Seattle and the 43rd LD have been my home my entire adult life. The changes that I have witnessed over the last decade have been remarkable for the prosperity that has been created but also dismaying due to the rising tides of inequality. These are a direct result of policies that have benefitted the few, while leaving far too many behind. I am running for State Representative because it is time for a new direction. 

Our values are instilled in us first and foremost by our families, and the lessons I learned from mine created a strong drive to ensure that those who had the odds stacked against them could still succeed. In my home town that very much lacked diversity, I rarely saw anyone who looked like my Syrian-American grandmother. Over time, I learned the lengths to which she had tried to shield us from the prejudice she experienced, prejudice that I only faced a small fraction of the time and only when I willingly disclose my ethnicity. Stigma and prejudice also contributed to how my mom dealt with her cherished father’s suicide, staying silent and hiding his true cause of death for years, even from her children. When my mother became pregnant not long after his death, my parents decided to continue the pregnancy and ended up dropping out of college after their freshman year to care for my older brother. Without the benefit of higher education, my parents struggled to make ends meet. We were able to get by because of union jobs, family willing and able to take my parents in, and strong public schools. Everyone should have that opportunity. 

As I grew up, that drive to make the world a better place only grew stronger. On my 18th birthday, I was sexually assaulted while visiting MIT as an accepted student. I opted to not go there because of that experience, and it changed my life forever. I later gained firsthand experience in how broken the American healthcare system could be. In college, I had to make the choice between paying the copay for my birth control or the anti-depressants that made it possible for me to even pursue my studies. Later, I had to navigate getting support for multiple serious health issues in a row when I didn’t have sufficient paid time off to give myself time to recover, and rising medical debt despite being insured. And still, while all of this was going on, struggles for basic needs like housing and grief at a burning planet intensified among particularly my generation.

I became an activist and an advocate, organizing anti-rape culture rallies or working on the Reproductive Health Access for All bill and serving as a Commissioner and former Co-Chair on the Seattle LGBTQ Commission. In my day job as a technical program manager, I have tried to find mission-driven work, whether in creating data platforms for HIV and cancer research or building apps to facilitate alternate methods of commuting besides single-occupancy vehicles. I have been able to draw on my background in engineering to break down ambiguous problems and come up with novel solutions. Behind all of this work, whether volunteer or paid, is a deep well of caring for people first and of listening to the experiences of others. My aim is to elevate and amplify voices and stories that often aren’t centered, and to create a better future in the process.

As a renter who is car-free, I know we need to invest and greatly expand access to housing and transit. As a young person who wants to see the planet continue to thrive past her senior years, I know we need to take bold action now on climate change. As a queer woman who has faced sexual assault, depression, and medical debt, I know that we need to ensure that everyone has access to quality, low-cost, inclusive healthcare. 

I’m running because our future counts on taking bold steps, and I want to be that change for the 43rd. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.