Government Communications to the Hispanic Community

Fedora Braverman, NIH

Fedora Braverman is responsible for developing and maintaining MedlinePlus and Medlineplus en español, the government web site for consumer health information from the National Library of Medicine – NIH. She oversees MedlinePlus en español operations. Fedora is also on the editorial team of NIH MedlinePlus, the English language magazine and MedlinePlus Salud, the bilingual magazine published by the National Library of Medicine. She worked as a consultant for the U.S State Department. She also worked as a consultant at the Hispanic Division at the Library of Congress where she helped develop the International Portals Project. Previously she was an information specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fedora received her library science degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires where she was also an assistant professor and research project manager.

Gloria Sánchez-Contreras, FDA 

  Ms. Sánchez-Contreras is the Spanish-Language communications lead and bilingual public affairs specialist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  In this role, she manages Spanish-language communications across FDA and at the national level, and works to “transcreate” educational materials and messages to appeal culturally and linguistically to Spanish-speakers in the U.S.

Ms. Sánchez-Contreras serves as spokesperson for Latino media on a variety of FDA subjects and issues and manages the Spanish-language web content for consumer articles and press releases, as well as the social media channels directed to Latinos.  

In her 20 years of communications experience, Ms. Sanchez-Contreras has served as an advisor for specialty media outreach for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as a bilingual public information specialist for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Before her government career, Ms. Sánchez-Contreras worked as a journalist for several print publications and broadcast news organizations.

Ms. Sanchez received her MA in Digital Journalism and Public Affairs from American University and her BA in Radio, Television and Motion Picture from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Laura Godfrey, GSA

Laura Godfrey joined GSA in June 2005 as a bilingual content manager for GobiernoUSA.gov, the Spanish counterpart of USA.gov within, the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.  Today, as the manager of GobiernoUSA.gov, Ms. Godfrey works across government agencies researching, developing, evaluating, and maintaining information on the portal, and analyzes data and market trends to better serve the Hispanic community.  Ms. Godfrey is actively involved in assessing and adding new platforms and in 2008 launched GobiernoUSA.gov’s Twitter and Facebook presence, leading the way for government agencies to serve Spanish speakers through social media. Since then, GobiernoUSA.gov has added YouTube and Google+ to its social media platforms.

She co-leads the Government Multilingual Website Group to improve multilingual online communications within the government. In this capacity, she brokered an agreement between GSA and the North America Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE) to standardize and improve the use of Spanish across the federal government. Ms. Godfrey actively represents the agency and the government in the media and in outreach activities to non-profit and community-based organizations.  

Prior to joining GSA, Ms. Godfrey worked for a combined 13 years as a web content manager for MedlinePlus.gov, the consumer health website of the National Library of Medicine, NIH; a multimedia content developer at a health Internet startup; and as an information/marketing officer in the Office of Public Information of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).  The work performed during her 8 years of service at PAHO involved documenting existing health and environmental programs throughout Latin America, and producing and marketing videos and radio spots, both in the U.S. and throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Ms. Godfrey is originally from Argentina.  She completed advanced classical music studies at theConservatorio de Música Gilardo Gilardi in La Plata, Argentina and holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Maryland.  In 2008, Ms. Godfrey was invited to become a collaborating member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, a very prestigious honor only given to those professionals whose work have reshaped communications in Spanish in the United States.

Maria Pastrana Lujan, DHS

Maria Pastrana Lujanis a Multilingual Engagement Coordinator at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) where she leads in-language (Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese) outreach effort to limited English proficient communities.  She was recently detailed at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders where she served as an Advisor on outreach to the limited English proficient (LEP) AAPI communities.  As such, she directed a series of in-language events (Google Hangouts) to provide information about the Affordable Care Act’s new Marketplace to the Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese LEP community.