Ms. Washington began her clerical career in 1980 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ms. Washington worked at UIC until 1995 providing assistance to Dr. Cynthia Boyd when she left to return to college full time. She worked as a consultant on grants from 1995 - 97 at which time she assumed a position with Rush University as an Administrative Manager in the Cancer Institute and then went on to become an Administrative Coordinator in 2000 with the Arthur Andersen Accounting firm in the Tax Division.

Ms. Washington returned to the UIC in 2003 as the Executive Assistant to Dr. Boyd in the UIC Great Cities Neighborhoods Initiative.