>> mr. will. mr. will. will! >> oh. daydreaming. thanks, everybody for watching! bye! [music] >> we are ready to start! happy juneteenth! happy juneteenth! for those who are standing, can you come and please sit down, so that we can get started? can we have everyone come and take a seat, so that we can get started? everyone who is standing in the back, there are plenty seats. please come forward and take a

seat. thank you.

[drums and singing]

[applause] [drums and singing]

[applause] >> put those hands together for the west african dancers and drummers! what a way to kickoff the celebration. now time for our libation.

[drums playing] >> the libation is our connection to the past and our roadmap to a better future. the purpose of libation is to remember and honor those who walked and worked before us and thus paved the path we now walk. we pour in the direction of the four winds, north, south, east and west. for africa and mother land and those known and unknown who defended our land in history. >> for ancestors who struggled

for our freedom and those who defied to [indiscernible] develop our interest as a people. we pour. >> for our elders who helped to give us wisdom, strength for fathers and mothers who-- >> please call out the name of your loved ones who have now rest in the valley of the departed. >> we pour. >> for the youth who represent the future of tomorrow, we pour. >> for men and women in the human rights struggle, we pour.

>> for a new world we struggle to build, we pour. >> for the principals as our guide and in and out in every day life, we pour. >> our all mighty creator who makes all things possible, we pour. [drums playing] [applause] >> here now to present the national anthem please welcome mikayla,

[indiscernible] and joshua carter. [applause] please let us all rise. [singing]

[single lift every voice and sing]

[applause] >> thank you. one more time for mikayla, [indiscernible] and joshua carter. [applause]

now, please give me one moment as i catch my breath. i will be your mc today and i'm here to welcome our very own, ms. felicia, you all know her. felicia jones at this time. [applause] >> thank you. thank you thank you. it is so good to see all of you here, celebrating juneteenth. juneteenth. and so- [applause] you all lood gook. the people in the back, the caterers i welcome you to juneteenth, 2024. lynn i love you and so this is what i would like to say before we bring up the mayor. i'm humbled at this particular time.

times are difficult for us . things are going every which way, but it going to go the right way, and if you believe in that, stand on your feet with your flags? stand on your feet with your flags, because it is juneteenth. it is juneteenth. juneteenth. just like we said last year, we will wave our flags up in the air and rock them to the right and to the left like we just dont care. juneteenth! juneteenth! and so i will bring up the honorable mayor breed. keep standing. do not sit down. do not sit down on my mayor. do not sit down on my mayor. and so, what i want you guys to do, i want everyone in here to show our mayor breed some love. clap it up! clap it up for my mayor!

[applause] looking good in that purple. come on up, mayor breed. yes. i want you to go up there. before you go up there, there is something that i would like to present to you on behalf of wealth dispareties in the black community and on behalf of the black community in general, because we love you. we love you and we want you to know we love you. everyone say, we love you mayor breed! say it one more time because it sounds so good. we love you mayor breed! alright. i have something for you. i would like toprint present to this identify as a memory of juneteenth from last year, and it is all of us stapding. standingism i think it is wonderful keepsake and i just want to say, love i

you girl. you my girl. [applause] alright. say amen! first of all, if you need a seat, there are seats in the front. if anybody is looking for a place to sit. welcome to san francisco city hall to kickoff juneteenth! [applause] you are going to be hearic from a number of our leaders today, but i want to take this opportunity to recognize a few leaders. you'll hear from our state attorney general rabanta. [applause] and our california state senator, scott wiener. [applause] thank you to our local elected leaders, including jose sisneros, our

district attorney, brooke jenkins, our city attorney david chui, our chair paul miyamoto, our assessor, joaquin torres. our fire chief, jeanine nicholson. our police chief, bill scott. our city administrator, carmen chui and a bunch of other department heads including dr. grant colfax, reverend brown and you name it. i appreciate the leadership of this city being here to kickoff juneteenth. it is important that we recognize this as a celebration, but also it is important that we take a step back to understand the significance of juneteenth. and, we know that this dates back to

