Ms. Cordero received her bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1979 and her master's degree in psychology with an emphasis in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from Chapman College in 1995. After working for a decade as a Child Welfare Services worker and supervisor in Santa Barbara County, Ms. Cordero became a full-time trainer and facilitator of human services professionals across the state and CWS staff mentor in Santa Barbara County in 2003. She also serves as a Family Development Specialist for Santa Barbara County's PRIDE foster parent education program. She received the Outstanding Service Award for her training and curriculum development contributions at UC Davis Extension in 2006.

During her work in Child Welfare Services, Ms. Cordero worked in a variety of assignments, including assessment and investigations (Emergency Response), voluntary services, court intake services, and ongoing (placement) services. She worked as part of a multi-agency integrated System of Care team that included Probation, Mental Health, Public Health and Child Welfare Services agencies teamed with 11 community based organizations.

Since becoming a full-time trainer, Ms. Cordero has trained in 48 of 58 counties in California on topics of strengths-based work with families, engagement and interviewing, risk assessment, social work values and ethics, caseload management, case planning, the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, safety and self-care, kin and foster placement assessment and issues, case documentation, using supervision and team consultation, making decisions in Child Welfare, writing effective petitions and court reports, investigating child abuse and neglect, evaluating client progress and changes in Child Welfare policy. In addition, Ms. Cordero has trained Child Welfare staff for the Northern California Training Academy and Central California Training Academy and is a statewide Child Welfare Services/Caseload Management System (CWS/CMS) application trainer for CGI-AMS.

Ms. Cordero has extensive experience in use of CWS/CMS since the system first became operational in 1997. She has training experience in all areas of functionality.

In addition to her direct practice experience in Child Welfare Services, Ms. Cordero has worked as a district aide to a state legislator and as a reporter and editor for a daily newspaper covering topics related to government and politics.