Austen is a native North Carolinian with a passion for increasing the diversity of experiences among our public officials. She has a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary social studies education from NC State University and a master’s degree in School Counseling from NC Central University.

Austen was the Executive Director of Wake County Democratic Party. In 2014 she facilitated the Wake County Democratic Party Federal Campaign Committee and statewide campaign efforts for Sen. Kay Hagan. In the same cycle, she oversaw the More with Four Campaign to win a 7-0 Democratic majority on the Wake County Commission. In 2016, Austen led Wake County Democrats to historic voter turnout of 75.33%, providing over 315,000 votes for Governor Roy Cooper. Under her tenure, Wake County also flipped three NC House seats, passed a transit referendum, protected democratic majorities on the Wake County Commission, the School Board, and added democrats to nine municipal councils. Austen is currently providing campaign consulting services to candidates for public office at all levels of government.

In her free time, Austen enjoys NYT crossword puzzles, cooking for friends, and trying to convince everyone to buy an espresso machine.

She was named after novelist Jane Austen.