starting in 1863 with the emancipation proclamation and people in the deep south in rural texas not finding out about the freedom that we are enjoying today until two years later, some time in june of 1865. and then in san francisco, we can look back at when we started celebratory events, all the way back to 1945 or so, and really kicking it off with a number of local night clubs originally in 1950, but walter johnson of the texas playhouse really set it up in 1964 with the first juneteenth festival and parade down fillmore street. and here's the thing, what i have always appreciated about opportunities to celebrate juneteenth is,

yes, it is celebrating freedom, but it also overcoming a lot of adversity. when we think about how far this country's history is, in terms of the oppression of black people, that's not even disant histly. that is really recent history. my grand mother worked one generation out of slavery and she actually migrated from texas to san francisco and still felt very uncomfortable interacting sometimes with people who were not african american. but she was tough and she would give you a good whooping on occasion. when i think about what people like my grand mother and others have to overcome in places like the south, and what we are experiencing here today in

san francisco, we haven't come as far as we would like to believe. now, i know that i am the first black woman to serve as mayor of san francisco. [applause] but i definitely don't want to be the last. just a couple weeks ago, some of you may have recalled or heard in the press of some very racist and sexist words were spray pointed on the front of city hall. and it made me realize in 2024, we haven't come as far as we believe we have. so, i will not apologize for

making hard decisions that include significant investments in black people in san francisco. [applause] while, a lot of people talked a good game after the death of george floyd, we actually did something about it. [applause] we with wealth and despair tease in the black community and felicia jones implemented the 272 recommendations from the obama administration department of justice to reform our police department and our chief bill scott helped to lead those efforts. [applause] and with a dream keeper initiative,

people who have opened their first business in san francisco, people who are born and raised in this city opening their first businesses providing opportunities for their program over 32 black people received half a million dollars for down payments assistance to buy their first home. [applause] and we know the work continues. and especially for all of you who have been the beneficiary of resources from the dream keeper 96ative. initiative. the dream keeper initiative is about insuring your success, knut but it also about the insuring the success of the entire community. you are a part of helping to up lift the next generation of black kids growing up in this city. [applause] because, they need us now more

then ever. and we may talk about the fact that we have a less then 5 percent african american population in this city, but that 5 percent is mighty and can move mountains. [applause] the forces have always worked against me in my life. you know what? the ancestors have always worked for me in my life. [applause] we have to remember that and take the ancestors of strength of what they have gone through and use that to lift us up and lift up our community. that is how we recognize their legacy and what they have done to get us to this point thusfar in life. [applause] and again, like harriet tubman did, put her life on the line to go back and free other people.

she was not just content with her success, she wanted to insure that others were free too. as we commemorate juneteenth, yes, we will celebrate, yes, there will be music, yes there will be fun and we will see people that we haven't seen in a long time. yes, we will uplift african americans in this city and this country, but we will also remain and remember work needs to be done to address the racial disparities and discrimination and a lot of the problems we still experience, even at a place like san francisco. [applause] so, i want to thank all of you for being here today and one of the other things i want to say before

i--introduce the next speaker, we this summer under the direction of dr. cheryl davis- [applause] and dream keeper initiative, we have brought to san francisco an opportunity to bring students from historically black colleges and universities- [applause] -who are taking classes downtown, who are staying in our communities, and who will connect with the young people in our communities. i want our children to see up close and personal what black excellence look like from these students who are joining us here this year. [applause] so, let's continue to do all we can to make sure that we are

celebrating juneteenth, but we are recognizing celebrating uplifting our community all year-round. [applause] and with that, i want to take this opportunity to introduce the next speaker. our attorney general, rob banta has been a real partner in a lot of the work that we do to address the challenges that exist in our law enforcement community. i want to especially appreciate how consistently when there are problems in this city, he is always doing everything he can to use the law as a tool for good and in fact, we have been working together to address a number of the challenges related to hate crimes in this state. he formed a committee to really insure that people are held accountable and brought to justice and earlier today, we were at self-help for the

