Aubrey Cortez grew up in a home dedicated to service. When Hurricane Harvey flooded her Houston neighborhood, Aubrey’s mother raised money, organized the cleanup, and rallied the whole family to help rebuild homes. “I was homeschooled and always doing service projects with my mom,” Aubrey said. “It sparked an early love for helping my community.”
She carried that commitment with her to the University of Dallas, where she helped resettle Afghan refugee families, volunteered at a Dallas food bank, and even started her own organization offering tutoring programs to refugees.
During her final two years of college, Aubrey interned at the U.S. Department of State and accepted a full-time role there after graduation, working on refugee policy. “After working at the local level, I wanted to learn how to more efficiently impact policy at the federal level,” she said.
Today, Aubrey serves as an Education Policy Analyst at Watershed Advisors, where she helps bridge the gap between federal funding and local implementation. “I spend a lot of my time coordinating between the differing perspectives of higher education and the workforce,” Aubrey said. “It’s an excellent tutorial in how to build consensus and find compromise.” She is also pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown University.
For Aubrey, the Bryce Harlow Foundation’s emphasis on integrity is what first drew her to the Fellowship. “Holding integrity at the center of advocacy is completely consistent with my personal priorities when engaging people around policy,” she said. As a Bryce Harlow Fellow, Aubrey looks forward to learning from her mentors and fellow members of the cohort while continuing to develop the skills that have guided her from community service in Houston to a career shaping public policy.
