Alejandra Campoverdi is a nationally-recognized women’s health advocate, bestselling author, founder, producer, and former White House aide to President Obama. Alejandra’s award-winning memoir, First Gen, examines the emotional toll of social mobility on those she refers to as “First and Onlys.” A national bestseller, First Gen is the winner of the California Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Martin Cruz Smith Award, and was longlisted for the Outstanding Works of Literature Award for the First Year Experience. First Gen is also the 2024 Opportunity Matters Book Club selection for the Council for Opportunity in Education, a national book club for first-generation and low-income students at colleges and universities across the country. Previously, Alejandra served in the Obama White House as White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media. She produced and appeared in the groundbreaking PBS documentary Inheritance, and founded the LATINOS & BRCA awareness initiative in partnership with Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA. Alejandra holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and graduated cum laude from USC.

2024 Festival Session