I did not set out to run for council. I filed because residents in Huntsville and Chaffey wanted more choice and a voice focused on them. What I can offer is not a long record in local politics. It is a set of experiences that taught me how to handle other people's money with care, work with limited resources, serve a community, and stand firm when it would have been easier to walk away.
Twenty-three years ago I started a business as a single mother of three. A friend trusted me with his capital. That fact was the strongest reason I could not fail. My sense of right and wrong would not let me lose someone else's money. The company, now AVI Media, is still here. That early lesson, treat entrusted resources as if they are not yours to waste, translates directly to public office. Taxpayers' money is not theoretical. It comes from people who work hard and expect it to be spent carefully and accounted for.
For ten years I ran an animal sanctuary on a 60-acre jungle farm and retreat in Belize. We cared for more than fifty animals while learning to budget under real scarcity. There was no extra. Every decision had to stretch limited funds toward the next need. That work was community service, not a hobby. It taught me that good intentions are not enough; you have to show up, keep the books honest, and keep going when conditions are hard. Those same habits apply to municipal budgets, infrastructure, and services that residents rely on every day.
Belize's tourist economy offered another clear lesson. Visitors drive the economy, but the people who cook, clean, build, and serve often cannot afford decent housing or easy access to the shoreline and amenities that make the place special. Huntsville faces a version of the same pressure. Growth and tourism matter, yet the people who keep the town running need housing they can afford, safe sidewalks, and a say in how shoreline and public spaces are used. Leaving service workers behind is not sustainable. I have seen what happens when the balance is lost.
As treasurer of SAGA Humane Society I helped turn the organization around: strengthening financial controls, achieving Fintrac certification, getting a clinic operational, and securing funding for a new building. That required facing problems directly, including issues of accountability, rather than looking the other way. Public office demands the same willingness to examine how money is handled and to fix what is broken. I also served as crisis-management representative for Jasmine Hartin in Belize. That work meant navigating a justice system, police, and media environment where corruption, abuse of power, influence, and incomplete narratives were real. I did not back down. The experience left me with a practical understanding of how institutions can fail people and how propaganda fills the vacuum when truth is inconvenient. A councillor's job is not to manage a brand. It is to represent residents honestly, even when it is uncomfortable.
In 2025 AVI Media received a Gold Stevie Award for Most Resilient Woman-Owned Business. The award recognized a company rebuilt after serious setbacks. Resilience is not a slogan. It is the decision to keep working when it would be easier to stop.
You can read more of that story in the International Business Times (opens in a new tab).
None of this makes me unique. It simply means I have practiced the habits council work requires: stewardship of other people's resources, service under constraint, attention to who gets left out of a successful local economy, financial accountability, and the willingness to stand up when the easy path is silence. I will listen first. I will treat the role as representation, not direction. Huntsville and Chaffey deserve councillors who show up for the people who live here, not just the ones who visit. That is the commitment these years have prepared me to keep.