Candidate for
Councilmember; City of Emeryville

Since moving to Northern California from New England in 1991, I have worked professionally in housing development and management. While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Humboldt State University, I began my career in housing with HYPERLINK "http://hbhdc.org/" Humboldt Bay Housing Development Corporation, a non-profit start-up Community Development Corporation (CDC) based in Arcata. Our 2-person staff developed 100's of affordable housing units for very-low income families and seniors using various local, state, and federal financing sources. I am very proud of the work I accomplished in that community and am happy to say these projects continue to provide the area with low-cost housing options. 

After receiving my BA in 1997, I relocated to the Bay Area in preparation for my next challenge, graduate school. I continued working in the non-profit housing sector taking various positions with local housing organizations like Oakland Community Housing. Eventually, I was accepted into the prestigious UC Berkeley Master of Planning School in 2000. At Berkeley, my emphasis in Housing, Community and Community Development would help to hone my professional skills in the field of housing development

Before graduating from Berkeley in 2003, I took an entry position as a resident community manager for a well known, Oakland based development and property management firm, Madison Park Financial Corporation (formerly Madison Park REIT). The company's focus is on conversion and reuse of historic industrial buildings to low cost artist residential, a major interest of mine during my study at UCB. I worked my way from a community and construction manager position in their recently completed Bakery Lofts building in Emeryville (where I continue to reside) to my current position as the Director of Development. After 7 years, I have completed numerous conversion and new construction developments for MPFC including the Packard Lofts in Uptown Oakland, the Press Building in Downtown Oakland and Il Piemonte in the Piedmont District of Oakland.

In 2003, I began my public service in Emeryville by my appointment on the Housing Advisory Committee. As a champion of affordable housing, having served on many committees and boards during my work in Humboldt County, serving on the EHAC was in line with my continued pursuit to increase equal opportunities for quality housing to all income and classes. I continue to serve on this very important, locally serving committee and feel fortunate to have a seat at a table with local professionals and civil servants who share the same agenda.

In 2006, I was honored to be appointed to the Emeryville Planning Commission. As a planning student, becoming a planning commissioner is considered to be quite a prestigious accomplishment and my penchant for community participation had now taken on a whole new level of commitment! The experience thus far has been incredible and I have put my education and professional experience to good use. I am now in my second, 3-year term and find the job to be both a rewarding and learning experience.