Q: Congratulations on being named a finalist for the Leadership Trailblazer Award. What does it mean to you to be nominated?

It is always an honor to be nominated – it is nice for others to take notice of your work. This is particularly true when much of one’s work is behind the scenes. What I do to support women in local government is not for the recognition and it is meaningful to be part of a cohort of 10 women who celebrate and amplify the work of women in local government. I am very thankful to my all-women team in the Long Beach Recovery office who make my work enjoyable and are partners with me in this work. The nomination was also such a lovely surprise, particularly after a long couple of years of pandemic, reassignment, pressure, stress, and uncertainty as a leader. I want to thank Lea Eriksen, Long Beach Director of Technology & Innovation for the nomination and for supporting me in my work!

Q: What led you to a career in public service?

My call to public service started when I was very young – my father was the City Manager of my central California hometown and my mother worked in County public health. My childhood exposure to local government unlocked a lifelong fascination with cities, what made them tick, and how local government served the community. It is no surprise I am doing what I am doing in local government!

As a young undergraduate majoring in Public Administration at California State University-Chico, I read Preparing the Next Generation: A Guide for Current and Future Local Government Managers. Prepared in collaboration with notable California local government leaders (*Jim Armstrong, Audrey Seymour, and Rod Gould are a few I had the opportunity to cross paths with in my life), this pivotal document kicked off with City Manager Frank Benest’s manifesto calling all local govies to action to develop the next generation of local government talent who would be necessary to step in behind retiring baby boomers to capably take the helm of local governments across the state and country. This document created the recipe for cities and local government professional organizations to successfully develop the next generation of talent. And for any aspiring local gov leader paying attention, they laid out a roadmap for the next generation.

For someone destined to work in local government, the pinnacle of one’s first job in the industry seemed to be snagging a coveted spot among one of the nation’s local government apprenticeship programs that provided exposure to local government operations, political dynamics, and community context. As a graduate student getting my Master in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, I preparing applications for local gov apprenticeship and fellowship opportunities and was ultimately selected to join the City of Long Beach’s Management Assistant Program, the longest-running nationally ranked municipal management development program in California. And while I’d normally say “the rest is history”, I now get to be an integral part of that history – as the Deputy City Manager, I now oversee the Management Assistant Program that gave me my start.

I’ve always known I wanted to pursue meaningful local government work to serve my community and make a difference because, for me, my work is not transactional – I care, deeply, about what I do in service to my community and it is a big part of what defines who I am. This work is my way of being involved and connected to my community. This work is my outlet for service and contribution. This work is my way of leaving the world better than I found it. I derive so much self-worth, meaning, and satisfaction from my work in local government.

Q: Who were your mentor(s) or advocate(s) in your career?

My first mentor and champion was my dad! My childhood experiences and our dinner table discussions helped inform my perspective of local government. He taught me that no other level of government affects your daily life more than local government. It is the level that most directly impacts residents’ lives and they can directly influence processes that affect them. I had a front-row seat to how this work clearly made a difference, and because my parents were the type to encourage me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up, I thought I might be good at this impactful work. When I started in local government, my dad advised being well-rounded. Get experience in budget, personnel, operations, programs, and projects, he said. Be thoughtful about perceptions and think of your actions or decisions through the lens of what others may perceive them if they were on the front page of the paper, he said. He demonstrated the importance of being neutral to allow the work from the inside, never publicly favoring a candidate or political party. He modeled that staff and relationships were important, to one’s ability to get things accomplished as well to get the organization to follow your lead.

I’ve had other champions and advocates that exhibited behavior worth emulating and taught important lessons. Suzanne Frick was my first supervisor, encouraging me to grow and treating me as a valuable team member. Suzanne helped me build confidence in my profession. Stacy Blackwood demonstrated empathy and gratitude in her treatment of team members, and I witnessed how those relationships helped build high-performing staff teams. With Stacy, I always feel part of her team. Brian Fisk made a point to have a presence and show up for his team for nearly all events, which taught me that showing up is important. You know Brian is somewhere in the background observing and smiling when your program or project is successful. Marie Knight has high expectations and is the ultimate cheerleader. You want to be accountable, meet her expectations and do your best for Marie and it feels magical when she gives you uniquely personal praise. Stephen Scott is a good listener and lets me be honest in a safe space. I feel heard when talking to Steve, even when I’m frustrated. And Suzanne Mason sees my potential and has coached me on how to level up my career. I feel powerful and accomplished like I can do anything when I talk with Suzanne. I also have an incredible peer group of women I work with at multiple levels of the organization that support me in many ways. More on that on one of the questions below.

