In 2016, Gottsleben was honored at the 10th annual Young Women to Watch Awards in Washington, DC as the national Political Rising Star award recipient. Gottsleben is a 2016 graduate of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University, and a 2014 inductee to the Order of Pegasus, the most prestigious and significant award attainable at the University of Central Florida, from which she holds two bachelor’s degrees with honors in radio and television broadcast journalism and political science, and a leadership studies certificate. She previously served as a UNESCO delegate on climate change, as a multimedia journalist and director, as a fellow on global peace and security, and most recently as a U.S. Congressional fellow on interdisciplinary policy and constitutional law.