As a struggling single mother, I’ve made it my mission to stand up for people like me.

When my son was a baby, I was forced to flee abuse. During this time, I was fired from my job due to a lengthy custody process and a lack of vacation time. Like most people, I was living paycheck to paycheck, and the moment I was fired I knew I had very little time to fix it.

When I reached my lowest point, I discovered how little help there really is. Childcare assistance would take a year or more to come through, shelters for mothers were completely full, and no one would hire a mother who didn’t have childcare immediately available. I lost everything, and it would take 3 years to come back from the loss and begin to rebuild. Now, more than 4 years later, we are back on our feet.

But that’s not enough, because it’s not about me.

My experience made me want to help other people like me - so I did. For the last six years I have dedicated all of my time to fighting for change. Whether it’s through mutual aid, protesting against federal cuts, showing up to the legislature to speak for impacted tenants, gathering petitions to lower the rent, or helping my neighbors navigate the complex system, I wake up every day and stand up for my community.

And the system keeps fighting back.

I have shown up time and time again to find the same opponents standing on the other side - corporate lobbyists and big landlords. Time and time again, I have worked to collect the energy of the people and direct it at our legislators, only to find that they had already made up their minds.

While people like us stand in front of them and tell them grueling stories about poverty, landlords who have evicted us without cause, jobs that refuse to let us take sick time, or an environment that is degrading, they continue to take backroom deals to vote with corporations.

That’s why I’m running. To keep fighting - for us.