country, i feel like there's a lot of pressure, but working through my own challenges and barriers and even my own self-doubt, i think i've been try to remember that the action is about helping our community, whether that's making sure the community is housed, making sure they have access to health care, and using kind of my access and privilege to make change. >> i would like to say something about clair farley. she has really inspired me. i was a nurse and became disabled. before i transitioned and after i transitioned, i didn't know what i wanted to do. i'm back at college, and clair farley has really impressed on me to have a voice and to have agency, you have to have an education. >> mayor breed has led this effort. she made a $2.3 million investment into trans homes, and she spear headed this

effort in partnership with my office and tony, and we're so proud to have a mayor who continues to commit and really make sure that everyone in this city can thrive. >> our community has the most resources, and i'm very happy to be here and to have a place finally to call home. thank you. [applause] >> one, two, three. [applause] >> even in those moments when i do feel kind of alone or unseen or doubt myself, i take a look at the community and the power of the supportive allies that are at the table that really help me to push past that. being yourself, it's the word of wisdom i would give anyone. surely be patient with yourself and your dream.

knowing that love, you may not always feel that from your family around you, but you can

>> as a woman of color who grew up in san francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. i think having my voice was important. that is where my passion lies when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came up. i couldn't turn it down. i was with the district attorney's office for a little over nine years, if you include the time as an intern as well as volunteer da, all most 13 years. during the time with the da's office i had an opportunity to serve the community not only as

the assistant district attorney but as director of community relations. that afforded the opportunity to have impact on the community in an immediate way. it is one thing to work to serve the rights of those without rights, victims. it is really rewarding to work to to further the goals of our office and the commitment we have as city employees and advocates for people who don't have a voice. i don't know of anyone surprised to see me in this role. maybe people have an impression what the director of the office of cannabis should be like, what their beliefs should be. i smash all of that. you grew up in the inner city of san francisco. my career path is not traditional. i don't think a person should limit themselves to reach full potential. i say that to young women and girls. that is important. you want to see leadership that

looks diverse because your path is not predetermined. i didn't wake up thinking i was going to be a prosecutor in my life. the city administrator reached out and wanted to have a conversation and gave me interest in the new role. i thought you must not know what i do for a living. it was the opposite. she had foresight in realizing it would be helpful for somebody not only a former prosecutor but interested in shaping criminal justice reform for the city would be the right person for the space. i appreciate the foresight of the mayor to be open how we can be leaders in san francisco. i was able to transition to the policy space. here i was able to work on legislation, community relations, communication and start to shape the ways our office was going to reform the criminal justice system. it is fulfilling for me. i could create programs and see

those impact people's lives. i am the change. it took truants youth to meet with civil rights movement leaders who fought to have access to education. being a young person to understand that helped the young people realize this was an important thing to give up. what we find is that young people who are truanted have a really high homicide rate in our city, which is a sad statistic. we want to change that. >> coming from a community we are black and brown. i don't reach out to other people. i don't think they feel the same way. >> i had the great opportunity to work on prison reform issues and criminal justice reform issues. we created a program at san quentin where we brought district opportunities to lifers

and talk about how we are all impacted by the criminal justice system. we brought over 40 elected das to san quentin for the situation. now we are inviting the police department. our formerly incarcerated group born out of this programming asked for the opportunity to work on a project where we could bring the men in blue on the outside to come speak to the men on blue inside to start the healing dialogue around how the criminal justice system specifically in san francisco impacts the community. i was attracted to the role. there was a component of equity that was part of this process. the equity community here in san francisco is a community that i had already worked with. before i took steps to visit cannabis businesses i thought it was important my team have a chance to go inside and speak to men who had been impacted.

that conversation needed to happen so we know how we are making an impact with the work that we are doing. the da's office as we were leading up to the legalization of marijuana in the state we started having conversations on the policy team what that could look like. the district attorney was really focused on the right side of history for this. we realized it would be quite a heavy lift for individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs to expunge the record. it was important to figure out the framework to make it seamless and easy. they put their minds to it after some time and many conversations the data analysts and other policy walk throughs on the team came up with the idea to engage the tech community in this process.

code for america helped us developed the rhythm to be used for any jurisdiction across the state that was important to create a solution to be used to assist all jurisdictions dealing with this matter. the office of cannabis is the first office to have a completely digital application process. we worked with the digital team to develop the online application. there are going to be hiccups. we are first to do it. it is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless -- to offer a seamless approach. that is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. the best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for san francisco. it feels like justice full circle for my personal experience.

in the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. really coming from a place of public safety. that was the mandate and understanding. it is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you know what? we got it wrong. let's get this right. i had the privilege of being in the existing framework. my predecessor nicole elliott did an incredible job bringing together the individuals super-passionate about cannabis. >> the office was created in july of 2017. i came in early 2018. i have been able to see the office's development over time which is nice. it is exciting to be in the space, stickily in thinking about her leadership. >> looking for the office it is always we might be before my time when i was working for the

forboard of supervisors. i learn new things every day it is challenging and rewarding for me. >> we get the privilege to work in an office that is innovating. we get to spearhead the robust exprogram. >> i am excited she came on board to leverage experience as a prosecutor 10 years as we contemplate enforcements but approaching it without replicating the war on drugs. >> i was hired by cam laharris. i haven't seen a district attorney that looked kind of like me. that could be a path in my life. i might not have considered it. it is important that women and certainly women of color and spaces of leadership really do their part to bring on and

mentor as many young people as they can. it is superimportant to take advantage of as many opportunities as they can when they can intern because the doors are wide open. plans change and that is okay. the way this was shaped because i took a risk to try something new and explore something and show that i was capable. you are capable, right? it was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. you find your passion, the sky