elderly, talking about elder abuse, and how elder abuse of our seniors is on the rise and we have services and support to protect our most vulnerable, our senior community. i appreciate the work he's done. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, attorney general, rob bonta! [applause] >> give it up one more time to mayor breed! >> thank you for the very kind generous introduction mayor breed. i'm honored and grateful for the opportunity to be here to celebrate the kickoff of juneteenth with all of you. i want to say first, greetings from both me and assembly member mia bonta, sometimes known as the better

bonta. we send our best as you kickoff the celebration in san francisco and of course we are commemorating the emancipation of enslaved black americans in the united states of america. a time we take the time to honor the legacy of those who fought for freedom and celebrate the significant sacrifices and achievements and contributions of black americans to our great country. we also recommit to forging a new unified future, a future that doesn't ignore the past, because we must acknowledge the sins of the past, the wrongs and ingests of the past but isn't-voting disenfranchisement.

america fulfills its promise to all and juneteenth and about acknowledging that and acknowledging while we made great strides, we can't afford to be complacent and for granted the hard fought gains and as the mayor just stated, we have more road to travel on that road to progress. there is more to do. it is important in my humble opinion to be impatient for the change we need. we need to demand it. we need to be intolerant for ingests of injustice and make sure we pursue in place jz spaces and also must remind ourselves, we all have a role to play. we have agency, we have power, we have potency, the ability to create the change, the society the state the nation we deserve. that we want.

and, we must be cognisant of the challenges and threats that we see all around us when we see rampant efforts to erase black history from school curriculum whether through book bans. hate crimes against the black community at very high level as they continue to be remain a ongoing threat. and doj, we are committed to this important work of protecting and advancing civil rights and freedom and democracy. we launch-thank you [applause] we in my first weeks in office we launched the racial justice bureau to call out systemic racial

injusts in california. to work with and for the community throughout california. active with civil rights making sure our california constitutional and civil rights are honored and make sure the rights are vindicated. we are supporting the work of the california reparations task force. [applause] that has acknowledged the original sin that remains a stain on our country history of slavery and taking steps to create more justice and more opportunity and more healing. we will continue to fight against racial bias in housing and healthcare in policing. make sure our schools teach inclusive curriculum that reflects the states beautiful diversity. combat attacks on diversity programs

that provide equitable access to education and economic growth and disrupt the school to drop out track by protecting students from discriminatory discipline practice and excessive school removal and that a small sampling of had work we are doing and the work that needs to get done ask the work we can only do if we do it together. i am very proud that i have the opportunity to serve as california attorney general and i have a role to provide more to californian and americans and also proud my father, marched and organized in the civil rights movement and as a call to action when his friend sent cassette tapes across the country with the voice of martin luther king, jr.-he went

to selma alabama and [indiscernible] when martin luther king, jr. appeared for a unannounced sermon. we all have a role to play, and we can look forward with anxiety and worry and fear about our future, or we can look forward with optimism and hope. and i have optimism and hope that we with accomplish anything if we do to together, if we fight for each other and love each other and have each other's back. happy juneteenth. i'm honored to stand by you and fight by your side. [applause] it is my great pleasure to introduce the person who is going to introduce the next speaker. [laughter] >> thank you attorney general

bonta. welcome director cheryl davis to the podium. [applause] >> i love having the chief in the audience, because will always make me feel really special. thank you all for being here this afternoon. give a round another for ms. felicia jonesism [applause] i have the great honor to be able to introduce the next speaker. i want to first also give a shout out to dr. [indiscernible] who is supporting this work. [applause] the mayor mentioned we will be launching the hbcu satellight pilot next week and think we have some of the student here today. could you stand up for us please? [applause]

so, i have as many may know, i said this before, i'm a woman of faith and grateful because god allowed me to do work that gives me such joy and pleasure and he's allowed me to work with the amazing london nicole breed, and supervisor shamann walton. [applause] i know both of them from before they were elected. i had the great pleasure to work for years with mayor breed and community and did a lot of work with supervisor walton and the one thing i always say to folks what i know and believe with my whole heart, politics aside, they both went into this work to be what they needed in the city growing up here.

