Candidate for
Auditor; City of Berkeley

My family believed in the importance of community service and social justice. My dad left a career in insurance to go back to school on the G.I. bill and become a classroom teacher, starting his career in Harlem, becoming active in the Urban League, and finishing up in Logan Heights, San Diego. My mom was raised in a political family; my grandfather was an activist in the steamfitters union and later a city alderman. Mom became active in advocating for family caregivers and feminist issues after enrolling in community college when she turned 60.

At Cal, I earned a B.A. in Social Sciences (Political Science, Economics, and Sociology) and was active in nonviolent education and social justice issues, worked as a tutor at Berkeley High and as a teacher's aide at Alameda City College. Later I was editor of the Nonviolent Community's Gentle Strength newspaper and a broadcaster with KPFA's Women's News, served on the Board of the Agape Foundation, which funded nonviolent action organizations, and became active in Berkeley political campaigns. I supported myself as a singer while in school, worked for the University afterwards, and performed at and managed a jazz club. That taste of the small business experience motivated me to return to UC Extension for classes in project management and accounting. I went on to work with small businesses and not-for-profits in programmatic, consulting, and fiscal oversight roles.

I was recruited for the role of Berkeley City Auditor because of my analytical strengths and experience with nonprofits and businesses, my experience in communicating effectively and working collaboratively in contentious environments, and (they tell me) because, as a singer and a news reporter, supporters expected that I could make public presentations and think on my feet!

I was elected Berkeley City Auditor in 1994, and discovered a way to use my unique background to make a lasting impact on my adopted home town. As we say in the nonviolent social change community, the Auditor's role is to "speak truth to power." My community activism, business experience, my nonviolence training in particular, and even musical performances led to a career as a change agent for local government. The more I learned about local government performance auditing, including how to follow recognized audit standards that ensure that our reports are rock solid reliable, the more I realized that I'd found my way to make a difference. With a team of skilled performance, we help make Berkeley a better place by issuing performance audits that strengthen the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of city programs while strengthening the City's ethical culture, asset protection, and transparency.