On Oct. 15, the morning after the Wall Street Journal published her accusation that she had been raped by an official in Phil Murphy's campaign for governor and "received no justice," Katie Brennan was behind her desk, answering the telephone at her office at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency in Trenton.

Later that week, Brennan helped lead a networking event at her alma mater, Rutgers University.

Skipping work, even hiding at home for a few days, would have been a reasonable response for anyone who had just revealed such a personal and painful ordeal.

But that's not Katie Brennan.

Friends and close associates say they are not surprised the resilient and articulate woman they know would keep up her daily routine after coming forward to demand accountability from her alleged assailant and the powerful people associated with him.

"She didn't do anything wrong and she has nothing to be ashamed of, and she's not going to act as if she did," said Brandon McKoy, the director of government and public affairs for New Jersey Policy Perspective who first met Brennan at graduate school at Rutgers University.

"Definitely, not everyone would have that response to it," McKoy said. "But she has, and I think that's definitely built into her character."

He added: "This is one of the refrains I've heard from a lot of people: For the attacker, you couldn't pick a worse person to attack. She has one of the most unimpeachable characters you could have."

Brennan's story immediately sparked investigations that will examine why Albert J. Alvarez, whom Brennan accused of rape, was hired by the Murphy administration as chief of staff for the Schools Development Authority after she told a member of the governor-elect's transition team what Alvarez had done.

It's created a political firestorm that is already testing Murphy's administration. The Democratic governor's office has hired a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate. On Monday, the Democrat-controlled state Legislature will formally empower a committee for its own investigation. Hearings will be held.

But Brennan says she wants far more than an investigation that casts blame.

Jersey City Council President Rolando Lovarro Jr. presents Katie Brennan a Women of Action resolution last March. (Photo courtesy of the Jersey City Council)

In describing how the civil and criminal justice systems are "not built for survivors" she is calling for change -- big change -- to give sexual assault survivors a fair shake in New Jersey.

"I decided to come forward because I know that Al Alvarez, and all perpetrators, must be held accountable, must never rape again, and the justice system needs a complete change with regard to sexual violence, " said Brennan, who declined to be interviewed for this report but provided written responses to questions from NJ Advance Media.

"This is about systemic change," she stressed. "We must do the hard work. A hiring investigation alone is not system change."

Brennan said she was raped in her apartment on April 8, 2017, after Alvarez, then-director of the campaign's Latino and Muslim outreach, drove her home from a campaign event, according to the account she provided to the Journal.

Alvarez asked to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Once inside her apartment, Brennan said, Alvarez pushed her onto the couch. He pulled off her pants and underwear, took off some of his clothes and forced himself on her. She said she kicked him off of her and locked herself in the bathroom.

Brennan told the Journal she immediately called her husband, who was overseas, and a close friend who stayed with her for several days. The next day, she went to the Jersey City Medical Center emergency room for an evidence-gathering medical examination, or "rape kit."

Through his attorney, John Hogan, Alvarez has denied Brennan's allegations. Alvarez resigned Oct. 2, the same day the Journal called him seeking comment for its story.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office reviewed the evidence and declined to pursue charges at the time. The case has been transferred to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Brennan has said she repeatedly reached out to Murphy's team with her allegations from November 2017 to June.

Murphy, who said he did not learn of the rape allegation until Oct. 2, has said he regrets Alvarez was hired. The governor said he and First Lady Tammy Murphy -- herself a sexual assault survivor -- called Brennan after announcing his office's investigation to express their regret and admiration.

A native of St. Louis, Katherine "Katie" Brennan, 31, graduated from Xavier University in Ohio in 2009 and came east to get a master's degree in urban planning at Rutgers University in 2012, according to her social media accounts and work biographies.

In 2014, she married Travis Miles, who works as an assistant research professor at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. They now live in Jersey City.

Prior to joining the state's housing agency as chief of staff in February, Brennan was program director of the Hudson County division of Housing and Community Development program director for about three years.

"She has come to love New Jersey and truly believes in the ability to improve the conditions of New Jerseyans through the work that she does," McKoy said.

Brennan is an "intelligent, driven, smart, compassionate" person, said her friend, Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, deputy chapter director for the New Leaders Council.

"She's a fantastic friend. If there's something going on in your life, no matter what's going on in hers, she's there for you to support you," said Wojtowicz, who also is director of external relations at Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey.

Wojtowicz said it is not at all surprising that Brennan wants to improve the system for all victims.

"It's exactly who Katie is," she said.

Patricia Teffenhart, executive director for the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she's grateful Brennan was willing to use her painful experience to draw attention to how sexual assault survivors are treated by the legal system.

"I know what it takes for survivors to come forward. I know in particular how challenging it is for survivors to come forward who have been victimized by the hands of powerful people who are then also protected by other powerful people and systems," Teffenhart said.

"Katie's bravery in coming forward, and the way she has articulated herself through this process by issuing a call to action and request for common-sense policy reform, leaves survivors and advocates grateful for her strength and ability to take a horrific, life-changing experience to try to channel it into something that could benefit the greater good," Teffenhart said.

"And we are grateful for her ability to navigate something so personal in such a public way so we all might benefit from it."

State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, co-chairwoman of the special legislative committee investigating how Murphy's team handled the allegation, said the panel will call Brennan as a witness.

"I've heard people (in the Murphy administration) saying 'we did this by the book.' Well it seemed to me she was the one who did it by the book," said Weinberg, who has never met Brennan. "She spoke to people almost instantaneously after it happened and got the rape kit, according to the press accounts."

The investigation will key in on how Murphy team's responded.

Brennan has said she alerted a member of the transition team after Murphy won the general election in November 2017 and before Alvarez was hired by the administration.

In March, Brennan told Murphy's chief counsel, who referred the matter to the governor's chief ethics officer, according to the governor's press office.

In June, Brennan sent an email to the Murphys asking to discuss a "sensitive matter" that occurred during the campaign. Murphy acknowledged receiving the email but said he did not learn of the rape allegation until Oct. 2.

Murphy's spokesman, Mahen Gunaratna, has said transition officials learned law enforcement "actively investigated" the allegations and closed the case. Gunaratna also said Alvarez passed a background check that found no arrests or criminal charges, and Alvarez was cleared for his job at the schools authority.

Recounting his call to Brennan, Murphy said he told her: "We admire your courage. ... I expressed a lot of the profound heartbreak that I mentioned publicly. I'm incredibly impressed by her. Period."

Brennan, in a written response to NJ Advance Media, she was "grateful to have so much support" since going public.

"I hope that the support comes with system reform," Brennan wrote.

Brennan has been clear about what that change should look like.

First responders should be better trained to deal with people in the grips of a traumatic event, she said in a written statement. Prosecutors must take more cases to trial. Victims shouldn't be deterred from pursuing civil actions by a two-year statute of limitations.

Teffenhart said her organization has waited years for lawmakers to muster the political will to abolish the two-year statute of limitations and she hopes Brennan's pleas will motivate them at last.

But lawmakers should not stop there, Teffenhart said. Expand the legislative sexual harassment policies to include campaign staff and volunteers, she said. Pass a pending bill that would require county prosecutors to regularly report data on how many rape cases are investigated and pursued.

Through these reforms, Teffenhart said she hopes Brennan can find the justice she's been denied.

"The fact that the only way New Jersey was able to give her any semblance of justice was by thrusting her not into a courtroom but rather into a court of public opinion, highlights dramatic flaws in the way we respond to this crime in New Jersey," she said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Craig McCarthy contributed to this report.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.