The Learning Conference 2015

Elizabeth Vargas is primarily responsible for managing Living Cities’ social media and web strategies. She brings an enthusiasm for integrating digital media and traditional communications to drive social change. 

Elizabeth joined Living Cities as Strategic Communications and Engagement Associate in February 2014. In this role, Elizabeth supported the 2014 redesign of the Living Cities Website. She also leads Living Cities’ web analytics portfolio, and is responsible for tracking and reporting on how the organization’s knowledge efforts impact the field at large. She helps Living Cities open-source social change, staying “in-the-know” on new trends and technologies in the digital and nonprofit communications space.

Prior to joining Living Cities, Elizabeth was the Communications Coordinator at the Urban Institute. There, Elizabeth contributed to digital, events and PR strategy, and managed media analytics. She also created and launched Urban Institute’s first Quarterly Reports.

Elizabeth began her career as a Fellow at The Atlantic magazine, where she later served as Executive Assistant to the President of AtlanticLIVE. 

Elizabeth graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) in 2011, where she studied Literature and Media Theory. A native of New Jersey, Elizabeth currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area and serves as Co-Chair of the local UVA Alumni Women’s Networking Committee.

Nadia is Assistant Director of Strategic Communications & Storytelling at Living Cities. In this role, she leads Living Cities' communications work, focused on harnessing the power of story, information, and technology to foster experimentation, co-creation, and adoption of promising approaches to address poverty and inequality in US cities. In support of this, she develops and implements digital, content, community management, and event strategies to share what Living Cities is learning, and to learn from the work of others.

Before joining Living Cities, Nadia worked on program strategy, communications, community engagement, and fundraising for a microfinance organization operating in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Previously, she was a journalist and editorial assistant at Doubledown Media, publisher of multiple finance-oriented magazines. She has also worked and volunteered for an array of youth service organizations in New York, including Bridge Builders Community Partnership and Shakespeare for Kids.

Nadia graduated from Pace University with a BA in Political Science and holds an MS from Hunter College’s Department of Urban Affairs and Planning. She is on the Millennial Advisory Committee of the Andrew Goodman Foundation, and on the Advisory Board of Fund Good Jobs. She lives in Brooklyn where she can often be found writing fiction in coffee shops.