Why She Leads: Elise Fox

| Sofia Pereira

Over 13,000 women have started their journeys to elected office with the She Should Run Incubator. These are their stories. There is no shortage of fierce women leaders, and with over 500,000 elected offices across the country, there is no shortage of seats waiting to be filled by them.

What is your most memorable career and personal accomplishment?
When I received my first peer reviewed grant. I was home and had just had our twins over 9 years ago.

We’d love to hear more about your leadership path. How did you get to where you are today?
My advisor in graduate school encouraged me to participate in a professional society (in this case the American Chemical Society). His encourage has led me to a series of leadership positions with increasing responsibility.

What is your personal mission related to running for office? Why?
I really want legislators to make policy decisions based on fact, not politics and conjecture. I also believe that legislators should work for all of their constituents, not just a few. I want a kinder, more compassionate government that works for everyone.

How has the Incubator helped you clarify your leadership vision?
It has been so instrumental in helping me find what may seem like simple answers. As a scientist, I was looking for a step-by-step procedure. That doesn’t exist, but half the battle is knowing where to find information and the incubator program has helped me with that immensely.

What are steps you’ve taken on your path to a future run?
I have already talked to the county party, have the website up as well as facebook pages and twitter accounts. I plan to make the social media accounts live at the end of this month and make it “facebook official”. I have all the ground work laid out, now it is time to go public.

Tell us about your favorite She Should Run “aha” moment or success story. Why are you an Incubator member?
The support network is invaluable to me. To know that there are other moms and women struggling with the same things I am helps to make the whole process a bit less overwhelming. I don’t worry that my questions are too dumb or silly to ask.

What’s your advice for finding time for your personal life (family, personal growth)? Dare we say it, how do you make time for fun in your life?
I am a hyper scheduler. It provides comfort to both me and my family to know that I can still be there to do things like take the kids to after school functions. I have to make my family first, which will also help keep me sane (hopefully) throughout the next 15 months.

 

Views reflected by those featured in our content do not necessarily reflect the views of She Should Run. As you know, She Should Run is a nonpartisan organization. However, some of our guest contributors (and readers) may not be. That is totally okay! It means we’re all human. She Should Run is committed to celebrating the diversity of backgrounds in our community and lifting up the voices of all women.

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