Paola Rivera

Paola Rivera is currently the Product Enablement Manager at Bark. Prior to that, they were with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as an Emergency Preparedness Fellow from May 2017 to July 2017. There, they developed a training video for the PNNL Crisis Communications Team in collaboration with a contractor, assisted in annual evacuation drills, and audited emergency preparedness standards in buildings. Paola also collaborated with engineers and chemists in assessing the NFPA health risk of 1,059 distinct liquid chemicals in PNNL labs, assisted ecologists in measuring lead-arsenic soil levels and GIS mapping, assisted ecologists and biologists in noxious weed control, and synthesized public comments received for a regional NEPA dam project for supervisors.

From August 2016 to November 2018, Rivera was with Target as an Electronics Team member. Her responsibilities included delivering an exceptional guest experience by prioritizing guests' needs over administrative tasks, communicating product features in simple terms while managing guests' questions and requests, and growing sales by maintaining merchandise on sales floor. Paola was also cross-trained in other store divisions and part of the Emergency Response Team. In their latest performance review from 5/2018, they achieved important outcomes for the store and was awarded a wage increase. Prior to joining Target's core team, Rivera worked with them as a Marketsource Inc./"Target Tech" Salesperson, a contractor position.

Paola Rivera holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from The University of Georgia, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in international relations with a certificate in African studies from the same institution. Prior to their graduate studies, Rivera completed their high school diploma with honors at Mill Creek High School. Paola also has taken courses at Georgetown University in international relations, constitutional law and speech & political communication, and at Vanderbilt University in the "Inside the Mind: Memory, Psychology, and Literature" course. In addition, Rivera is certified by FEMA in the National Incident Management System (NIMS), by the NATIONAL DISASTER LIFE SUPPORT FOUNDATION, INC. in Basic Disaster Life Support (BDLS) and Core Disaster Life Support (CDLS), and by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and FCC as an Amateur Radio Operator (D).