Presenter Bio - Vanessa Gonzales

Vanessa Aviva González-Siegel (she/her/ella) is a first-generation Cuban-American born in New York City. She is a proud queer and trans Latina. Within higher education, she currently serves as the Associate Director of Multicultural Affairs & LGBTQ Outreach at Columbia University where she oversees LGBTQ Student Life for undergraduate students.

Vanessa also is an emerging scholar on diversity work in higher education, focusing on motivations and challenges of those charged with doing DEI work. Outside of higher education, she serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Transgender Advocacy Group, an organization that creates gender-based legislation and policy that benefit women, transgender and non-binary people in the State of New York. 

She is a former executive board member of the Consortium of Higher Education and LGBT Resource Professionals. Vanessa is also an LGBTQ+ and organizational development consultant and provides career coaching and mentorship to QTPOC new and emerging professionals in higher education.

Vanessa holds a B.A in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Social Justice Education from Rutgers University - New Brunswick and an M.A. in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is currently a doctoral student at The City University of New York in Organizational Leadership, Development, and Change.