I am very proud to be the former Chair of the FFDC Health and Wellness Committee. I have conducted ten months of free Yoga and other physical fitness instruction since the COVID-19 lockdown of last March. I have also posted extensively on healthy cooking and eating. I have taught “Chair Yoga” to seniors in our District through Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright’s office, and I have taught virtual Yoga classes, 5 days a week, at special sessions dedicated to our FFDC members for free. 

The FFDC Wellness Group, which I led, started a social distance walking group, and our Wellness Group members even helped create a site for Upper East Siders to discover which restaurants were operational during the pandemic. As a group, we spent money to support small business owners in our community; hosted art projects to honor front-line heroes; donated money for PPE; shared ideas for healthy cooking; and encouraged FFDC members to keep on moving even if just from one room to another. All of the foregoing done under my initiative and loving care. 

We need to incentivize developers and landlords to help the community with housing issues, and toward the revitalization of civic usefulness for the vacant spaces across the Upper East Side. As District Leader, I plan to work with our elected officials toward such initiatives, including conducting forums on Landlord/Tenant issues. As someone who has grappled with the challenges of providing educational and play spaces for young children, I feel that I have valuable experience in this area.

I will invest time in our neighborhood educational systems. We need to mentor our young people at every level, and to be good role models for them to lead productive and happy lives. My focus has been on creating and working on early childhood educational programs that focus on making a positive impact on children lives. I will work very hard to get involvement from both within and outside our immediate circle to pitch in with further initiatives of this nature.

I have been an advocate, community organizer and activist all my life. Working closely with NYS National Organization for women has taught me to fight for women’s rights be it equal pay, maternity leave, supporting women in leadership position while balancing work and career. As a mother, it is important that our Government or private sector value and respect women through equal pay, leadership roles and have zero tolerance for any type of bullying, harassment or racism in every corner of our daily lives including social media. My experience as a community coordinator with the former Comptroller John Liu helped me connect with minority organizations in the 5 boroughs (Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn) to ensure the voiceless and underrepresented are heard.

I will work closely with elected officials to find solutions for the distribution of vaccines to residents of our District, and especially for our seniors and those who are physically and medically compromised. The majority of my career has been spent on health and wellness initiatives, making me well-suited to dedicate myself to this task.