Mona Pasquil has surely come a long, long way from the little girl who was constantly bullied in elementary school for her brown color, and from the college freshman in Kansas who was asked by a racist male in the university: “where are you from and what are you?” Instead of becoming intimidated and insecure about being Filipino in America, Mona Pasquil overcame the tough challenges and passionately devoted her life to excellence, as she rose to the top of her profession.
She has soared to the second highest office in California government, serving as Interim Lieutenant Governor for parts of 2009 and 2010. On November 3, 2009, then California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi was elected to the United States House of Representatives representing California’s 10th congressional district, leaving the office of lieutenant governor vacant. On November 4, 2009, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Mona Pasquil, Garamendi’s Chief of Staff, as acting lieutenant governor.
With that appontment, Mona Pasquil made history in California’s state government. She marked several firsts for the position: she became California’s first Asian lieutenant governor; its first Filipino lieutenant governor; its first female lieutenant governor; and the first California acting lieutenant governor not to succeed to the position from the President pro tempore of the California State Senate of the California State Senate.
Then, early this year, Gov. Jerry Brown entrusted Mona with the job of Appointments Secretary, overseeing whom he appoints to fill California’s vast bureaucracy. According to the Capitol Weekly, the newspaper of California Government and Politics, in its May 28, 2011 issue, “When Gov. Brown looked for a new appointments secretary, he found a good fit in Mona Pasquil, a former member of the Democratic National Committee, a key aide to former Gov. Gray Davis and an experienced Democratic operative. In the Horseshoe she will have broad authority to recommend an estimated 3,000 administration appointments, a key role in any administration.”
“I am a product of your dreams,” said Mona during a dinner in her honor organized by Filipino-Americans. “I say this all the time. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, on the shoulders of those who sacrificed, who have left their family to come to this country for a dream, for hope. We stand on the shoulders of those who endured more than what we talk about today. So, know your story. Know your story,” she stressed.
A third generation Filipino-American, Simeona “Mona” Fortunata Pasquil was born on April 3, 1962, in Walnut Grove, in the Sacramento River Delta, Sacramento County, California. Her paternal grandfather was a Philippine Scout, and her maternal grandparents belonged to the first wave of farm workers that settled in California. Mona is the daughter of a gifted jazz pianist and community volunteer who grew up listening to all-night jam sessions. She loves to sing and lives in the Sacramento River Delta with her senior parents and a dog named Manny.
Mona attended Marymount College (majoring in English) in Salina, Kansas which was run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. She initially intended to teach and went to that school since an aunt had studied there and her grandfather was then living nearby, in Junction City, Kansas.
A life-long Democrat, Mona began her political career in the1980s as a member of the Staff of then State Senator David A. Roberti. She later moved to the Staff of State Senator John Garamendi, moving on in the 1990s as a staff of California Treasurer Kathleen Brown.
She started at the Democratic National Committee as a staffer on the Asian Pacific Islander desk in 1995, became party Western political director in 1996 and went to the Clinton White House political office that year as Western states political director. She was deputy CEO of the 2000 national party convention in Los Angeles.
Mona was California Gov. Gray Davis’ political director during his successful 2002 re-election campaign. She was the 2004 Kerry-Edwards campaign’s director of community outreach, holding the alternative title of deputy director for constituencies. In that post, she directed efforts to update various constituencies—including women, African-Americans, veterans, seniors, youth and the faith community—on “what’s going on” in the campaign, and providing surrogates to these constituency groups.
She served as a member of the Democratic National Committee from 2003 until 2009. She was previously a political adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis and has also served as a strategic consultant for IBM’s national, state and local government sales team, and vice president of MSHC Partners, Inc., a political consulting firm that advises candidates, organizations including the Sierra Club and some corporate PACs.
For nearly three decades now, Mona has served as a senior advisor and strategist in numerous state and federal government offices, political campaigns and private companies. With a hands-on, open-door, can-do leadership style, she has lent her innovative leadership to presidential, gubernatorial, and local campaigns across the country.
Early last year, she received a Presidential Citation by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her pioneering achievement as the first woman, Asian Pacific Islander and Filipino-American to occupy the Office of Lieutenant Governor of the State of California.
Mona has also been involved in engaging Asian Pacific Islanders in politics. A trailblazer for Filipino women and all Asian Pacific Islanders, she is the founding president and current volunteer of the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project of California, an organization dedicated to increasing API involvement in California policy.
“My vision and my hope is to continue to empower young people and communities that represent that great ethnic mosaic of California; to be involved with the government and communities in all levels,” she said.
Proudly Filipino, Mona admitted she was honored when she was appointed as Interim Lt. Governor of California. “It’s an honor when you are the first Filipina (to be appointed to the position). It is significant to my family; and they are so honored. I take it very seriously,” Pasquil said.
Pasquil shared an anecdote of meeting a former White House valet from the Kennedy administration, who told her how her career raised the bar for Filipino-Americans for the next generation.
“He said to me, ‘In those days, we were behind the curtain,’” said Pasquil. “‘Nobody knew we were Filipinos, no one knew who we were. They only knew us by our first names. The responsibility you have, Mona, is that you’re on the other side of the curtain. Make us proud.’
“In that instant, I thought about my grandparents,” recalled Pasquil. “I thought about them wishing the best for us and [wished] they were there to celebrate that moment with me... I wished I could touch them and say, ‘I’m on the other side of the curtain.’”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Aug 17-19, 2011 MDWK pg.2)
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