I currently serve as the Communications and Marketing Director for Burlington’s substance misuse prevention coalition, where I work closely with dozens of community-based partners in Burlington and very closely with Burlington School District and Department of Health colleagues to address substance use education and cessation with both students and parents. In addition, I have over 15 years of experience in operations, supervision and management, and communications expertise, with most of it in public service.

I’ve been proud to serve my community and act as a voice for ethics since I was young. As a teen growing up in Montpelier, I worked after school as an emergency dispatcher. I thrust myself into community advocacy during the 2000 Civil Union debates, writing my first op-ed at age 17 for the Montpelier Bridge paper. I was at the statehouse for every public debate and served as a student representative to the School Board. It was amazing to join Rep. Bill Lippert and many other changemakers in 2017 for the plaque dedication at the Statehouse honoring this first-in-nation achievement.

While attending UVM, I served as the first intern at the Chittenden County Court and Reparative Services Unit (probation) and as the co-chair of the South Burlington Reparative Justice Board. I was grateful to receive a Ronald E. McNair Scholarship, where I focused my research on Burlington’s changing social demographics and using Census data and archival materials to be considered in policymaking.

I became the first undergraduate student employee for the nationally respected LGBT Center. I later returned to work as part of a team that succeeded by serving thousands of students around their personal and educational goals. I was honored to receive the 2015 Outstanding Service Award from the UVM Chief of Police for an initiative I started to improve outreach and response during campus-wide free speech conflicts.

After UVM, I spent four years with a Fortune 10 company in metro Boston as one of the youngest Sales Operations Managers in the Northeast region, managing and coaching multiple teams of high-performing employees and achieving recognition with a top national award. Here, I developed my skills in technical and procedural training and oversight, auditing and compliance, and financial management, as well as supporting and managing people.

However, something felt like it was missing. The lack of community betterment and service led me to leave my career and pursue my Master’s in Public Affairs and International Relations at UMass Boston’s McCormack School of Public Policy. There, I developed the first exchange of Nigerian legal scholars, bringing magistrates, lawyers, and mediators to Boston to learn dispute resolution practices from leading legal minds, including the Attorney General and the Massachusetts Supreme Court. I held fellowships both at the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities After Disasters, where my research took me to Haiti in 2010 following the devastating earthquake to write about US foreign trade policies and their impact on disaster resiliency, as well as at the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development. My final capstone on climate change-driven migration received the Department’s highest award.

Like many young Vermonters who move away to pursue professional opportunities, I came to appreciate how much our great state offers and returned 11 years ago. In 2019, I moved from Williston to Burlington and immediately jumped right back into local and statewide issues, including:

• Serving as as the Staff Council Representative on the Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Council to the Vice President of Finance at UVM from 2014-2017.

• Helping to found Vermont’s first chapter of the NAACP, serving as the first interim Secretary,

• Launching the Restorative Remapping Project, where I learned a lot about issue-based community organizing,

• Accepting a fellowship with the New Leaders Council of Vermont, where I focused on developing innovative proposals to attract and retain our young professionals in-state,

• Volunteering on the Wards 4/7 NPA Steering Committee from 2021-2022.

• Currently serve as the Vice Chair of the Burlington Housing Board of Review. This quasi-judicial board adjudicates disputes between property owners and tenants on security deposit withholdings, as well as appeals to Minimum Housing Code violation orders. I work closely with our City Attorney’s Office and fellow board members to accurately and fairly interpret and uphold our city ordinances with a stellar track record.

These experiences have led me to step up in this critical moment to help guide Burlington through significant, post-pandemic challenges that directly threaten our financial stability and sustainability and our shared sense of community safety. I have unique and vital skill sets and viewpoints that I intend to put to work on behalf of my neighborhood and the city I love.

Thank you for reading about me, and I hope to get to know you in the future.