Machado has worked in the Ontario Public Service for 34 years. Her career has spanned various ministries, including the Ministry of Labour, where she served as an Industrial Health and Safety Officer, and later as a Regional Program Coordinator, where she oversaw Industrial Officers in the Northern Region. Machado’s career then took her to the Ministry of Solicitor General, where she held the positions of Deputy Superintendent of Administration at the Thunder Bay Jail and Correctional Centre, and Superintendent of the Thunder Bay Jail and Correctional Centre. She was eventually tasked with separating and creating new structures for both the Thunder Bay Jail and the Correctional Centre. She retired as the Superintendent of the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre in 2020.

Throughout her career, Machado has advocated for and been involved in diversity and inclusion initiatives. She co-chaired the Systemic and Antiracism Organizational Change Committee and was appointed the Provincial Co-Chair for the Ministry of Community and Safety and Correctional Services Indigenous Subcommittee of the Human Rights Project Charter.

Machado has lived in Thunder Bay for 50 years and is a member of the Red Rock Band outside of Nipigon, where she spent her early years.