So many, but mostly I’m a chocoholic. I really can’t resist chocolate! And I know it’s not popular but I love anchovies on pizza.

My hubby, Timothy, is also my co-founder and partner in the family business. We started Green Retirement in 2006 to help 401k plans benefit the planet and society as well as employees. He loves geocaching and Burning Man. Our son, James, is a new financial advisor and he just joined the firm. He’s had a lifelong fascination with knives of all kinds—that grew out of specialty shop in San Francisco on Pier 39 that we would go by when he was in a stroller. When he was in high school, he started working at the store and a few years later he won the Pier’s award for best employee. One of my sisters is a pediatrician with a practice in the Redding area and I have family, including my mother, living in the Philippines. She recently returned there with advanced dementia for more care. My brother still lives there.

I met my husband through work in Singapore. We were both in Citibank’s fast-track management training program. He grew up in the Bay Area in El Cerrito and after we married we settled in the Bay Area in 1993 to start our family.

I had the chance to travel to the U.S. on a trip with my sister who was interviewing in New York. It was 1992 and we stopped over in San Francisco on the way there. New York reminded me of Manila, a huge city. One of the biggest culture shocks is one that I still have: how does the U.S., such a rich and powerful country, lag behind the Philippines when it comes to paid maternity and now paternity leave?

Right now, it’s a New Zealand police procedural which has some funny moments – it’s called Brokenwood. Good Omens is another favorite.

I love knitting. I’m a bit nerdy so for fun I like to listen to political podcasts by independent media. I’ve been brushing up on economics on YouTube too. For relaxing shows to watch, my go-to is cooking on YouTube.

One of the best events so far was joining a float at the Bok Kai parade, a yearly Chinese New Year’s event held in Marysville that was organized by the amazing volunteers of the Feather River and Sutter County Democratic groups. The parade was lined with enthusiastic people and it helped, of course, that candy and flags were flowing out to them from the float and volunteers walking alongside it. It was so gratifying to get thumbs up from voters and I heard quite a few shout outs of “We voted for you!”

Generally, I’ve been hearing a lot from people in the district that they want LaMalfa voted out of office. And that there’s a serious need to have Congress do a better job of truly representing us. I have spoken to constituents who have gone bankrupt due to medical debt. Housing affordability is also a big issue in our district. And we need more mental health care and other solutions to help the unhoused.

I met Bernie in 2014, a few months before he declared that he was running for president. I was at a retreat for socially conscious business leaders in Burlington, VT, and there he was. One of the people organizing the event knew I was a Bernie fan so he gave me the heads-up that Bernie was attending. I spotted him standing on the side while we were waiting for dinner to be served. He was alone so I immediately went up to him and struck up a conversation. He was so unassuming! I made sure to whisper in his ear that he should run so now I like to joke that I was one of the people who got him to declare his candidacy.

The five priorities we’ve identified represent what I feel a congressional representative should advocate and vote for. It speaks to my belief that healthcare, housing, education, and income security are basic rights that all Americans should have.

I never thought I’d run for office but I was raised in a politically active family. My grandfather was a three-term mayor of the town I grew up in and my father ran as a delegate to the constitutional convention. I joined him on his campaigns, going from town to town, handing out flyers. Of course, the political system in the Philippines was corrupt, with votes being bought, and my father lost.

In his free time, my father organized other lawyers like himself to provide pro bono representation to students who had been arrested protesting the Marcos dictatorship. He was detained for this during the regime. In 2019, he was honored for this work and my mother and I were able to attend the ceremony.

As an adult here in the U.S., I’ve been very content with my own activism through our socially conscious retirement firm and my roles with the Social Venture Network and the B Corp community, two groups that are part of the movement to harness business as a force for good. But ultimately I felt like someone who represented my values needed to run against LaMalfa, and that someone turned out to be me.