Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce Candidate Survey Response
1. Tell us about yourself.
Please provide a brief biography, including your professional background, community involvement, and what motivated you to run for office.
I was born and raised in Fairfax, just across the County/City line, and grew up fully immersed in the local community – attending preschool at Fairfax United Methodist, getting my first library card at the City of Fairfax library, and [almost] never missing an Independence Day parade. I graduated from Fairfax County Public Schools (including Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology) and attended the University of Virginia, where I double majored in biology and government. After graduation, I went to work for Booz Allen Hamilton in Arlington, Virginia, and later moved on to leadership roles in smaller boutique consulting and technology firms. While living in Arlington, I was active with the Arlington Volunteer Network, the Higher Achievement mentorship program, and the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA), where I was named Volunteer of the Year in 2014. My family (husband, two daughters, and a dog) and I moved to Fairfax City in 2017, and in 2021 I was appointed to the City’s Planning Commission. I was named Vice Chair of the Planning Commission in 2023, and I also currently serve as the Commission’s representative to Fairfax City Economic Development’s Façade and Interior Improvement Grant (FIIG) review committee.
As a Commissioner, I have become increasingly disheartened by the decline of civil discourse on the dais amongst our elected officials. I was motivated to run for the office of mayor specifically to leverage my skills and experience to restore effective communication, collaboration, and transparency amongst and from City government.
2. Why are you seeking this office?
What unique experience or perspective would you bring to the Fairfax City Council/Mayor's Office?
Given my twenty years of management consulting experience, I am at my core a “process person.” I am data-driven to a near-fanatical degree and have extensive experience building and implementing effective management structures, as well as supporting corresponding change management initiatives. I understand that change is often scary, particularly at the organizational (or municipal) level, but that failure to adapt and respond to changing demand signals inevitably results in decline. I believe my track record as a Planning Commissioner speaks for itself in terms of my ability to ask tough questions, isolate and address key issues, and find opportunities to build consensus based on facts. I’m also an experienced people and team manager – I take great pride in giving people opportunities to exceed and shining a light on them when they do. We are fortunate in Fairfax City to have truly exceptional government staff, and I believe that the elected government should lean on their expertise when making decisions that shape the future of the City. Lastly, I love learning, and I am so excited to help build a City government that is informed and energized by tapping into the broad range of skills and knowledge present in our community.
3. Business Climate
What do you believe are the three most important actions the City can take over the next four years to strengthen Fairfax City's business climate and support existing businesses?
My first recommendation is going to be a controversial one, but it’s one I feel strongly about – the City needs to take steps to explore the feasibility of making the Old Town core a pedestrian-only district. There are many issues impacting the viability of Old Town in its current state – the speed of traffic throughput; narrow and uneven sidewalks; vacant or underutilized retail frontage; and inadequate exterior signage among them – and I understand the concerns of business and property owners who fear a hit to their business if store-adjacent parking becomes inaccessible. But I believe that easier and safer pedestrian passage through the downtown core, in combination with the additional storefront and sidewalk activation that would be possible with street closures, will ultimately prove to be a benefit to this critical commercial area and inspire investor confidence in its enduring potential.
My second recommendation skews wonkier – I am in favor of the City adopting the proposed zoning “islands” that will align and further codify the Comprehensive Plan and Small Area Plan guidelines for activity centers and streamline evaluation of applications for (re)development. Right now, the City does not have a strong record of consistency when evaluating and integrating development applications that come through a variety of channels (including by-right, rezoning, and special exceptions). Anything we can do from a process perspective that helps create more consistency, both in terms of project evaluation by staff and consideration by Council and the mayor, will only help the City improve its reputation as a business- and investment-friendly community.
Third: I would love to see more business incubator spaces established in the City. With the development trend towards larger and fancier commercial spaces in new builds, I am very concerned about the loss of “right-sized” (and right-priced) office and retail options for the types of small businesses that have historically found a home in the City of Fairfax. Whether it is through partnership with Economic Development and/or George Mason, incentives during the development process, or just creative re-use of existing infrastructure, I believe ensuring that small business have a place to take hold in the City is vital to maintaining the energy and resiliency of our overall business climate.
4. Economic Development
How would you encourage responsible economic development while preserving the character and quality of life that make Fairfax City unique?
As previously mentioned (and as evidenced in my history of comments from the dais as a Planning Commissioner), I believe that one of the reasons for Fairfax City’s comparatively successful commercial space utilization rate is that we are “right-sized” for the types of business that call us home, such as law practices, small medical offices, professional service firms, and technology start-ups – many of whom are owned and/or staffed by City residents. Development that tilts too far to the big, shiny, and new risks driving away those users, to the detriment of our overall economic health. I would love to see new developments incorporate incubator space, or at least a thoughtful approach to scope and lease pricing, in order to maintain a sustainable business mix.