and so, when you get to these places and folks challenge and want to talk about what somebody is doing or not doing, let's be very clear, they are doing for black people and for everybody in the city is and county of san francisco what should have been done when they were children. [applause] so, i am just grateful because, they have both entrusted me to do such great work, and when we think about it and when we look back i want everybody to understand and trust and believe that you will never have stronger leaders in the name of city and county of san francisco because they know investment in the black community is investment in san francisco. [applause] and so, it brings me tremendous pleasure to be able to do this work every day and to also be able to recognize and acknowledge them boket and with that, i like to invite up

supervisor shamann walton to the stage. [applause] >> good afternoon! happy juneteenth everybody! i want to say this at attorney general banta's face, but he since left, but i didn't know he was supposed to be giving a keynote today. but i do want to thank attorney general bonta for his work. when i was fighting and working with a lot of you to form the carinates in san francisco he also-yes. he also put legislation together when he was in the state assembly to make sure these arbitrary 911 calls that were happening to black people for doing every day activities did not happen at the state level so he put that in into law at the state to protect black folks as well. [applause] i apologize for being late, but

i am actually right now as we speak in two places at one time, because we are in the middle of budget, but i do want to say a couple things this afternoon. i will be brief. the first thing is, we have a lot of amazing events happening this weekend here in san francisco. i want to make sure that everyone in this room takes the time to support all of those events. a lot of people fought hard to make sure that these events were able to happen so we could commemorate what happened in 1865 in texas when folks finally found out that they were actually free and so i want to make sure everyone takes advant age of the events and opportunities we have here in san francisco. second, if you are black and in leadership, please stand. any black person in leadership, please stand. [applause]

some people took their time to stand up and i know we have a few more leaders in here, but i want to make sure that our black leaders are acknowledged and given the props they deserve for the hard work they do every single day. san francisco is not kind to black people right now, and so the work all you do, the fight that you have for our community, i just want to say thank you and acknowledge you for that right here in front of everybody publicly. [applause] i want to thank felicia of course for her leadership and making sure this event continues to happen. thank you so much. [applause] and i don't know if this is done yet,

but i want to send a special shouts out to dr. cheryl davis for all her work she does on a daily basis. [applause] i know we say this all the time, but we really do entrust director davis with a lot of work. everything we do in the city that is around improving the lives and opportunities for black people, most certainly we push through the human rights commission and she has been a staunch leader making sure what we put in play leads to success on the ground for communities, so gone, thank you so much, dr. davis. [applause] >> the last thing i will say and mayor touched on is historically black college university internship program we have this summer. i had the privilege and honor attending morris brown college in atlanta georgia, and that experience truly

changed my life and gave me everything i needed to be able to stand before you today. my hope and my goal is to make sure that our young people in san francisco has the same opportunity that i and so many others had, but do not have to go thousands of miles away to receive that opportunity. thank you and happy juneteenth. >> thank you, one more time for supervisor shamann walton. now let's welcome, please chief, william scott. [applause] >> good afternoon everybody. and happy juneteenth. i will do two things. i want to say a few words. three things and thank a few people in the room and say a little about juneteenth and then i have an

award for ms. felicia jones. give her a round of applause. [applause] i will call you up in a second. so, juneteenth, it has been said by our mayor and attorney general, 1865, june 19, 1865, people in texas african american people in texas finally found out that they were free. problem was they had been free for two years. how does that happen? it happens when you don't have a voice and at the mercy of others to have a voice. we are in a different place now, because we all have a voice and let me tell you, we have to use that voice. now, there are many people in this room who don't have any problem

