I am an immigrant and an American by choice who came here for the broad values that America represents: generous, inclusive, with freedom to be who you want to be instead of what your circumstances would dictate.

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I grew up on a small family farm in France where the labor included the children, like all working farms the world over. I know a thing or two about hard work, from mucking cow stalls every day to harvesting grapes in October rain, and loading hay bales in impossibly small attics above the stable. We had dairy cows, cattle, and vineyards used to make Cognac, the brandy my hometown is famous for. No one in my family attended school past 8th grade, and the fate of farmer’s daughters back then did not include education.  Yet because of dedicated public school teachers who introduced me to books, and convinced my parents I should break the mold, I finished high school top in my class and went on to selective schools for college and business school.  

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Which is how I was able to get to America.

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I knew I had to leave my country of birth to pursue a career because at the time, regardless of your educational credentials or intellectual abilities, the ability to succeed was primarily determined by your social origins; the first question when you met someone new was “what does your father do”?  I saw the plum jobs in the graduating classes above me go to those who had family connections, not necessarily to the best and the brightest.

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So in the summer of 1980 I came to San Diego State University for a summer session as part of my MBA curriculum.  I paid for the trip expenses with a side modeling job, and I made it to California, the Eldorado that every French kid of my generation (and subsequent ones too!) dreams of visiting some day.  I fell in love with San Diego that summer. 

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I remember as a child teaching myself English by singing along to records by Cat Stevens and Leonard Cohen, mouthing sounds to words I did not understand, but dreaming that one day I too would be rich and famous in America.  I imagined myself as a diplomat, or a journalist, or a businesswoman, traveling the world and operating in that incomprehensibly alluring language that was the lingua franca of freedom and liberation from the Old World’s social shackles.

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And in June 1981, I left the family farm for good, and got a one-way ticket to the land of opportunity. 

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I was able to realize the dream that I left family, country and everything I knew behind for. Besides raising a family of two wonderful children with my husband of 30 years, for 20 years I started several tech companies right here in San Diego, creating many high paying good jobs; I also ran big organizations with employees around the world for a Fortune 500 company. Those business skills, earned the old-fashioned way, have prepared me well for the job of County Supervisor, an executive-level job co-managing 17,000 employees and a budget of $6 billion.

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When I sold my last company, I invested the same energy and drive into giving back to my community. I fundraised millions of $ for a public high school, I created a nonprofit to snatch some of the most valuable habitat in North County from the jaws of developers, and I have been an elected representative on my community’s Town Council since 2005, its Board chair since 2010, and a County Planning Group board member since 2009.  I have volunteered my time for the past decade and a half making sure the voices of San Diego County’s unincorporated areas would be heard by decision makers, and I have worked tirelessly representing the interests of the District Five community I have called home for the past 27 years.  

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During this time, I have watched with growing concern as many major decisions impacting these areas came down to a simple vote of three supervisors out of five, often with devastating results.  And I determined over time, that not all of the supervisors have the residents’ best interests at heart.  Because development interests play an oversize role in campaign contributions to Supervisors elections, they have back door access that the taxpayers and property owners simply cannot match. I was disheartened by the decision made by the Board to change the formula to give themselves raises, circumventing the process established to prevent exactly this type of self-dealing, while denying raises to their own employees. The refusal to hold evening meetings so citizens can have a meaningful opportunity to participate in deliberations affecting their quality of life was another recent disappointment.

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I decided the people of San Diego County deserve more.  I believe the Supervisors should truly represent the interests of the people of San Diego County.     

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I am tired of seeing bad decisions made with little transparency and little input from the residents who are most affected.  I’m not waiting any longer for a better Supervisor to appear.  I am that Supervisor.

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The stakes could not be higher, after 22 years of the same leadership. Voters have a chance to change the trajectory of San Diego’s future before we turn into Riverside or Orange County.  Concerns over traffic, sprawl developments and wildfire evacuation safety top the list of motivating factors for my run for this seat.  Land use and public safety are core issues facing the Board of Supervisors. The taxpayers deserve a Supervisor who will prioritize residents’ needs and safety, which is why I pledge not to accept any campaign contributions from developers.