5. Small Business Support
Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy. What specific policies or initiatives would you champion to help small businesses start, grow, and succeed in Fairfax City?
At the risk of sounding like a broken record – incubators! The City needs facilities like accessible co-working spaces, mobile retail opportunities, and food halls. We need academic and professional society partnerships that help new business owners acquire skills and certifications efficiently. We need champions for local workforce talent, starting with our high school students. And we need public-private partnerships (including utilization of grants and other funding opportunities for small and/or disadvantaged businesses) to ensure our City infrastructure remains on solid footing well into the future.
6. Workforce & Talent
Employers continue to face workforce challenges. What role should the City play in supporting workforce development, attracting talent, and partnering with educational institutions and the business community?
Paradoxically, I think the City would benefit from leaning in on remote work despite this being the era of RTO. We have a phenomenally talented, yet frequently transitory, professional population in the greater DC region. The City of Fairfax has a chance to differentiate itself from nearby vicinities by offering flexible workspaces, educational partnerships, professional (re)certification support, and access to technology resources benefiting those workers as well as companies that want to tap into local workforce talent without taking on the expense of Northern Virginia rents. Building and supporting connections between local workers and global employers helps keep the City itself a desirable place to live, work, and invest.
I also believe that the City could improve its outreach to transitioning military members and government employees. Our surrounding jurisdictions offer significantly more services and support in this vein, and the City would do well to catch up. Even in a period of contraction, as we’ve seen in recent years, government and government-adjacent work remains the biggest driver of the regional economy and by extension, one of the best “business cases” for professional service start-ups, mentor-protégé programs, professional education partnerships, and employee up-/re-skilling.
Lastly, as I learn more about training and apprenticeship opportunities in skilled trades, I believe Fairfax City is well-equipped to offer a modern, technology-informed pathway to trade employment starting in high school (Fairfax Academy) and progressing through continuing education (George Mason, Northern Virginia Community College) and apprenticeship programs to full employment with the City itself or sponsoring businesses within the City.
7. Housing, Transportation & Infrastructure
How do you see issues such as housing affordability, transportation, parking, and infrastructure affecting economic development, and what solutions would you support?
Housing affordability is directly correlated with staffing availability across many sectors, and we ignore the need for both naturally-occurring and designated affordable housing at the risk of our own economic peril (as well as ever-increasing traffic in the meantime!). I want the City to examine the legal feasibility of designated workforce housing for City and county employees at or below certain income thresholds, so that people who are building careers here can also live here. I don’t think the City’s current affordable housing ordinance is explicit enough in driving private provision of the types of affordable units we need the most (namely, housing for families, senior citizens, and individuals with disabilities), so I’d like to see it amended to include additional accessibility and unit size requirements. We need to ensure the City has a housing mix that provides sufficient residential tax revenue while also attracting and retaining robust employee and customer bases for the businesses we currently have and those we would like to attract.
I would like the City to re-consider CUE bus routing and/or its partnership agreements with GMU transportation to offer ‘express’ bus service between Activity Centers and the Vienna Metro and Burke Center VRE stations during rush hours to provide quicker and more efficient public transit options for commuters. I actually think our Activity Centers have more than enough parking as currently configured, so my transportation solutions in terms of driving [literal and metaphoric] traffic to City businesses would focus more on the ease and efficiency of public transportation access and the comfort and safety of pedestrians navigating the City on foot.
8. Partnership with the Business Community
How would you work with the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce and the broader business community to ensure business perspectives are considered when making policy decisions?
In my role as a Planning Commissioner, I look to the Chamber of Commerce, the Fairfax City EDA, and other business groups to help me “sanity check” claims about what is and is not economically feasible when new developments are proposed. In line with one of my overall campaign pillars about tapping the breadth of knowledge and expertise of Fairfax City residents via board and commission process overhaul, I believe frequent opportunities to hear from and collaborate with local business leadership is vital in terms of elected government’s ability to make fully informed and data-driven decisions.
9. Looking Ahead
What do you hope Fairfax City will look like four two years from now if your vision is successfully implemented?
Fundamentally, I hope the general attitude towards City government has moved from frustration to at least hope, if not enthusiastic participation. Fairfax City is small but mighty; we have so much to capitalize on, from proximity to government and academia, to significant historical and cultural resources, to a diverse infrastructure portfolio that enables small businesses to incubate and grow. I want to be the kind of leader who can dispel fear-based messaging and bring residents, City staff, local businesses, and investors together to make and execute smart, cohesive plans for the future.
10. Final Thoughts
Is there anything else you would like the business community to know about you or your candidacy?
As someone with decades of solution-oriented work experience, I will be a mayor who works collaboratively but decisively. I have the professional and personal skills to solicit and integrate diverse perspectives into forward-looking solutions, and I’m committed to full transparency of government deliberation and decision-making.