
(CAP) a progressive think tank, where she also served as co-host of a nationally recognized
political news podcast Thinking CAP , a co-host on Sirius/XM and a cable news contributor.
Before that, she served as General Counsel and Senior Advisor to United States Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY). Jawando was responsible for leading some of the office’s landmark
work, including the passage of the 9/11 health bill and repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ( DADT),
and the confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Michele has been a guest speaker for numerous panels and national conferences, including
NAACP, The National Bar Association, Netroots, Emily’s List, Black Futures Lab, the Young
Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Open Society Foundation (OSF), National Women’s
Law Center (NWLC), The National Urban League, the United States Student Association,
Higher Heights, Black Pac, and many more. She is a past recipient of the Women’s Information
Network (WIN) Young Woman of Achievement Award and was previously recognized as one of
“40 Power Young Professionals under 40” in Washington, DC.
A regular commentator for MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN, she is a sought after voice and has
been interviewed and quoted numerous times by national print and radio media, including The
Washington Post, The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Associated Press, C-SPAN
and National Public Radio.
A native New Yorker, she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampton University, and earned
her Juris Doctorate from the University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill School Of Law, where she
founded “SisterFriend” a support network for women of color. She is a proud member of Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and The Links, Incorporated. She also serves as a Board for Higher
Heights for America, t he only national organization providing Black women with a political home
exclusively dedicated to harnessing their power to expand Black women’s elected
representation and voting participation, and advance progressive policies. And In Our Own
Voice, the National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice partnership between five Black
women-led organizations