Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Alameda; Seat 9

Victoria (Vicky) was born in 1961 in Queens, NY to Martin and June Kolakowski. Her father worked his entire career in cardboard manufacturing plants, rising from a machine operator to union shop steward to a plant manager. Her mother was a payroll clerk who had a brief but successful career while a teenager as a pop singer. Both are retired and live in Staten Island, NY. Her younger brother, Thomas, is an accountant.

Vicky is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York. She is the first person in her family to graduate from college. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from New College of Florida in Sarasota, FL; a Master of Sciences in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA; and a Master of Sciences in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Orleans, LA. She received a joint Juris Doctor (law) degree and Master of Public Administration (with an emphasis on budget and finance) from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. She also received a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.

Victoria moved to Berkeley in 1990. She quickly got involved in community and professional leadership activities throughout the Bay Area. She presently serves on the Oakland Budget Advisory Committee and is co-chair of the board of directors of the Transgender Law Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating discrimination against the transgender communtiy.

Vicky is married to Cynthia Laird. Cynthia was born at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley to elementary school teachers Stan and Carol Price Laird (Stan died in 1984 of cancer). She graduated from Hayward High School (Class of 1980) and from Sacramento State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government-Journalism. She is presently news editor of the Bay Area Reporter newspaper.

Vicky and Cynthia met in 1994. They were married on February 12, 2004 on the first day of the San Francisco same-sex marriages. Their marriage was invalidated by the California Supreme Court. They were subsequently (re-)married on June 16, 2008, the first day of legal same-sex marriages, at Oakland City Hall with Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums officiating and Rep. Barbara Lee as witness. The California Supreme Court has upheld their marriage.

They live in Oakland near Lake Merritt with their Pembroke Welsh Corgi Nicky (CH Faerie Glen Snickerdoodle) and cats Puff and Espresso.