speaking truth to power. reverend brown, you know what i'm talking about. felicia jones, you know what i'm talking about. [indiscernible] you know what i'm talking about and i can go on and on and on. here's the point, i will tie this back to felicia, my introduction to felicia was on january 23, 2017. my first day as the police chief here in the city. as i get sworn in, right there in that city hall rotunda, i heard this voice in the balcony screaming about, freedom and screaming about equality and justice and i'm like who is this lady? that lady was felicia jones. [applause] now, i think it was about a week later, ms. jones and were in my office talking about those issues and she is not shy speaking up for freedom

and equality and justice, speaking up against police brutality and speaking up to make sure this department fulfill the promise we promise the city we complete 272 reform recommendations. she has not been shy and there are many others in the room that have spoken up. i want to thank you all, because thalths that's what we need. it isn't just about a good time agreeing, it is about people standing up and speaking up when it is time to stand up and speak up. so, that is what leadership is about, and let me tell you, there are many people in this room, including our mayor, who have done that since the day i met them, and felicia, ms. jones as i call her, you deserve a round of applause for always speaking up.

[applause] so, for particularly the young people in the room and students, hbcu student, i hope your time here in san francisco is life-changing, because you will have the opportunity to meet some amazing people in leadership positions and amazing people many of us didn't have access to when we were your age. take advantage of it. use your voice, because we expect that will be in these position s in the very near future. we are here for you, we have people that will role model for you and we want to make sure we never ever again in this country go 2 years or any amount of period without people understanding they are free and they have equality and justice. [applause] so, ms. jones, if you come

come up and i'll come down to you to give you your certificate. come up front and center. [applause] so, this is a certificate of honor presented to ms. felicia jones, april 12, which is when we had the celebration but late getting your certificate. 2024. it reads, whereas, on behalf of city and county of san francisco, i'm pleased to recognize and honor felicia jones for your work on the collaborative reform initiatives. your steadfast dedication and working with the san francisco police department to help build trust by implementing the collaborative reform initiative and setting new burnmarks reducing use of force and officer involved shooting accountability for police is inspiring. furthermore, your unwavering commitment and creating a fair safer and more just society for san francisco has left a positive lasting impact for years to come. under your leadership, your

dedication to addressing racial and social inequity and promost justice truly represents our city's values at its best. therefore, i set my hand on the city and county of san francisco to be affixed, signed, mayor london breed. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> i just want to say a few words and the work that we have done with san

francisco police department took seven years to complete. that seven years of being upheld and having mayor breed know that this work was important after mayor lee passed away, and made a promise that we would do this work. i want to say thank you to wealth and disparities in the black community, because i couldn't have done it all by myself without you. tom brown, i know you are in. stand up, tom. i don't know who else from wealth and disparities is here. lynn, who helped me all throughout-thank you. i will leave you with this, don't come for me unless i send for you. [applause] don't come for me, unless i send for you.

and then i am going to say, i'm not new to this! i am true to this! fighting for my people. [applause] thank you so much. thank you again mayor breed. thank you chief scott. thank you everyone. thank you black people! >> beautiful. come on, one more time for chief scott and ms. felicia jones. [applause] here now, let us welcome, senator scott wiener. [applause] >> good afternoon! amazing to go after felicia jones. congratulations and thank you for everything you do. let's hear it for felicia again. [applause]

i'm honored to be here today with this community and also want to thank mayor breed from the bottom of my heart. i have known the mayor many years and we work hand and glove every day for this community. that is state, city partnership is so critical and are the mayor pours her life into this city and into the loving the city, so madam mayor, thank you for everything that you do. [applause] so, as some of you may know, this year i was appointed to be the chair of the senate budget committee and i have great timing. i was named budget change in time for a massive budget deficit. a lot of fun to enter under those circumstances. at first i was like wow, this isn't going to be fun. it is always great when you have money to invest in things and to do new things, and to come in during a

