It is total serendipity that I ended up in Broomfield. When I moved across the country almost 10 years ago to start my new job at the University of Colorado, I picked Broomfield on a map as the most central location for my commute into both Denver and Boulder knowing little about it beyond the census statistics. After living in a rental on Kohl Street for a few years, my husband Matt and I decided to buy a house right down the street and there is no place we'd rather be! I was born and raised in Georgia and I cannot overstate how eye opening it was to discover life in a city frequently touted as one of the Healthiest Cities in the U.S., and experience how it has benefited from sane and competent leadership over the years.

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I have watched Broomfield transform, as the city and the environment around us has been slowly changing. Five years ago, I was just like the majority of Broomfielders: generally aware of what was going on locally, but not really actively participating beyond chatting about issues with neighbors. That changed when I decided to start grad school in 2020 - and thus my trajectory to this moment began. During my time in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver pursuing a Masters of Public Administration (MPA), my focus was on how to turn my passion for helping people into the most impact for my community. After that fateful day in December 2021, when I stood with my neighbors at the overlook watching the fires creep ever closer to us and later watched my friends literally rebuild their lives, I realized I had a critical gap in my knowledge and I never wanted to feel so helpless and unprepared again. I spent the remainder of my time in grad school learning all I could about the existing societal structures that protect us from the threats all around us, and ended up receiving my MPA with a concentration in Emergency Management & Homeland Security in December 2023. Over those 3.5 years, I learned all about our local government as I went to my first Council meeting, pored over public financial reports, interviewed staff, and completed my capstone project focused on recommendations to increase engagement through the Broomfield Voice; those lessons and habits, like reading every 'B in the Loop' newsletter and sharing tidbits with my neighbors to keep them in the loop are still very much a part of my life.

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Since graduating, I have dedicated myself to serving my neighbors with passion and knowledge. I am the Treasurer for my HOA, and it has been the most rewarding and enjoyable experience getting to know more of my neighbors more deeply and be able to keep our neighborhood running like a well-oiled machine. I was also appointed by City Council to the Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability (ACES), where the most amazing, driven group of residents and city staff work together to come up with creative solutions to help the city adapt to the changing environment and put forward recommendations to City Council. Through these roles, I've had countless conversations with people who desperately want a better tomorrow but just don't have the time to fight against the status quo. This brings me to today, when I am announcing my candidacy for City Council in Ward 3. Holding an elected office was never something I thought about or aspired to, but I love Broomfield and I want to see it flourish for years to come.

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Professionally, I'm the Information Security Officer and Assistant Vice Chancellor at CU Boulder. While my mission is to keep all our digital environments and information safe and secure, most of my job is actually about shared governance and working with faculty, staff, and students across campus to balance our organizational imperative for data security with their need to get their work done as efficiently as possible. If you've ever been frustrated by the extra seconds it takes to submit multi-factor authentication or fallen for a phishing scam and been the victim of identity theft, you can imagine that it's a challenging job. The skills I've honed in my work will serve me well as a Councilmember. I have to learn about complex issues very quickly and work across multiple competing interests to propose solutions that get us to the best possible outcome. I'm known for my inquisitiveness to dig deep to understand problems and perspectives, approachableness to help folks understand why we need to change and what they need to do, empathy so we don't take our very serious work too seriously, and steadfastness in those inevitable times of crisis.

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While I love the dynamic nature of my work, I also make lots of time for sunshine and play, and enjoy all that Broomfield has to offer. You may see me out in the community taking in a Broomfield Symphony Orchestra concert at the library auditorium with my husband, walking my 2 dogs along our beautiful trails and streets (my daily walk frequently includes "plogging" - if you don't know what that is, look it up - it feels so good to contribute in such a small, easy way to keeping our world pristine!), shopping at Total Escape Games for a great new board game, or birdwatching and amateur photography in the open spaces. I hope you enjoy my photos on this site :)

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If you made it this far, you must also care a lot about our community. Please make a plan to vote in November and consider adding your thoughts to my Suggestion Box. I hope I get a chance to represent you on City Council though, whatever happens, know that I will be out in our community fighting for a bright future for all.

 

 

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."  -Eleanor Roosevelt