In 2004, I left my job as an environmental consultant to help my husband run his small business - a computer service provider and installer. This decision not only helped us launch and stabilize a family business but it gave me the ability to work from home part-time and still be available to my child after school and during summers. Not all working parents have the ability and flexibility that running a small business afforded me. I have been managing the operations of this business ever since, wearing many hats: HR department, accounting, billing, order processing, you name it. I know too well how hard small business owners work. They rarely get time off, are always on call, and their main mode is “hustle”.

This experience has informed two priorities as I seek election - the need for family-friendly policies for workers and the need to support small businesses, not only through the start-up stages, but through the ups and downs, including the impacts of Covid. Small businesses are vital to our communities and local economy; and there are many ways that the General Assembly can support the growth of this sector.