Biography

At NELP, Irene’s work focuses on workplace democracy, racial justice, corporate power, and the financial sector. Her research has been used by policymakers and advocates across the country. She is the lead author of several major reports for NELP, including ‘Just Cause’ Job Protections: Building Racial Equity and Shifting the Power Balance Between Workers and Employers; Curbing Stock Buybacks: A Crucial Step to Raising Worker Pay and Reducing Inequality; Occupational Wage Declines Since the Great Recession; and The Growing Movement for $15.

Irene came to NELP with more than a decade of public policy, research, organizing, and advocacy experience. She holds a PhD in economic geography. Previously, she served as the director of organizing at Make the Road New York, a New York City nonprofit that builds the power of immigrant and working-class communities, where she helped to win groundbreaking new policies on paid sick leave and public agency language access and to strengthen enforcement of protections against gender identity employment discrimination.

Irene’s work has been featured by The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, USA Today, The Atlantic, NPR’s Marketplace, CNN/Money, NBC News, The Nation, and Fortune.