ABOUT ME

Throughout my life, 

I've faced adversity head-on, 

Overcoming personal 

and professional challenges.

 

Between ages 3 1/2-5 years old 

my mother’s life

was threatened by a

postpartum depression.

that has had a deeply lasting effect 

I shall describe

in housing initiatives 

I propose for

diverse needs. 

 

I built a successful career 

in tourism 

that led me to work 

at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

But following 9/11, 

I took life in another turn, 

and

at 40 years of age I earned 

my Registered Nursing degree 

from City College of San Francisco, 

proving that

determination 

beats stamina 

and resilience

of our youth, 

when it serves a higher purpose. 

 

As a teen, 

I painted houses 

and worked on tomato harvesters 

in Sacramento’s sweltering heat. 

 

After high school, 

I studied in

Belgium, 

on a Rotary International

scholarship

then returned to

work during college 

as a

nursing assistant, 

caring for cancer and AIDS patients 

amidst

the darkest days 

of the 1980s and ’90s. 

 

I was 21

when I lost my mother 

to cancer while working 

at the same hospital. 

 

It was a time of sacrifice 

and hardship, 

working 60-hour weeks 

through the summers and holidays, 

abruptly paying

my last two years of university, 

both injuring my spine 

and defunding my life-long 

planned study in medicine. 

 

Temp agencies downtown 

offered amazing views 

with no benefits, 

pay or health insurance, 

leading me blindly 

to incredible success, 

rewarding exhaustion, 

and

mentally engaging challenges 

as a

multi-lingual tourism director.

  

I led

complex 21-day 

foreign language tours 

Across North America, 

managing logistics 

and

balancing the diverse needs 

of people from all over the world,

16 hours a day, 

three non-stop weeks

In a row. 

​

WHY RUN FOR MAYOR ?

 

These experiences

—whether

caring for the sick 

or

managing the unexpected 

challenges of group travel—

shaped my

ability to lead, 

plan, adapt, and empathize.

 

For

decades, 

I’ve also

worked closely 

with

individuals facing addiction, 

homelessness, 

and

mental health crises

—not for public recognition --

but because

it was 

simply the right thing to do.

​

Now, 

I’m deeply concerned 

about San Francisco’s future. 

Fentanyl deaths 

and crime-fueled misery 

make our streets unsafe, 

and there’s a

lack of meaningful plans 

to

lift people out of poverty, 

or

housing the elderly, 

or

care for and educate our children.

 

We spend

$2 billion 

more than Los Angeles

—a city five times our size—

and yet

homelessness 

remains persistent. 

 

Heads of city-funded nonprofits 

And appointees are imprisoned 

for misusing public money, 

while people sleep on the streets,

and

business remains stagnant 

as the rest of our nation 

has rebounded and rebuilding. 

 

We’re being told 

there’s

reform coming 

in the fifth year 

of a four-year term, 

but that’s

not reform,

any more than is 

electing

any of five candidates, 

--All with the same thing to say--

yet few concrete proposals;

​

Or

re-writing un-enforced laws, 

waiting to go to Washington.

But After the Inauguration. 

 

We need real, 

specific plans, 

not more spending 

without results. 

 

We spend $14 billion 

on

budgets

with 

little to show for it,

except mounting debt. 

 

Crypto-fundraising

may win

elections, 

but it

won’t solve

 

our city’s problems. 

 

Self-funding

campaigns 

may

lead

in two years 

to the governor’s

office, 

two years

into a four-year

mayoral term, 

To an Office

for which

one’s spouse

already works 

with our

Past Mayor, 

Who left

less-prematurely. 

 

Vote for the future,

Rather than the past, 

The wealthy,

or the

recycled promises 

of

meaningless debates. 

 

Respect the neighborhoods, 

building housing where it’s needed, 

and not where it’s not. 

 

Foundational Reform: Vote for it!

 

Jon Soderstrom for Mayor. 

 

ALCALDE

​

Thank you!