- You know, for me as a little girl growing up, I never aspired to seek out elected office.

You know, I never thought that I would be the mayor of our wonderful city.

When I was little, I wanted to be a nurse because I saw Julia on television, a young, single mom.

She was a nurse, she had her son Corey.

And so I wanted to be a nurse and I wanted to help people.

I think it is really important that we are seeing so many women run for office all across our country, and that they are winning their elections.

For too long, we have not had that kind of representation but it's important that we see the representation because it is often said, if you see it, you can be it.

And if you don't, then folks may not aspire to that.

And I think as a woman, as the first woman to serve as mayor of this city, after 199 years, you know, what I bring is my lived experience as a young single mom myself, who has gone through and experienced many of the challenges that so many of our residents have faced.

And I bring that lens that, that makes me want to lead with the lens of equity, justice and love.

I encourage anyone who is thinking about it, to take the leap.

I know from research, it takes women longer to decide to get into office.

I'm told that it takes seven times of being asked to do it before they actually do it.

For me, it was probably more like 20 or 30 or 47 times, but I did finally run for office because, you know, I just saw the challenges that my community was facing.

I had already been active, you know, starting a neighborhood association, going to different community meetings and civic groups.

In my career, I was already an advocate and a community organizer, and was trying to make a difference outside of public office and determined that I could have a greater impact inside public office.

And so if this is something you're thinking about, I certainly encourage you to pursue that.

There are lots of opportunities in terms of training and support, if you're interested, and young people have always been at the forefront of change, so I certainly encourage you to pursue your dreams.