Candidate for
United States Representative; District 16

Though our family is from the East Coast, I was born in California and grew up in Silicon Valley. At the time, Silicon Valley was still a largely agricultural community. I still remember picking apricots and other fruits with farm workers, from whom I learned the dignity of labor and to treasure the dignity of every human being. As a young girl, I was sent to study at special schools because of my poor eyesight.

However, out of disabilities come opportunities. As a result of my childhood eye problems, I can hear certain frequencies far better than other people. By the age of 5, I could play any song on practically any musical instrument.

Such ability is not unheard of in my family + no pun intended. I come from a long line of inventors. My grandfather, Clarence Weston Hansell in 1922, developed and installed the first vacuum tube transmitter for commercial wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic. In 1925, he founded the RCA radio transmission laboratory at Rocky point, Long Island that he headed for over 30 years.

My grandfather collected over 300 US patents in his lifetime; the most patents held by anyone but Thomas Edison. In 1926, he filed an application for a patent which reads "Method for transferring a dial reading to a distance." The technique involved the use of a cable of parallel-laid quartz fibers the ends of which can be cut off plane. Light from the instrument will fall on the ends of fibers and will get transmitted through fibers as an image in the other end. He described other applications also like flexible periscope and quartz fiber endoscope for surgeons. He also found another use as well - a picture transfer cable using fiber bundle. The image can also be scrambled so that pictures cannot be stolen. Today, his discoveries provide the basis for fiber optic data transmission, which serves as the backbone of The Internet.

I went to Cupertino High School, with the best musical program and best marching band. I immediately made the band's A-Team, something unheard of as a freshman. In fact, the Julliard School of Music interviewed me for a possible scholarship + though I was not interested in music as a career. What really interested me was photography and after attending De Anza College, I started my own silk-screening business. My business took off and I did work for Mervyn's, Tapestry and Talent, Winterland Productions and other major organizations.

I then started several more very successful silk-screening companies, furthering my photo skills and abilities. Due to my expertise in this area, I was hired by Hewlett Packard, where I became the youngest HP manager in Palo Alto. There I became very interested in wafer production, and with Xylog, developed a 9-layer wafer, something unheard of at the time.

However, this was the crazy 80s and I wanted to have fun. I went into the food industry where I eventually managed some large restaurants and bars. I catered to some very famous people like Bonnie Raitt.

Everything was really "groovy", but the technology bug got me again. At this time, San Jose had really begun to grow, and the cellular phone industry was in its infancy. It then seemed to me that this was the wave of the future, so I started a business in cellular phones / pagers. They were almost as big as suitcases then and everybody laughed. Once I began exporting these to the Philippines and China and the business grew exponentially, people took my ideas seriously.

I was really excited by the possibilities of the applications of cellular com- munications technology. I began to place the phones into body kits and put them into cars in addition to stereos and other gadgets. My innovation became so popular that Stevens Creek Nissan offered me a sales associate position, where I quickly became one of the top sales persons, selling over 45 cars per month. My customer satisfaction index rose to become one of the best in the business. In fact, Nissan wanted to film my story.

However, in 1995 I met my beautiful spouse and moved out of the area to further my automotive industry career. I quickly became involved in internet auto sales and the business development of such. In 1998, I invented Interactive Instant Response, a new application designed to improve communications and response within a user network. I have spent the last few years developing the technology.

At the same time, I became very concerned for the welfare of our country. In particular, in the aftermath of 9/11, I asked myself how this could have happened to the United States. As I studied the issues confronting our country and our district, it became apparent to me that there has been a failure of vision and leadership. The duties of statesmen are to anticipate events and prepare for the future. This did not happen.

The time for excuses is over; I am not a shrinking violet. As Tsar Peter the Great of Russia once wrote: "It is an age of gold in which we are living. Without loss of a single instant, we devote all of our energies to work." I ask you the voters of California's 16th Congressional District to give me the opportunity to serve you, our district and our country with all of my energy as your Congresswoman.