Alumni Spotlight: Florencia Feleder

By Indiana Nash  

ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 14, 2025) — Florencia Feleder’s career has taken her to the State Capitol in U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s office, to the presidential campaign trail, to the clean energy sector.  

At each job, the 2019 graduate relied on skills and experiences she garnered at Rockefeller College.   

“I had the chance to pursue a lot of invigorating opportunities, and the local exposure I gained in Albany while attending school here really prepared me for my time with Sen. Gillibrand.” Feleder said.  

An Argentina native, Feleder grew up in the Capital Region and came into Rockefeller as a transfer student, eventually earning her bachelor's degree in political science with a concentration in global politics and a minor in Latin American and Caribbean studies. While at UAlbany, she was involved in the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society and the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Shortly after graduating, Feleder went on to work in Sen. Gillibrand’s office for several years.   

In 2024, Feleder landed a job as the Women’s Coalition Manager on then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president, working in North Carolina through the election. She currently works as the manager of national communications at Avangrid, an energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group.  

We recently caught up with Feleder about her time at Rockefeller, experiences on the campaign and her shift to the clean energy sector.  

What was the transition like from working for Sen. Gillibrand to working on the Harris campaign?  

It's fairly similar in terms of needing to move very quickly, being agile, being flexible, not falling in love with one project too much, and being comfortable with letting projects die and moving on to the next. Working for Kirsten for all those years very much prepared me to work on the campaign.   

A big role of mine on the campaign was putting together events for surrogates, and event planning was something I regularly did for Kirsten. I put together press conferences, I put together round tables, and so I was very familiar with the concept of "You have 48 hours to get the people that need to be in this room in this room, and the room needs to be photo ready, and what are the talking points? And we need a brief, and you need to coordinate with everyone internally and externally to make this happen, and failure is not an option.” 

In a way, that environment felt familiar and comfortable to me, which I understand is sort of a bizarre thing to say. But the campaign itself was a very transformative experience, and I would really recommend anyone who wants to work in the public sphere to get involved in a national campaign because it'll change you. You relinquish your identity in some ways; you are there to work on this campaign, and everything else fades into the background. There's something freeing about that. Of course, you know there's an end date, right? Because that's not something that you can do forever. But it's really unique to be in a collective with such a shared goal. It's exhausting, but it's energizing.   

What led you to where you are now at Avangrid?   

When I was at Sen. Gillibrand’s office, as a regional director, I covered all issue areas. I started to learn a lot about energy and the environment and became really interested and invested in the issue. I had the opportunity to coordinate a Capital Region tour for then Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and that really solidified that I wanted to be in the energy industry.  

I originally left the senator's office to go work for Equinor, which is a Norwegian Energy Company developing offshore wind for New York City. Working in the energy sector feels urgent and like you're on the frontier. When the campaign ended, I knew I wanted to get back into this space.   

I also appreciate the global aspect of the energy industry, and I would love to explore opportunities abroad one day. After the campaign, I got connected with some folks I knew over here at Avangrid that were looking for someone to take over national media, and it was perfect timing. Iberdrola is a Spanish company and I'm a Spanish speaker myself. And so that was a good match too.     

How is the federal government’s changing attitude toward alternative energy impacting your role?  

It’s all about mindful messaging. We are focused on meeting rising energy demand and investing in American manufacturing and economic development.  

Can you tell me about your experience with the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society?

I look upon that experience so fondly. It was a transformative week-long leadership program where we learned about the political process, and our cohort really bonded and grew together.  

I'd never had that experience before, where it was exclusively a group of women with common interests, common values. The center leaders were empowering, they were entertaining, and they brought us into spaces and into conversations with local and state leaders that we otherwise wouldn't have had access to. Still to this day, I'm actually friends with a number of women who were in that cohort.  

Were there any professors at Rockefeller College that had a big impact on you?   

Anne Hildreth was my professor and my advisor, and she was a huge champion and cheerleader for me.   

Brian Greenhill, who became my thesis adviser, was a wonderful mentor and his global politics classes were particularly exciting for me. As a thesis advisor, Greenhill invested in teaching me new skills that I never had before, ones that you wouldn't regularly be taught in the political science undergrad classroom. He was present, accessible and invested in my growth and development.  

Are there any other experiences at Rockefeller College that have stuck with you?  

Sonia Sotomayor came to the University when I was in undergrad, and I got to join a small group of under 100 students for a Q&A that she did, and that was amazing.  

When I was an intern at the Rockefeller Institute, our cohort’s research focused on access to reproductive care in New York State, and we got to present that research to a group of stakeholders and policy makers. Ultimately, we received a copy of the Reproductive Health Act that was signed into law, along with one of the pens used to sign it into law by the governor. It was a really incredible thing as a student to see our work considered as part of this achievement.  

One thing that gave me great joy after graduating was, when I was at the Senator’s office, we had an internship program, and the vast majority of our interns came from Rockefeller. It was really sweet to be on the other side and to be able to foster the growth of new students, get to know them and their interests, and be supportive of their professional ambitions. Who knows where they will end up? Maybe they'll end up hiring me one day.