[5] After school, she worked as an assistant to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley for social policy where she worked with Michelle Obama,[5] as a program officer at the Steans Family Foundation, as an Executive Director of a citywide youth development project for the president of the MacArthur Foundation,[6] as a legislative advocate and researcher for the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse in Chicago,[2] and as the executive director of the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation where she supported efforts to improve Chicago’s public education system.
[6] On April 9, 2009, she was appointed director of the Presidential Commission on White House Fellows by President Barack Obama[6][7] succeeding Janet Eissenstat.
In 1988, she married Robert S. Rivkin in a Jewish ceremony at the East River Yacht Club in Long Island City, Queens.
[2] In 2009, her husband was appointed by President Barack Obama as the 21st general counsel of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).
[6] Her brother-in-law is Charles Rivkin, former ambassador to France[7] and current president of the Motion Picture Association of America.