A classroom in the mountains of southern Africa
In 1985, a young Matt Losak packed his bags and flew to Lesotho, a small landlocked kingdom in the highlands of southern Africa. He was 23 years old and had volunteered for the Peace Corps, not entirely sure what he would find on the other side of the world.
What he found was a community that needed teachers. For three years, Losak taught English to students in rural Lesotho, learning as much from his students as they learned from him. The experience shaped everything that followed — a conviction that service to others is not a career detour but a compass heading.
The mountains of Lesotho were a long way from Silver Spring. But the lessons stuck: show up, listen, do the work. Thirty-eight years later, those are still the principles that guide him.
From the Peace Corps to the picket line
After returning from Lesotho, Losak joined the Peace Corps staff, first as a recruiter and public affairs officer at the New York City office, then as a special assistant at headquarters in Washington, D.C. He went on to serve in senior communications posts during the Clinton Administration, bringing the same discipline and directness he had learned overseas to the work of governing.
Over the next two decades, he worked as a senior press and communications officer across federal, state, and local government as well as at nonprofits. He earned a BA in English and an MA in Political Science and Government — credentials that mattered less to him than the experience of actually doing the work.
Throughout it all, Losak remained a proud union member. He joined the Baltimore/Washington Newspaper Guild, Local 32035, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. In 2012, the Guild honored him with its Service Award — recognition of years of standing up for workers' rights alongside his own colleagues.
A fixture of Silver Spring civic life
Long before he considered running for office, Matt Losak was doing the unglamorous work of local governance. He chaired the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board for three consecutive terms, guiding the body that serves as the primary liaison between residents and county government. He also chaired the board's Neighborhoods Committee, digging into the block-by-block concerns that rarely make headlines but define quality of life.
He chaired Montgomery County's first Tenants Work Group, bringing renters and housing officials to the same table for the first time. He joined the board of the Committee for Montgomery, the region's nonpartisan civic organization, and serves on the executive committee of the Emergency Assistance Coalition, which supports the county's most vulnerable residents.
