About

Ginette Magaña is a strategic communications, public affairs, and public engagement executive, entrepreneur, and Co-Founder and Principal of Cinco Doce Media.

For more than two decades, she has advised leaders, institutions, and mission-driven organizations through periods of complexity, transition, and public scrutiny. Her work spans strategic and crisis communications, executive counsel, community engagement, narrative development, coalition building, and stakeholder strategy—all grounded in an ability to translate complex issues, build trust, and move people toward action.

Ginette’s career has taken her across government, presidential campaigns, media, philanthropy, advocacy, nonprofits, and the private sector. She served in the Obama White House Office of Public Engagement, where she oversaw Latino engagement and immigration outreach and coordinated communications and stakeholder strategy across the White House. As a White House appointee and Deputy Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she served as an on-the-record spokesperson, developed strategic messaging, and helped manage communications during complex and rapidly evolving national events.

Her leadership experience also includes serving as Director of Corporate Affairs at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises; Senior Program Officer at the Catena Foundation; Senior Advisor to Civic Nation and Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote; Partner at Mosaic Media Strategy Group; and President and Founder of Talavera Strategies. Across these roles, she has advised executive leaders, foundations, companies, advocacy organizations, and national initiatives working to engage communities, shape public narratives, and navigate consequential issues.

Today, through Cinco Doce Media, Ginette provides senior counsel to clients seeking to strengthen public understanding, deepen stakeholder relationships, and communicate with clarity when the stakes are high. Her approach combines sound judgment with authentic storytelling—and is candid, optimistic, collaborative, and grounded in the belief that serious work can still leave room for curiosity, humanity, and a well-timed laugh.

Raised in Del Rio, Texas, along the U.S.–Mexico border, Ginette developed an early appreciation for culture, community, and the value of understanding more than one perspective. Away from work, she feels most at home in the water and remains endlessly fascinated by coral reefs and sharks.