About Me
(Click here for photos of me on the campaign trail.)
I am a lifelong resident of DuPage County. I was born in 1985, when my parents lived in Woodridge. A year later they moved to the City of Aurora, and since then have only changed addresses once within the city. As a result, I have spent the vast majority of my 23 years in the Fifth County Board District.
I attended school in Indian Prairie School District 204, graduating from Waubonsie Valley High School in 2003. Since then, I have attended college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the College of DuPage, and Aurora University. I received my Associate in Arts degree from the College of DuPage in early 2008. From 1990 to 2000, I was a student of the religious school at Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard.
In my time in public school, I was named to the high honor roll yearly in both middle and high school, received the Prairie State Achievement Award, and was named both an Indian Prairie Scholar and a National Merit Scholar. I was an AP student in both English and Spanish my senior year. I was accepted to both the University of Illinois and Aurora University based upon my high academic performance history.
I was hired for my first job in 2002, at the Wal-Mart store on Route 59 and McCoy in Naperville, where I worked as a sales associate in the shoe department. I’ve also worked at the Florsheim store in the Fox Valley Mall, and before being elected to the County Board, I worked as a clerk at the Jewel-Osco on the corner of Eola and North Aurora.
My seminal political experience was as Volunteer Coordinator for the Ruben Zamora for Congress campaign in 2006. I had also been moderately involved in the Winfield Township Democratic Organization and Democracy for America. I donated to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
I want to make a career for myself as a public servant. Government has interested me from a very young age, and I feel that my talents and abilities are best put to use serving the public interest. This is my first term holding an elected office. I feel that anyone who cares deeply about the issues in their area can, and should, make the effort to run for office. If politics becomes less the domain of lawyers and lobbyists, and more the domain of the everyday citizen, we’ll have a better government, and a brighter outlook on the services we’re provided by it. Running for office is a challenge that anyone can benefit from; it’s not a question of bravery or money, but civic duty. I am enjoying the opportunity you have given me to serve, and strive to fulfill the promises I made when I campaigned for this job. This is a job I am eager to do right; and as one of my employers, I look to you for your support and confidence.
