“This story kick-started my career, though I didn’t know it would when I first read it as a teen.

In the late ’80s, the city of Curitiba, Brazil faced significant challenges:

• Produce prices had fallen, and farmers were going bankrupt.

• The favelas - slums - were overcome with trash, and there was an outbreak of rat-borne disease.

• Favela dwellers didn't have money to eat.

One obvious solution was investing in garbage collection. It would have mitigated the health risk, but the residents would still be hungry, and farmers would be driven to cities to find other work.

Architect-turned-Mayor Jaime Lerner came up with an ingenious solution: he invested the money earmarked for garbage collection to buy crops from the farmers and offered the favela residents a bag of fresh food for every 6 kilos of trash collected.

Voila!

The people were fed. Farmers got paid. The health crisis was averted.

Following Jaime’s footsteps, I hope to craft strategic solutions to San Diego’s biggest challenges: I started a non-profit -- Walk n Roll San Diego -- to highlight dangerous streets and intersections and advocate for intelligent improvements. I created a framework to make our cities Beautiful, Inspiring, Accessible, and Safe.

Together, let’s make a world that works for everyone and a city where each and every citizen thrives.

Thank you so much for this award and the honor to be here today among this incredible community of impactful women.

Walk n Roll, San Diego!”

— Remarks at the Women of Impact Award Ceremony on 3/28/2023