Philadelphia Tribune Magazine: 2013 Philadelphia's Most Influential African-American Women (p. 27)

It was on December 20, 2012, that Mayor Michael Nutter named Desiree Peterkin-Bell ['00] City Representative, a role she holds in addition to serving as the director of communications and strategic partnerships for the mayor's office. In her expanded role, Peterkin-Bell promotes the City of Philadelphia and represents Mayor Nutter in addition to guiding communications in the mayor's office.

Prior to this announcement, Peterkin-Bell served as Pennsylvania senior advisor for communications in the Obama for America campaign from June to November 2012. 

When Peterkin-Bell joined the Nutter administration in September 2010, she had already served as director of communications for Newark's Mayor Cory A. Booker, senior director and vice president of government affairs for the New York City Marketing Development Corporation, supervising legal representative for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a special assistant to Mayor Bart Peterson in Indianapolis. 

She earned her bachelor's degree in political science and education from Swarthmore College and participated in the National Urban Fellows Program, earning her master of public administration from City of New York's Baruch College, School of Public Affairs.