As council president and councilmember for District 6 of Maryland’s Montgomery County Council, Natali Fani-González ’03 focuses on job creation, housing equity, and affordability. But long before she stepped into public office, her experiences as a young immigrant and Goucher College student taught her the importance of community service.
Fani-González emigrated from Venezuela and came to America at 16 with her mother. During weekdays, she attended school in Prince George’s County as an ESL student. On weekends, she helped her mother clean houses to earn money. “Walking in places without sidewalks, waiting on buses that were not reliable, working a low-income job. [These experiences] just really shaped me in terms of the policies I work on today,” Fani-González says.
College represented opportunity for her. However, as a self-described introvert still learning English, she worried about finding the right environment. Receiving a full scholarship was momentous. “Because of my math scores, I was able to go to Goucher. They gave me a full ride,” she says. She loved that it was a small place. “Goucher was like the only option for me because of the way I was. It was an intimidating time for me, and they received me with open arms.”
The campus quickly became home. The welcoming community, Baltimore’s close proximity to her mother, and the green spaces offered a sense of belonging during that pivotal moment. “It was a perfect match,” she says.
Fani-González entered on the pre-med track with plans to become a doctor. Everything quickly changed during her junior year when she interned with CASA, a Latinx and immigrant rights nonprofit. “I was lobbying in Capitol Hill, in the Maryland general assembly, and I just got fascinated with the policy work. Then I switched majors,” Fani-González says. Becoming a double major in political science and international and intercultural studies, now known as international relations, meant fully embracing what captivated her. Fani-González joined Model UN and traveled to Harvard, participated in a Model Senate conference in Florida, and completed a semester at American University, where she studied policy firsthand in Washington, DC.
One of her fondest undergraduate memories is hosting a DREAM Act town hall on campus as co-president of Hola, the Latinx club. “I invited former U.S. Senator Cardin to Goucher for an event that I organized with students from Goucher and students from Patterson High School in Baltimore City,” Fani-González says with pride. “So that became my career. That transformation happened in college and made me who I am today.”
After college, she worked with We Are CASA and then 32BJ SEIU before she launched her own communications firm. She also served on several boards, including the women’s political group Emerge Maryland and Goucher’s Board of Trustees, to strengthen her skills in budgeting and project management.
Her path eventually led to the Montgomery County Planning Board, where she served for seven years and became vice chair. “When there was an opening on the County Council, I was encouraged to run for office,” Fani-González says. “My mom, right before she passed away, told me, ‘You have worked so hard and you learned so much being on the planning board. It would be a waste not to move up.’ So I filed, ran for office, and won the primary with over 56% of the vote against eight other candidates.”
Today, Fani-González remains passionate about building stronger communities and hopes that students will trust themselves enough to do the same. “When you do things because you care, people around you take notice,” she says. “Follow your heart and things will come your way, but you have to work to get them.”