Rachel currently serves as the LA FIRST Director at the Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette administering Louisiana's K20W+ longitudinal data system for public policy research, LA FIRST.Rachel is an interdisciplinary, quantitative & mixed methods public policy researcher specializing in poverty, education and workforce development, and child and family policy and well-being. She founded Ruby Research, a consultancy to nonprofits focused on data, research, and analytics services, in 2021. She served for 6 years as Director of Business Intelligence and Analytics and Director of Strategic Planning and Special Projects at the LSU Foundation during LSU’s successful $1.5B+ Fierce for the Future campaign. Her public service includes work with Louisiana Economic Development, LED FastStart, the Texas House of Representatives, and public policy research centers at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, including the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources and the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service.