Kelly Fong Rivas

Kelly Fong Rivas is the Chief of Staff for Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. She joined Steinberg’s team in December 2015 as the Campaign Manager where she oversaw a successful June primary victory and then led the Mayor-elect’s six-month transition period until he was sworn into office in December 2016. She served as the Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for the Mayor during their first year in office.

Rivas graduated with a B.A. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduation, she worked as a community organizer on a statewide ballot initiative to increase the state’s renewable energy requirements where she was trained by Dolores Huerta and Fred Ross Jr. She then joined Jim Gonzalez & Associates where she served four years as a Senior Policy consultant and Media Director working on a range of issues across the Western United States that included Congressional races, connecting low-income Latino communities with pathways to college, and the continued promotion of renewable energy sources. Rivas switched from the private side to public service by serving two and a half years as the Field Director & Deputy Press Secretary for the District Office of Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. (CA-07) before joining Steinberg.

In her volunteer capacity, Rivas is a founding member and Past President of the Sacramento chapter of the Fem Dems, a democratic club focused on the feminist principles of inclusion, equality and diversity. She has also served in advisory and panelist roles for Emerge California and the Women’s Policy Summit mentoring initiative ‘Pathways to Policy’, was the Project Director for the photo documentary project ‘Sacramento Farmers & Chefs’ and is a founding member and former Curator for the Global Shapers Sacramento Hub – a worldwide community of exceptional young leaders selected to represent their cities within the World Economic Forum.

Rivas has been widely recognized as one of the top young leaders in the city of Sacramento: Sacramento Business Journal’s annual ‘40 under 40’ (2015); Comstock’s ‘Emerging Leaders’ (2016); Sacramento Magazine’s ‘Powered by Women – 8 women’ (2016); Girls on the Grid’s ‘Sacramento Women Making History’ (2017); and Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Emerging Leader of the Year’ (2019); Sac Cultural Hub Media Foundation’s ‘Exceptional Women of Color’ (2019); American Leadership Forum Mountain Valley Chapter Class XXIV (2020).

Our Conversation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv_7CEdUq08