I currently live in beautiful West Side Laramie. My husband and I bought our home here in 2018 but I have lived in Laramie since 2014. I was born in Pueblo, Colorado.

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I grew up poor, sometimes on public assistance. In 2005, like so many other families, we lost our home to foreclosure. A year later a fire burned my grandmother's house down, my second home. With two permanently disabled parents who did everything they could to provide but weren’t able to get ahead, I knew that the deck was stacked against me. At 16 I left home and school.

Through hard work, piles of student debt, and the grace of those who believed in me, I beat the odds, went to college, and earned my Ph.D. at the University of Wyoming.

My obsession with justice has driven my research on the psychology of the American legal system and guided my advocacy efforts in my community. In 2018, I co-founded Albany County for Proper Policing, which worked diligently towards transparency and accountability of local law enforcement – work that I have taken to the legislature on behalf of my community.

While my role as a legislator is to bring legislation to solve Wyoming problems, I can’t do that work well without imput from my community and the people most impacted by Wyoming’s toughest struggles. During my time in the legislature, I have sought the input of the people who are directly impacted by the policies we propose or laws that aren’t working. In my work towards transparency and accountability of our justice system, I have worked alongside my community and spoke with youth who have been incarcerated in our state facilities. Now, as I work to find housing solutions for the people of Wyoming, I have been meeting with mobile home tenants and renters so I can better understand the issues that have most impacted them. Too often, lawmakers are focused on inviting stakeholders, but I believe we can’t bring real solutions without our impacted communities, so I have worked to include them in the work of state government.

It is ironic that legislators complain of federal overreach and then micromanage our local governments to suit their political agendas. It is important to consider what local elected officials can and cannot do when we make decisions that impact the entire state. If a locally elected school board can make policies that better reflect their community, then it isn’t necessarily appropriate for legislators to dictate how they do their job. On the other hand, if a problem is presented that doesn’t fall under the powers of a county commission or city council, then it may be appropriate for the legislature to weigh in, assuming the solution proposed fits under the Wyoming State Constitution. It's also important to consider how the legislature has tied the hands of local officials by restricting how they can raise funds to pay for local services. If the legislature is not willing to expand revenue options for towns and counties, then we should support local efforts through the state budget.

The state legislature should stop focusing its time on national rhetoric and problems that don’t exist and dedicate its time to these critical problems. Each of these issues are connected, so working towards solutions for one will benefit the others. We need to support affordable housing solutions for hard working young people so they can afford to raise their families here and benefit from our incredible public education system. We must focus on healthcare affordability and access so businesses have a healthy workforce. We must support our public education system so our children are setup to succeed in their personal and professional lives. And, we must support our small businesses and local economies so they can continue to provide jobs in our communities so our young people can afford to stay here.

I am willing to compromise with my colleagues and other officials so long as that compromise does not harm the people of my community or the state of Wyoming, and that compromise brings us closer to solutions for today and future generations. As a member of the minority party, I often do not get what I want in a supermajority state government, but I know that making progress towards a brighter future is far better than no improvement at all.

Wyoming’s heritage is our wildlife and wide-open spaces and it’s important we preserve it for future generations. That means we need a diverse energy sector that doesn’t contribute to climate change but is also regulated in a way so it does not get in the way of migration and critical habitat. While renewable energy sectors can help us move away from our reliance on the fossil fuel industry, we can’t mindlessly move in that direction, and we should still weigh the costs and benefits using the best science available.

Above all, Wyoming must look towards a more diverse economy, revenue structure, and jobs that support our hard-working Wyoming communities while also preserving our wildlife and natural spaces for future generations.