Miguel Trindade Deramo

Miguel grew up in a multigenerational home, the son of a Brazilian immigrant teacher and a Vietnam veteran. Miguel graduated with a degree in international relations and joined the Foreign Service in 2012, falling in love with DC for the first time. He served overseas in São Paulo and completed graduate school at McGill University. He left school to undertake end-of-life care for his father, who passed from complications from exposure to Agent Orange. Miguel returned to DC to resume a career of service; however, after witnessing the erosion of democratic norms under the first Trump Administration, the hyper-militarized response to BLM, and the January 6th insurrection, he left the government to join the democracy movement. He served as lead organizer and steering committee member for Initiative 83, which successfully brought ranked-choice voting to DC. As an elected commissioner, he has organized park cleanups, brought Shakespeare in the Park to historic Malcolm X Park, and hosted a celebration for terminated civil servants. He lives in the Meridian Hill neighborhood with his partner, Luis.