From U City, to Stanford, to China — and back

I’ve lived in University City since I was three months old. I grew up in our schools, all the way from Flynn Park to U City High, where I was Class President for three years and Student Body President as a senior. During high school, I represented University City at Missouri Scholars Academy and Missouri Boys State, where I was elected President Pro Temp, and as a National Merit Scholar.

I graduated with honors from the Political Science Research Track at Stanford University. While there, I learned to speak fluent Chinese in less than two years. I’ve since starred on a Chinese television program, been written about in the Chinese-language New York Times. I was featured by the largest newspaper in Beijing, which told the story of how I stepped across the boundaries of class, language, and culture to become close friends with a security guard from the Chinese countryside (recognize the UCHS hat he’s wearing in the photo?)

I bring new experience and a new perspective. I have seen U City from the ground up: I know what it’s like to come of age in our community, to leave for college, and to come back with the drive to build my city’s future.

University City gave me direction. Now I am here to bring direction back to U City.

I have experience in government, from D.C. to San Jose

I understand government from an urban planner’s standpoint. I worked in partnership with the City of San Jose to evaluate their General Plan. I led a team to study affordable housing in the city, and create a strategy to develop it in a balanced way that would support the city’s long-term growth. I understand it from a representative’s standpoint, too. I actively canvassed for President Obama’s campaign in 2008. I also interned in the Washington Office of our Missouri Senator, Roy Blunt.

I know how to use data to drive better government. As part of a team from Bloomberg LP, I created a platform to analyze citizen comments about new residential development. We built new tools to make citizen concerns heard by decision-makers up in City Hall – and we did that in just a single night’s work.

I have worked inside our own government. I worked in the University City Department of Community Development after my first year of University. I’ve seen our government the same way I’ve seen our city: from the inside out. I’ve grown up with it, and in many ways outgrown it. Right now, our government isn’t equipped to provide a future for the young generation in University City.

That’s why I’m running this campaign. I know the right questions to ask. Even more important, I know how to listen. Together, we can start the conversations that will move our city forward.