My experience has taught me that people make the place. As an elected official, I dedicated my tenure to building a more inclusive and equitable community, ensuring that all people have access to opportunity. Today, I work for a startup that uses technology to build housing faster and more affordably while pursuing an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
At Cottage, I work with an incredible team of operators, software engineers, and architects driven to help solve housing affordability by making it easier to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU).
We work with single parents, retirees, and property investors - all of whom have one thing in common: The need for housing to be built more affordably and faster. To accomplish this mission, we bring together architectural designers. engineers, consultants, and contractors to develop custom housing.
Big or small, our partners at Cottage want to be part of the solution to California's housing crisis, finding creative ways to build more housing for more people. For some, ADUs are for loved ones, aging parents, or immigrating siblings. For others, they're strangers who need an affordable lease. No matter what, they know that more beds will help more people live long, healthy, and successful lives.
As a college senior, I ran for Ann Arbor City Council against a four-term incumbent. I went door-to-door every day and spoke with nearly 4,000 households. When I won, I collaborated with constituents and experts to develop infrastructure and policy that serves all residents, regardless of income and zip code.
At the City of Ann Arbor, I served on the governing board, overseeing a $480 million budget and 750 employees. In this capacity, I also represented a diverse constituency of 25,000 residents who live in 17 distinct neighborhoods.
Through my service, I led our booming, Midwestern city to push forward dozens of progressive strategies. Among these initiatives, I was most proud to launch Ann Arbor's largest-ever program to construct new affordable housing. In this process, I led the city to acquire developable land and implement large-scale zoning reforms.
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