Kristen Rosen Gonzalez

Dr. Kristen Rosen Gonzalez is a Miami Beach native whose parents met in the lobby of the Fountainebleau in 1972. She grew up on Miami Beach among Cuban exiles and the descendants of Holocaust survivors, splashing in pools and running around condo card rooms. Kristen went to college in Boston, but after graduation, she returned home to South Florida and settled in Miami Beach. Kristen has three beautiful children: Isabella (24), Pablo (20), and Franny (18) who all graduated from Miami Beach Senior High. Kristen loves Miami Beach and plans to retire here with her cats in her home on Alton Road in Mid-Beach. Kristen is a tenured faculty member in the English and Communications Department at Miami Dade College, a realtor, former Miami Beach Commissioner, and a co-owner of Cafe Bernie at 5600 Collins Avenue.

Kristen was elected to the Miami Beach Commission in 2015 and became passionate about Art Deco Architecture. She has advocated for clean water in Biscayne Bay when no one was discussing the issue. She was pivotal in saving the Byron Carlyle Theater, and she has helped win several referendum campaigns as a resident activist when local government was proposing zoning or legislation that was not in residents' best interests.

Kristen holds her PhD in Higher Education Administration from Barry University, her Master of Arts in Communication from Barry University, and her Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish Language and Literature from Tufts University in Medford, MA.