deficit isn't the most uplifting thing, but then i realized that it was actually quite uplifting because when you are in tough times that is when your values really come out. what are the priorities-who are the communities that you are going to go to the mat to protect? and i just want to tell you, we worked so hard in the legislature and passed our budget yesterday and we were able to protect and restore services for some of our most vulnerable communities for our seniors who are home-bound, for our foster kids and at risk youth, for folks who need healthcare, and i am so proud of the work that we were able to do in the capital to say that even during hard times we are never going to protect-never going to forget what this community is about and the need

to lift everyone up. i will also say that we helped save some of those critical services by taking some money from our prison system to help do that, and in the state of california, in the state of california over the last 10, 15 years our prison population went down by 40 percent because we finally moved away from the year of mass incarceration. but during that time period it was going down, the budget went up by 60 percent, so we are working hard and we need to all work hard as a community to manifest our values and we are doing that and i'm so grateful for so many people in the room who are working so hard and particularly during a period of the attorney general talked about, when we have forces in this country that want us to forget about

the past. that want to white wash everything. pretend everything was okay. everything was not always okay for a lot of people in this country and many things are still not okay for many in this country, so we want to make sure that our kids know about actual history. the history of our african american community. the history of our lgbtq community of our immigrant communities, everything. the good and beautiful, and the not so beautiful and we will fight so hard to make sure that those forces don't win and we will do it and have a better future. thank you everyone. [applause] happy juneteenth! >> please welcome this dynamic father daughter duo, michael and mikayla

cheato. [applause] >> thank you so much for having us. [music playing]

[singing mercy mercy me]

[applause] >> i will step aside and let me daughter mikayla--give another round of applause. [applause] [singing]

[singing song, golden]

>> one more time for michael and mikayla! one more time.

[singing] >> wow. come on, show your love for this band. top of the mark. alright. now, at this time, please let us welcome a dance from eric. [applause] [music and singing]

[applause] [singing] [applause]

[singing and music]

>> one more time for mr. eric lee with that wonderful dance. now, we are getting ready to go a little higher.

look at your neighbor and say, a little bit higher. at this time, i like to welcome ms. ramona massey to present the juneteenth court. >> alright. good afternoon. happy juneteenth and i just want to say right now, after that performance, everybody here needs to be shouting. that was amazing! amazing, amazing. i will hurry up. i have the privilege and honor of introducing to you, san francisco, mr. and mrs. juneteenth in court, 2024. before you meet them, let's give them a round of applause. [applause] alright. so, this is an age group from 3 to 17, and they are being groomed for excellence. as mayor breed said, she does

not want to be the last so this is our futureism as i introduce them, keep in mind there were others but they are representing the finalists. for third place, i have ziri. give them a round of applause! [applause] second place, i have dylan knight. and third place-or mr. juneteenth is davan knight. let's give them a round of applause. zire is 7, dylan is 8 and davan is 9. we have third place amia whitley, 9 years old. second place, kaley williams,

age 7. ms. juneteenth is [indiscernible] age 11. let's give them all a round of applause. that is dry. this is our future. give them a round of applause! [applause] this is our future. alright. amen. >> hi, everybody. thank you for coming here and watching me be mr. juneteenth. [applause] and watch out for me in the future. [laughter] >> thank you. >> alright.

give it up for this year's juneteenth court. give it up! [applause] wow, look at our future right here. how amazing. congratulations. alright. now, let us take a moment and get ready for our special guest, so some of you may know this man from a group named black streets. you might also know him on his own, chicago 85. please join me and put your hands together for mr. dave hollister. [applause] >> we are going to sing a few

ditties to you all. if you are all ready, come on say, yeah, i'm ready! [singing and music]

>> i got a question, can i take y'all back to 1994? i can't hear y'all. can i take you all back to 1994? if you know this i want you to help sing the song.

