DNC Announces New Hires in Coalitions and Communications Departments

December 1, 2021

Today, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Executive Director Sam Cornale announced the hiring of new staff in the DNC’s Communications and Coalitions departments. In Communications, Maria Casado will serve as Director of Hispanic Media, Karely Hernandez will be West Regional Press Secretary and Noelle Rosellini will serve as East Regional Press Secretary. In Coalitions, Gabriela Cristobal has been hired as Women’s Outreach Director, and Ariel Garayar and Damon Ngo will be Coalitions & Community Engagement Managers with Garayar also taking on the department’s youth portfolio.

“Our party is stronger when we have talented, diverse staff at the table,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “This group of new hires will deepen our work with key coalitions, further our amplification of the president’s successes across the country, and help us win races up and down the ballot in years to come. I couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to the DNC family.”

“We are thrilled to announce new additions to our team at the DNC,” said DNC Executive Director Sam Cornale. “We believe our diversity is our greatest strength and are committed to building a party organization that reflects that. These new staff hires represent some of the best talents our party has to offer and I couldn’t be more excited to bring them on board.”

Communications Department

María Carolina (Maca) Casado will spearhead the DNC Hispanic media outreach. She most recently served as Hispanic Media Director at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and in Commissioner Nikki Fried’s office. Before that she was the regional Press Secretary for the Biden-Harris campaign in South Florida. Casado worked as Press Secretary for former U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala’s 2018 campaign, and as Hispanic Media and Latin-American Issues Consultant in Shalala’s congressional office, before that she worked as the Hispanic communications Director for David Richardson’s congressional campaign. In the past, she also worked as a Senior Producer for TV Venezuela in Miami and as Chief Editor of International News for Globovisión in Caracas, Venezuela. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the Universidad Santa María in Caracas, Venezuela.

Karely Hernandez is an experienced communications strategist who has served as a bilingual spokesperson for non-profit organizations, electoral and issue-based campaigns, and elected officials. Karely joins the DNC from FWD.us and prior to that she drove media efforts for an array of civil rights issues at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. While working in the U.S. Senate, Karely served as Senator Harry Reid’s Press Secretary for Hispanic media, and then moved on to help shape narratives for the Hillary for America campaign on the coalitions communications team. Karely hails from Los Angeles, California, and takes immense pride in being first-generation Mexican-American.

Noelle Rosellini served as the Press Secretary on Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s 2020 re-election race in New Hampshire, and has worked in Congress and on campaigns across the country. She was Communications Director for Rep. Salud Carbajal in the U.S. House and for Gina Ortiz Jones’ 2018 race in Texas. She has worked on communications and speechwriting for Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and served on advance teams for the Biden-Harris administration and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Noelle is a graduate of Penn State University.

Coalitions Department

Gabriela Cristobal is originally from Wisconsin and joins the DNC as the new Women’s Coalition Director. Previously, she was the Director of Programs & Strategic Engagement at United State of Women, a nonprofit born out of the Obama administration’s White House Council on Women and Girls and has also served on the United Nations Foundation’s Global Health Advocacy Team.

Ariel Garayar previously worked for the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights where she helped advocate for a better quality of life for immigrant and refugee communities. She has mobilized communities to vote as a Deputy Coalitions Director in Virginia during the Biden for President campaign and while serving on the board of the Democratic Latino Organization of Virginia (DLOV), the Latino caucus of the Democratic Party of Virginia. She has previously held roles in the offices of Senator Claire McCaskill (MO) and Senator Tom Udall (NM). Ariel is the daughter of Peruvian immigrants.

Damon Ngo is a recent graduate from the University of Utah. As a student, Damon served as the Senate Chair and Assembly Treasurer of the Associated Students of the University of Utah, working toward creating a safer campus community amidst much controversy surrounding the lack of measures accommodating students of color and women. Additionally, he oversaw the distribution of $260,000 to hundreds of student organizations. In the community, he worked with Salt Lake County on opening new resource centers to serve those experiencing houselessness, as well as assisting small businesses in applying for federal COVID-19 relief grants. Born to two Vietnamese refugees, he was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah.
###