As Director of Public Affairs at Benchmark Public Affairs, Ella leads dozens of communications and public relations projects, leveraging her diverse background in advocacy, public involvement, and grassroots organizing to serve our clients. Ella spent the last six years working at Strategies 360, where she managed the Montana office's largest client and successfully shepherded projects in the energy, transportation, housing, public safety, healthcare, and technology spaces.
Ella was a staffer to Denise Juneau’s historic U.S. Congressional campaign in 2016. Subsequently, she worked for various statewide organizations as a grassroots organizer, directing field operations, leading workshops, and lobbying the state legislature. Specifically, Ella worked with the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Legislative campaigns, opposition research, and campaign strategy, and for M+R Strategic Services on a ballot initiative campaign. She also helped run the successful campaign for Helena's biggest-ever school bond in 2017.
In 2017, Ella was named one of Montana’s 25 most influential Montanans under 25 by premier civil advocacy organization, the Forward Montana Foundation. In 2019, she ran her own campaign for the local school board, endorsed by the Montana Federation of Public Employees.
Ella graduated with a degree in International Relations with a minor in Government and a certificate in Social Justice from Harvard University with honors. She was also awarded the Reginald H. Phelps Prize for academic achievement and outstanding character. Ella is fluent in Spanish with a level C-1 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages certification.