>> my name is andrea, i work as a coordinator for the city attorney's office in san francisco. a lot of it is working with the public and trying to address their public records request and trying to get the information for their office. i double majored in political science and always tried to combine both of those majors. i ended up doing a combination of doing a lot of communication for government. i thought it would connect both

of my studies and what was i was interested in and show case some of the work that government is doing. >> i work for the transportation agency known as muni and i'm a senior work supervisor. >> i first started as a non-profit and came to san francisco and started to work and i realized i needed to work with people. this opportunity came up by way of an executive fellowship. they had a program at mta to work in workforce development type project and i definitely jumped on that. i didn't know this was something that i wanted to do. all i knew is that i wanted to help people and i wanted to empower others. >> the environment that i grew up that a lot of women were just stay-at-home

moms. it wasn't that they didn't have work, but it was cheaper to stay home and watch the kids instead of paying pricey day care centers. >> my mom came from el salvador during the civil war. she worked very hard. when she came here and limited in english, she had to do a service job. when i was born and she had other kids, it was difficult for her to work because it was more expensive for her to be able to continue to work in a job that didn't pay well instead of staying at home and being able to take care of us. >> there isn't much support or advocacy for black women to come in and help them do their jobs. there also aren't very many role models and it can be

very intimidating and sometimes you feel uncomfortable and unsure of yourself and those are the reasons exactly why you need to do it. when i first had the opportunity, i thought that's not for me. my previous role was a project manager for a biotech start up. i thought how do i go from technology to working in government. thinking i didn't know about my skills, how am i going to fit in and doing that kind of work. thinking you have to know everything is not what people expect have you, but they expect you to ask questions when you don't know and that's important. >> my mom was diagnosed with cancer. that was really difficult. she encouraged me to go to school because in case anything happened i would be able to protect myself. i wanted to be in oncology. i thought going to school it

would set me for the trajectory and prepare me for my life. >> we need the hardships to some of the things that are going to ultimately be your strength in the future. there is no way to map that out and no way to tell those things. you have to do things on your own and you have to experience and figure out life. >> you don't have to know what you are going to do for the rest of your life when you are in college or high school because there are so many things to do. i would encourage you to try to do everything that you are remotely interested. it's the best time to do it. being a young woman with so many opportunities, just go for it and try everything.

there's so much involved with becoming a firefighter. and as a component of being a woman in the field, it takes a lot of perception. it takes belief in yourself. it takes asking the right questions of people who already have the job so that you have the confidence to build it and it takes someone telling you that this job is a possibility for you. my job has given me 25 years of satisfaction. the primary thing is that i grew up here in san francisco and i'm serving in the city where i grew up. i transitioned to community training and i was able to build disaster resilient padre of volunteers and bringing us all the latest information so that we can be ready for a disaster. pride and loyalty are the heart of a firefighter. it's in the way we do our job

from the very smallest thing from our everyday checks we do of our equipment. from the way that we treat each other and the community we come in contact with every day. and loyalty is to our own families is to the pride we have in this department. it's to the other members when we're out in a dangerous situation keeping each other safe. it goes throughout every aspect of being a firefighter. i'm really proud of the way our department approaches diversity, equity, and inclusion. i was hired in a class that had 45 people and 17 women. it was an accomplishment at the time, but there were many women that came before me that laid the ground work and i had to see it to be it. someone had to recruit me into this job. i didn't know it was a possibility for myself. and so the importance of young women seeing what it takes to be a firefighter, seeing themselves when they look at me. it really brings myself a lot of pride and joy in this work.

>> you know i've always wanted to do this job that drives my parents crazy we want to help people i wasn't i did not think twice about that. >> i currently work as cadet inform the san francisco sheriff's department i've been surprised 0 work within criminal justice system field i had an opportunity to grow within that career path. >> as i got into the department and through the years

of problems and everything else that means a lot i can represent women and in order to make that change how people view us as a very important part of the vice president you have topanga you have to the first foot chase through the fight are you cable of getting that person whether large or small into captivity that is the test at times. >> as an agent worked undercover and prevent external and internal loss to the company it was basically like detective work but through the company from that experience and the people that i worked around law enforcement that gave me an action when i came to be a cadet i saw i was exploded to more people and the security he was able to build on that.

>> unfortunately, we have a lot of women retire to recruiting right now is critical for us we gotten too low faster the percentage of women in the department and us connecting with the community trying to get people to realize this job is definitely for them our community relations group is out attempt all the time. >> in other words, to grow in the fields he capitalized any education and got my bachelors degree so i can current work at city hall i provide security for the front of the building and people are entering entering but within any security or control within the building and checking personal bags is having a awareness of the surrounded. >> there is so month people

the brunet of breaking into this career that was every for easier for me had an on the with an before he cleared the path for laugh us. >> my people he actually looking at lucid up to poem like he joe and kim and merit made they're on the streets working redondo hard their cable of doing this job and textbook took the time to bring us along. >> women have going after their goals and departments line the san francisco sheriff's department provide a lot of training tools and inspiring you to go into the department. >> they gave me any work ethics she spider me to do whatever he wanted to do and work hard at the intersection. >> if you're going to make change you have to be part of

change and becoming law enforcement i wanted to show women could do this job it is hard not easy. >> finds something our compassion about and follow roll models and the gets the necessary skeletals to get to that goal with education and sprirmz whatever gets you there. >> if this is what you want to do dream big and actually do what you desire to do and you can go vertebrae far it is a fast job i wouldn't do anything else. >> ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

well, happy women's history month to you all. i'm kimberly ellis. i'm the director for the san francisco department on the status of women. and i have the incredible honor of not just working for a department that's dedicated to women, girls, and nonbinary, but a city and county that's committed to uplifting women, girls, and nonbinary. but the best mayor in the country who is committed to supporting women, girls,