[singing and music]

>> thank you all. [applause] photography >> one more time for mr. dave hollister. [applause] listen, i want to thank you for having me out. these guys over here have been all over the world with me, and i thank god for them. they get to chill today. you all get to chill today. he's one of the greatest vocalists i know. you all give it up one more

time for my little brother, josh. [applause] mikayla is over here on the side, so they just chillin today. this is a great occasion and thank you all for doing this. i want to leave y'all with this one last song, is that alright? this one last one, is that alright? let's go. [single and music]

[singing and dancing] i love you all, god bless you. have a good evening.

take the lord everywhere you go. i bless you. how about one more time for mr. dave hollister! [music] we not done yet. we not done yet. alright. are you guys enjoying the program, thus far? let's give a round of applause for the performers thus far. next up we do have a youth dance performance from heat dance line. heat dance line in the building! alright. immediately following heat dance line, will be sf [indiscernible] show your love for heat dance line.

[singing song, i'm every woman]

[singing song, sweet dreams by beyonce]

>> one more time for heat dance line! [applause] fantastic. now, let us welcome, sf-to the stage. thank you. [applause] >> happy juneteenth, happy juneteenth! we are the san francisco bay area theater company. we got one song for you today in honor of juneteenth we are performing

our show at the historical grace cathedral space, so please come check us out this weekend only. without further ado-- [singing song, in daddy's arms

i am tall]

[applause] >> thank you all so much. check us out. happy juneteenth? ! >> happy juneteenth indeed. one more time for sf--well, i really hope you all have enjoyed the day's events. to close us out, please welcome back to the stage, back to the podium, the one that put this all together, please give around of a uz applause to ms. felicia jones. >> alright, we are getting

ready to get ready-i know you guys are hungry. i know you guys are looking over there at all the good food. right. ? we are getting ready to close out. tonia williams, stand up, girl. tonia williams. yes. this is my sister tonia, and i want to just say again, thank you all for coming. you guys put me to the test last year and you guys told me i had to beat last year and was all under pressure trying-what am i going to do, what am i going to do, what am i going to do, but we did it and we are closing out like this! come on! come on!

[singing and music]

[upbeat singing and music]

>> i think a lot of times we get in adult lives we are afraid to follow our passions and think life can't be that easy. but i truly do believe i followed my heart this time in my journal in city government i did not know that is where my passion lied. i kept following it and ltd. to great opportunity to serve the city. [music] >> i'm katy tang the executive director of the office of small business. >> small business contributes to san francisco's economy. they provide the bulk of employment in the city and employing a million people in

san francisco. and roughly 90% of the businesses are defined as small businesses. so, they contribute to the economy but also just the quality of life. small businesses are more then and there a place of transaction it is a community center. a play where people gather. know each other and form memories about the city. >> at the office of mall business i run a team this helps report all mall businesses in san francisco whether they are looking to stfrt a new business or expand or perhaps they are feeling with issues. our office is here as a point of information for anyone with a business that has 100 or nower employees. >> i was growing up i had many ideas of when i wanted to do. i wanted to being an olympic swimmer. and i wanted to men be an architect, you name it i had

many ideas for what i wanted do when i grew up. and i never anticipated entering in politics. this opportunity came along wh started working for former supervisor carmen chu and she became the district 4 sunset district supervisor. that was my firstent row in politics and government in a different level. and so when i was finishing up my time working for legislative aid i thought, i will go off and do something else. may be explore opportunity outside of city government what was then approached by this opportunity to also serve as a district 4 supervisor. if not the traditional route that many people think of when you enter in politics. a lot know that is manage than i want to do and run for office. that was not part of my culture

and upbringing with manage my parents were wondering why i wanted to go in that role this legislation and important because so many women when have it return to work after having a child feel embarrassed or don't feel comfortable asking their supervisor for will any lactation accommodations. i saw it as an opportunity you could use the position where you have tools creating legislation and pass laws and where people listen to to you help the community and pass cause catharsis important to the city and individuals. my family immigrated to the united states from taiwan. and they came here in pronl probably late 20's almost 30. and so, they came also in the knowing english limp barely read or write but had to quickly

