Lorena González is president of the Seattle City Council. In her arms is Nadia Luciana, born in January. Courtesy of Lorena González
Good morning. It’s Friday, April 24, and a month into stay-at-home, we wanted to hear from one of the city’s political leaders.
Lorena González is the president of the Seattle City Council. She’s also the mother of a newborn. She cut short her maternity leave by two weeks because of the coronavirus crisis.
“When I think about the period of time that we’re going through, it’s hard for me to imagine that on January 10, just three short months ago, I was—along with my husband, Cameron—welcoming the arrival of our very healthy baby girl, Nadia Luciana. And now we are living in a very different world.”
“When González was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2015, she became the first Latina lawmaker in Seattle history,” as Lester Black has noted. “She was raised in the lower Yakima Valley, first came to the ‘magical, mythical city’ of Seattle on a fifth-grade field trip, and holds an undergraduate degree from Washington State University and a law degree from Seattle University.”
González said in July 2019: “There’s thousands and thousands of working moms in this city and I think that it’s going to be really refreshing to them to know that there are going to be two elected officials who are going through that process,” referring to fellow council member Teresa Mosqueda, who was also about to go on maternity leave.
Of course, there’s no way González could have predicted to be going through the process of having a baby while going through the process of responding to a pandemic.
Lorena González at work in 2019. Seattle City Council Official Flickr Photostream
Thank you, Lorena, for this glimpse into the life of a city council president who also happens to be a mom.
Thank you for returning to work early to attend to matters that affect all of us, and doing it with a baby on your hip, and making it look easy.
Nice to meet you, Nadia Luciana.
Happy weekend, everyone.
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Previously in this series:
Clyde Petersen’s message to the city on April 23.
David Ritt’s message to the city on April 22.
Sara Porkalob’s message to the city on April 21.
Julia Sweeney’s message to the city on April 20.
Linda Derschang’s message to the city on April 19.
Molly Sides’s message to the city on April 18.
Nick Garrison’s message to the city on April 17.
Tomo Nakayama’s message to the city on April 16.
Rebecca M. Davis’s message to the city April 15.
Heather McHugh’s message to the city on April 14.
Brandon O’Neill’s message to the city on April 13.
Kate Wallich’s message to the city on April 12.
Rebecca Brown’s message to the city on April 11.
Lucien Postlewaite’s message to the city on April 10.
Betty Wetter’s message to the city on April 9.
Amanda Morgan’s message to the city on April 8.
Nancy Guppy’s message to the city on April 7.
Jonathan Biss’s message to the city on April 6.
Chris Jeffries’s message to the city on April 5.
Lesley Hazleton’s message to the city on April 4.
John Roderick’s message to the city on April 3.
Bill Carty’s message to the city on April 2.
Price Suddarth’s message to the city on April 1.
Kary Wayson’s message to the city on March 31.
Ellen Forney’s message to the city on March 30.
Major Scales’s message to the city on March 29.
E. J. Koh’s message to the city on March 28.
Ken Jennings’s message to the city on March 27.
Demarre McGill’s message to the city on March 26.
Lynn Shelton’s Message to the City on March 25th.
Timothy White Eagle’s message to the city on March 24.
Cookie Couture’s message to the city on March 23.
Sarah Rudinoff’s message to the city on March 22.
John Osebold’s message to the city on March 21.
Ben Gibbard’s message to the city on March 20.
Nathan Chan’s message to the city on March 19.