The women on this list exhibited supportive behaviors. Not only did these women not pull the ladder up behind them, but reached down and brought people up the ladder with them and showed them how to assemble the next ladder. Not pulling up the ladder behind you once you reach a professional milestone has been an important concept for me in my career because while I’ve had my share of brilliant women mentors, I’ve also seen plenty of professional women leaders glorify the struggle and insist others “suffer through it” as they did. While some level of struggle may build character, I wholeheartedly reject the notion that other women who come after me have to struggle, particularly when I am in a position to help them. I believe we all should normalize the behavior of supporting young women and other up-and-coming staff in local government.

Q: What is the most important lesson you learned while coming up in your career?

Find your people and build your “coalition of the willing”! I’m lucky to have a cohort of colleagues across my organization and in the local government profession that I refer to as my “coalition of the willing”’ This is a diverse group of folks who support each other professionally, show up for each other’s events and projects, sign up for group efforts, and go out of their way to help each other. They listen and empathize as I fiercely discuss work issues I’m passionate about. They save space for honesty and truth as we evaluate some of our organization’s biggest issues, things I feel can be seriously lacking in city dialogue. They challenge my perspective and we can respectfully debate without judgment or hurt feelings because we don’t have to compete to be right. They create a safe space for personal conversations, and caretaking information I share in confidence. They find connections and offer their ideas that build upon my ideas, elevating joint concepts and finding new angles we hadn’t thought possible. They encourage me, cheer on my accomplishments, no matter how small, and drive me to want to do my best. They are fun to be around and they laugh at my silly ‘govie’ jokes. They have a desire to understand who I am – the most fundamental human connection. To quote Elizabeth Gilbert “to be fully seen by somebody then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.” They make me feel like me, and they contribute to my experience in life.

It’s healthy to surround yourself with good people and science suggests that our well-being is influenced by the company we keep. Your “coalition of the willing” has a lot to do with this! They can give you a boost of daily energy, increase your sense of belonging and purpose, make you smarter, they help with self-care – a must in local government work. They can also improve people’s perception of your team-player-ness, helping to place you squarely in the camp of go-to staff members for group projects, important for future promotional opportunities. So be yourself as you project the energy you want to attract because your vibe attracts your tribe and we all have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of our relationships.

Q: What advice do you have for women just beginning their careers who would like to be an executive in local government someday?

Be intellectually curious! Read the literature, dig through municipal archives, and listen to the organizational urban legends. For your job, learn the fundamentals and know how you know. If your job is interpreting the municipal code to approve an application – know what section of the code says, how and when it applies, and what latitude you have for interpretation. This builds credibility and makes you a trusted member of the team and a go-to staff member.

Say yes to things that scare you! Look for stretch projects to build important skills that you wouldn’t otherwise get or take new positions that offer a well-rounded experience. Offer to lead a complex project, write a grant, draft a proposal, lead a community engagement process, and manage a fellow or intern. Work with a supportive supervisor to create an environment with a healthy level of risk to attempt a new task.

Apply for that job! Many studies have shown that women don’t apply for leadership positions for a variety of reasons, but you need to treat your career as the most important project and manage it accordingly. When reviewing a job, focus on the responsibility of the role, the organization and values you’ll be working for, and the team culture and environment you’ll be working in. If you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications, it’s ok, many of the required skills can be trained. If up self-selecting out of the process, you are selling yourself short and impacting the possibility of a step in your career.

Q: What do you hope to leave as your legacy in local government when your career comes to an end?

I’m here to contribute, to “plant trees under whose shade I do not expect to sit.” The following aspirations are something I strive to achieve in my career: I want to perform value-driven outcome-based work. I want to enjoy what I do with like-minded colleagues who want to help our community. I want to help talented local government employees see the value and joy in local government work. I want to support the next level of local government employees. I want to help dismantle structural racism through changes to local government policy. I want to disrupt the way we have always done it. I want to make local government employees’ jobs easier and make government user-friendly and accessible by removing barriers to our users. I want to show up and meet the moment to make a difference on issues of climate change, social determinants of health, access to parks and open space, racial equity, and other topics of our time. I want to make myself, my husband, and my family proud of the human I am and that I’m learning to become.