Leilani Martínez

I've been working on content strategy and design, outreach, marketing and in the multilingual space for almost 20 years. The work I do has a special focus on underserved communities, especially the Spanish-speaking community in the United States. I'm currently the Acting Director of USAGov, the "front-door" to government information and services.

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I joined the public service in 2003 to help launch the first iteration of the official website of the U.S. government in Spanish, what is known today as USAGov en Español. One of my proudest moments was in 2017 when I was leading the USAGov Content and Outreach Branch during one of the most devastating hurricane seasons in U.S. history. As a Latina who moved to the continental US from Puerto Rico at 16, it meant a lot to me that we were able to help many communities, especially the Spanish-speaking community, deeply affected by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria. As many communities were in dire need for trustworthy, official information that could literally save their lives, USAGov became the official lane of communication to the public not only in English but also in Spanish.  We were able to connect those affected to the right sources of information that they so critically needed and we leveraged all of our digital channels, our Contact Center, our digital expertise and our networks to help millions of people. We worked around the clock disseminating vital information from across the government and answering people's questions in empathetic and timely ways via social media, email and chat. We answered questions and addressed comments from the public and one by one we let each of the people reaching out to us know where to find help. Our commitment to the public was our north star.

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