I became politically active in my early adulthood, as the result of seeing injustices in my broadening world. I grew up in a fairly traditional household, living mostly in small to medium-sized towns in the Midwest and Southern United States.
At first I was involved mostly with women\'s groups, ranging from the mainstream National Organization for Women (NOW) to the more in-your-face Women\'s Action Coaltion (WAC), which had its heyday in the early 1990s. My experiences with these groups were mostly positive. We had successes in advocating for services for women and families as well as supporting women recovering from violence committed against them.
In 1994, at the age of 22, I attended the first ever annual Z Media Institute. We had a great time, and I learned more about politics and began familiarizing myself more with computers.
Later on, I ventured into less overtly political volunteer work when I trained as a rape crisis counselor.
As years passed, activism gave way to the demands of continuing my college education and working long hours to pay the bills. I returned to activism hard-core in 2000. I had finally graduated from college and landed a job I loved, only to be laid off a few months later. With time on my hands, I joined the Ralph Nader for President 2000 campaign in San Francisco.
Since then, I found employment in the corporate world and have continued my activism with the Green Party and local politics in San Francisco. This involves a broad scope of activities including voter registration, campaigning for local officials and ballot initiatives, and advocating for social justice policies. I was a district captain in the 2003 Gonzalez for Mayor campaign, which came very close to electing a Green Party member as Mayor of San Francisco. Since then, I have helped other Greens and progressives win local office.
Today, my allies and I fight locally in San Francisco for affordable housing, improved transit, public safety and an end to environmental racism. In 2008 I\'ll be working to help elect Mark Sanchez to the Board of Supervisors, and local progressives will be working hard to secure funds for affordable housing in our rapidly gentrifying city.
On a more personal note, I am happily married to a fellow activist I met in the Green Party. We wed in 2005 and welcomed our first child in October 2007.
