Audio interview with Cecilia Muñoz

The bigger burden is pretending you’re not scared.

Not many people serve in an Administration for all eight years at a senior level. It’s exhausting, often daunting work. But, Cecilia Muñoz, New America’s Vice President for Public Interest Technology and Local Initiatives, did just that. First as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, then followed by five years as Director of the Domestic Policy Council. 

Before working in government, Cecilia was Senior Vice President at the National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US), the nation’s largest Hispanic policy and advocacy organization, where she served for 20 years. She is soon to release a fascinating and timely new book called More Than Ready: Be Strong and Be You . . . and Other Lessons for Women of Color on the Rise. As the daughter of immigrants from Bolivia, and one of the most successful women in Washington that Anne-Marie Slaughter knows, she wanted to find out from Cecilia what resilience has meant to her own life, both personally and professionally.

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Cecilia Muñoz

Cecilia Muñoz is Vice President for Public Interest Technology and Local Initiatives at New America. Prior to joining New America in 2017, she served for eight years on President Obama’s senior staff, first as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs followed by five years as Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Before working in government, she was Senior Vice President at the National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US), the nation’s largest Hispanic policy and advocacy organization, where she served for 20 years. Muñoz is also a Senior Fellow at Results for America, a nonprofit that advances the use of data and evidence in policymaking. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2000 for her work on immigration and civil rights, and serves on the Boards of the Open Society and Kresge Foundations, as well as the nonprofit Protect Democracy Project. Muñoz, a Detroit native and the daughter of immigrants from Bolivia, is also a wife and mother of two grown daughters. She lives with her husband in Maryland.

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