From megaphone to policymaker: Reggie Ramos on advocacy, climate and the MBTA

Reggie Ramos described a path from early protest work in the Philippines to serving as a lead negotiator on international climate issues and later working on pilots and innovation at the MBTA. On the Spilling the Tea podcast, Ramos recounted being 12 when she was given a megaphone at a protest and how that moment seeded a lifelong focus on advocacy.

Ramos said she trained as a trial attorney before moving into transportation law and public-sector roles, where she worked on funding strategies, public‑private partnerships and larger infrastructure projects. She cited an airport project she helped develop as a career highlight, saying it handled about 10 million passengers a year and earned awards for its public‑private partnership approach.

After a change in administrations in her home country in 2016, Ramos moved to the U.S. for graduate study and took a role at the MBTA as deputy director for pilots and innovation. She described learning the value of detailed, patient project work and said pilots offered a chance to test ideas on timelines of months to a year, an advantage compared with 20‑year capital horizons.

Ramos now leads Transportation for Massachusetts and emphasized listening to communities, building sustained relationships, and centering policies on members' lived experience. She also tied transportation policy to climate, public health and civil‑rights history, arguing that transit shapes opportunity and civic life.

"Being able to rely that your bus comes on time or that your commuter rail comes on time is a huge deal," she said, describing how incremental service changes can have outsized impacts on riders' lives.