| A long-time resident of the Manassas area, Michelle Maldonado is an entrepreneur, business leader, mother, wife, and bridge-builder who proudly serves and represents the people of the 50th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Michelle grew up in Massachusetts, Virginia and Texas and is the product of a family of firsts and of service. The daughter of educators and granddaughter of the first Black teacher and principal on Cape Cod, MA, Michelle's grandfather was an instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen and both her grandmothers were "Rosie the Riveters." She is proud that every branch of the military is represented in her family and is especially proud to be the wife of a U.S. Air Force Veteran.
Despite experiencing food and housing insecurity and living in a camping trailer during parts of her childhood, Michelle overcame difficult circumstances with the support of family and public school teachers. She graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University where she worked her way through college and went on to attend The George Washington University Law School and become the first woman in her family to earn a law degree.
With a code of strong ethics, compassion, determination and vision, Michelle has spent over two decades supporting the development and performance of leaders, teams and communities across industries - ranging from teachers to corporate executives to humanitarian aid workers to military to law enforcement. She has worked in difficult environments to bring people together in order to achieve solutions for the greater good. Some of her work includes organizations such as the United Nations Foundation, PepsiCo, LinkedIn, Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Democracy Fund, The Crim Fitness Foundation, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Through her work, Michelle has supported executives, senior leaders and managers to make workplaces and spaces more human and more accountable. She also has worked with United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers, and partnered with nonprofits to support congressional staffers' recovery following the January 6th insurrection. Michelle has a great interest and compassion for our youth. To support our community, she hosts an annual teen retreat in Northern Virginia to help build life and leadership skills, confidence and community with one another.
Michelle is not a career politician, yet she understands the issues impacting families around our Commonwealth. She knows how to work together to get things done. She knows what it means to support and take care of our community - especially during difficult and uncertain times. This is why Michelle as a bridge-builder, lending compassion, skill, courtesy and respect as she brings people together with differing perspectives to discover our common ground and shared interests.
Michelle graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University with a combined major in Latin American Studies and Spanish Literature and Language before attending and graduating from The George Washington University Law School with a Juris Doctorate where she focused on the areas of small business, general corporate and international law.
As the CEO and Founder of her business, Lucenscia, Michelle designs and provides leadership presence, development and performance training, coaching and related programs for leaders, teams and organizations across diverse industries.
Michelle's focus is to help develop leaders who are more resilient and compassionate with strong emotional intelligence and mindful leadership skills. She does this by applying an equity lens so that leaders can create competitive, competent, and innovative organizations and cultures where everyone thrives.
As a first-time legislator, Michelle was recognized as "2022 Rookie Legislator of the Year" and "Legislative Champion 2022" by the Virginia Education Association and "Outstanding Ally to Public Education 2022" by the Prince William Education Association.
Leveraging her depth of experience from the business and technology sector, Michelle also co-founded the bipartisan Virginia Technology & Innovation Caucus where she serves as Founding Chair.
Assigned Committees
Courts of Justice
Education
K12 Subcommittee
Privileges & Elections
Campaign Finance Reform Subcommittee
Appointments
Member, School Services Committee (a statewide committee)
Chair, Affordable Housing Policy Committee (for House Democratic Caucus)
Caucus Chair
Founding Chair, the bipartisan Technology & Innovation Caucus |