understand english to i can't haveigate services and find a job in america. i grew up in the san francisco sunset district i spent most of my childed hoo up until i went off to college. so when i started working in city government, i think i had mixed reactions about my involvement working government because for some of our parents generation, there is i bit of distrust in government. i think there are questions about why i was entering in this field of work. i think you know when i went in city government i thought about my parents like so many other who is have to navigate city services and resources english first language and help the individuals both navigate, intercept that is on an application approximate signage. it is fulfilling to mow to help people like my parent and feel

like government is there to support them and not to harm them. my parents are happy that i retired early from politics and being a district 4 supervisor i could have continued on for a couple more years approximate decided to leave early. i think that over all they were able to see some of my work appear in the chinese newspaper. through that they were able to see i was able to help communities in a tangible way. >> the member of the board of supervisors. >> transportation authority. for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. >> i think about one importance when i was worn in as district 4 supervisor. years ago, and someone actually came up to me during the swear nothing ceremony and said, wow, i'm traveling here from canada, and i just i could not believe i saw an asian female worn in in this role a leadership role this

meant so much that someone would say that and felt they were inspired by the scene. so -- i hope that as more people see people that look like them and more women coming in positions of leadership than i feel they can doing the same. person this inpyred me is carmen chu who is our city add administrator but also was district 4 supervisor when i worked with her as a legislative aid. at this point, i too, was skeptical of going in politics. i saw someone who had herself never seen herself in politics. got thrown into it and put her heart and soul and dedication to serve people. and it gave me the confidence to pursue that same job and i honestly would not have either chosen or accepted or considered serving on the board of

supervisors were not for carmen. >> if you want to make your business accessible. >> in my role in city government where i have seen the most challenge is people who don't know you and you are here to serve and help them that they classify you as our city government and here to hurt you. so, people will talk to you and -- and just you know treat you disrespectfully. and sometimes i noticed that they might do more to me as a female compared to my male colleagues. but you know i try to be empathetic. one of the most significant barriers to female empowerment we feel like we have to be 100% meeting all of the qualifications before we think that we are qualified to do a job. if we look at a job description or an opportunity to come your way well is self doubt about whether you can fulfill the

obligations of that role. i think that the confidence is huge and sometimes i think we make up for it by trying to gain more experience. more and more and more in whatever we can put under our belts we'll feel better. that may not be the case. we might be qualified with when we have already accomplished. i started rock climbing indoors a couple years ago as an activity to try to spends time with my husband and also to try something new and i finds that rock climbing there are so many parallels to life. you know when i'm on the wall i'm concentrating and trying to make it to the next piece without falling. there are daying you think i'm not making progress. you come back and wow, i hit another level.

and so i feel like in our daily lives and w we think we are not making enough of i change in the city. and sometimes we have to take out time to reflect every day as long as you try and give it your all and you look back you will have made a significant contribution there is no limit to where you go in terms of rock climbing. i want to reminds myself of that in terms of daily life. >> follow what it is you are interested in, what makes you feel excited about wake up every day. you never know and be open to all the possibilities and opportunity. [music]

>> come shop dine and play. taraval street is open for business. >> this is joey smith at barber lounge. one of the coowners at 19th and taraval and sunset. this establishment came about when me and my brother andy, coowner barber decided to it was time to take a step up in the barber industry. our business is community that shows their true artistic side of the barber indust rae. we are involved in taraval bingo so please stop by, get a haircut and when you do you get the barber sticker made for us. i say in three words, we are community, artsests and here to

help. visit at barber louvl, 901 taraval and find on-[indiscernible] >> a new community game supporting small businesses, anyone can participate, it is easy, collect stickers on a gameboard and enter raffle event for a chance to win awesome prizes. for more,