Vanessa received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Fordham College at Rose Hill and completed a double minor in Italian and business administration, the latter at the Gabelli School of Business. As an undergraduate, she served on many student leadership councils and teams through the Office of Campus Ministry. She was the recipient of the 2017 Reverend Joseph P. Fitzpatrick student leadership award, awarded to one senior who exhibits a deep passion for and commitment to social justice and awareness within the Fordham community as well as within the greater New York community. She also worked in political consulting and campaign management as an undergraduate. After graduation, Rotondo matriculated into Fordham’s Graduate School of Education and received her master’s degree in Catholic Educational Leadership in May of 2019, during which she was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the honor society of Jesuit universities, which recognizes students who excel in scholarship, loyalty, and service, and promotes Ignatian values for life. While in graduate school, she was a graduate intern to the Office of Campus Ministry, for Ignatian programming at Fordham. She began working for the Center for Community Engaged Learning as the assistant director for operations and leadership in April of 2019. In September of 2019, she began pursuing a doctorate in religious education in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham, with the aspiration of becoming a triple Ram.