Jade Lovera is a born and raised Austinite who has lived in the District 4 community her entire life.  While growing up here in Austin, she attended to old Lanier High School, Dobie Middle school, Walnut Creek Elementary and attended Texas State University. Now, as a single mom, Jade has a 12 year-old son and 6 year-old daughter who attend a mix of public and charter schools.

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Jade’s first career was in residential multi-family property management.  After 12 years, which included rising to a regional manager role, obtaining professional certifications, participating in industry associations, joining the Austin Apartment Association board, and completing leadership programs like the Lyceum Leadership Program, she left the industry and went on to help build a non-profit organization.  She is currently the Chief Strategy Officer of Women Who Werk, an organization that provides tools and resources for women to succeed on their own terms with a focus on women of color and providing access to those of lower socioeconomic experiences.

 

Jade was pulled into politics in 2021 when developers applied to dramatically upzone her neighborhood.  She spent the last nine months working with the City and developers to come up with a solution in-line with the neighborhood’s character, residents, and needs.  It has not been easy; the City and, unfortunately, her own Council Member have not made it easy.  She navigated a system designed to reject public input – where established, written city policies and procedures are deliberately overlooked and overridden.  These obstacles, combined with working with neighbors fearful of retaliation or struggling with language barriers, led her to a troubling question: how does the average citizen have a voice in the process?

 

But this process also led her to a realization: our City has become transactional and the system is broken.  It is more interested in “doing deals” than actually serving residents or solving problems. 

 

Jade has a different approach: listen and amplify the community’s voice to generate decisions and outcomes that incorporate community input.  She appreciates that this approach can potentially impact all of Austin through listening to the input and guidance from residents in all Districts.

 

Jade understands the social, ethnic, and economic diversity that makeup District 4.  Her father is from Venezuela and her mother is a Missouri-born American.  But that diversity isn’t often represented at City Hall – neither overtly or through opinions, backgrounds, experience and skills.

 

This lack of diversity has led to the district being underserved and underrepresented.  In fact, as Jade learned first-hand this year, unless you’re a developer or aspiring politician, the wheels of government at City Hall are not inclusive and move at a glacial pace.

 

We can change that – by electing a lifelong Austinite who is actually invested in District 4’s future.  We can elect someone with business and management experience, who understands how to balance a budget, work with multiple stakeholders, pay attention to detail along with big picture focus, and solve problems – skills sorely lacking on our current Council.  And by electing someone who has already proven herself to be a thoughtful, passionate, and determined advocate for both this and the next generation of District residents, we can change the trajectory at City Hall.

 

Austin aspires to be a city for all.  Electing Jade Lovera will be a huge step towards this ideal.