"Council Member Alexa Avilés is the proud mother of two daughters, ages 20 and 17. The District 38 lawmaker told Brooklyn Paper that when she first ran for office in 2021, her older daughter, then 15, was skeptical but supportive, thinking it was "kind of cool" that her mom was running for political office. Her younger daughter, meanwhile, was mortified when Avilés tabled outside her school and realized her mother was embarking on a highly public-facing journey."
""At one point, [she] told me that she walked into her classroom and the teacher was doing something about local politics, and my face and her baby pictures popped up on the internet. She was so embarrassed," Avilés said, noting that she tries to maintain a healthy distance between public duty and private life, though her daughters still pay attention to her work."
""I don't bring them to public events very often, in fact, quite rarely do they come out with me," Avilés said. "So sometimes I think, I'm doing all those things over there, and they're not paying attention. But they'll see me on TV, or they'll see something on social media, and they'll make comments about it that are affirming and supportive.""
"Like many parents, balancing quality family time and a career remains a work in progress, Avilés said, especially when emergencies arise in her district and compete with time spent with her daughters. "So I think some days I balance it better than others. It's kind of a work in progress, like all parenting; some days we do better than other days"
Motherhood often happens between school pickups, meetings, appointments, and late-night problem-solving. A Brooklyn council member with two daughters described how her older daughter initially viewed her political run as “kind of cool,” while her younger daughter felt embarrassed when her mother’s public campaign became visible at school. The council member tries to keep a healthy distance between public duty and private life, rarely bringing her daughters to public events. She still finds that her daughters watch her work through TV and social media and offer supportive comments. Balancing family time and politics remains a work in progress, especially when district emergencies demand attention.
Read at Brooklyn Paper
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