Q&A with Florida State Senator Anitere Flores

Anitere Flores currently serves as a State Senator in Florida, representing District 38. Prior to her election to the Senate, she served as a State Representative from 2004 to 2010, making her the first Republican Hispanic woman to serve in both the Florida House and Senate since 1986. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Cuban-American Bar Association, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund.

“On paper, I looked like a young Hispanic woman who didn’t have a mortgage. So I said, ‘Okay, well let’s take those things and immediately turn them into a positive.’ My message was, ‘That’s exactly who I am and that is exactly why I’m running. I’m running because I think we need younger people in office, we need people that are going to be able to come in, clean house, and have fresh ideas.’” – Florida Senator Anitere Flores

In the podcast above, Parity’s Nadia Farjood interviews Senator Flores about everything from pro-con lists to campaigning as a twenty-something to putting together a winning campaign. The Senator also speaks about the work-family balancing act and shares her dream for the future of Latina leadership.

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This post originally appeared on the LatinasRepresent blog. LatinasRepresent is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative of Political Parity and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda that does not endorse any specific political ideology or candidate for public office. This series of guest posts is intended to lift up the stories of Latina leaders, officeholders, and candidates on the path to public office.