My Story

If you had told some of my teachers growing up that I would someday become a paramedic, build businesses and run for City Council, a few of them probably would have laughed.

Others might have just nodded their heads and said, “I knew it.”

They saw something in me, even back then, before I did.

I was a good kid.

But I was also a handful.

I played football, wrestled and had plenty of energy. I pushed boundaries, got myself into trouble, got suspended, talked back and questioned authority more than I probably should have.

Where I Come From

I spent my earliest years in Linda before my family settled in Sutter County when I was 8.

We didn't have much money in those early years. I still remember eating cereal with water because we couldn't afford milk.

But I grew up surrounded by people who worked hard and loved harder.

Entrepreneurship ran through my family long before I knew what the word meant. My grandfather was a crop duster and owned airplanes. My grandmother owned buses and taxis. My parents sold clothes at flea markets and swap meets.

My dad came to this country with limited English and worked in agriculture before moving into management. Eventually, he started a landscaping business with one lawnmower and built it into a successful regional company.

He worked seven days a week until he turned 60.

Now he only works six.

My mom had been a nurse in Mexico, but the lesson I remember most from her wasn't about a career. It was the belief she had in me, even when I didn't always have it in myself.

“Tú puedes, mijo.”

You can do it, son.

I still hear that voice in my head today.

Finding My Direction

At 19, I found emergency medicine and enrolled in an accelerated EMT program.

Something about EMS clicked with me. The responsibility. The pressure. The opportunity to help someone on what might be the worst day of their life.

Then one day a paramedic told me:

“You'll never be mature enough to become a medic.”

The next week, I enrolled in paramedic school.

By 23, I was a paramedic.

Early in my career, my partner and I once found ourselves as the only ambulance available across two counties serving communities with more than 160,000 people.

I remember realizing the weight of that responsibility. At a young age, I was being entrusted to help protect communities where thousands of people could need us at any moment.

You show up.
You make decisions.
You figure it out.

Learning to Lead

One of the biggest turns in my career started with a messy storage room.

Equipment was disorganized. Supplies weren't where they needed to be. I kept seeing the same problem every time I walked in.

I could have complained about it.

Instead, I fixed it.

Someone noticed.

That small decision opened doors I never expected. Over time, I became a Training Director, helping train and support nearly 1,000 employees across California and beyond.

I kept challenging myself, taking on one of the toughest fire academies around and joining the San Francisco Fire Department as a paramedic.

Later, I was recruited to serve as Director of Operations for a Bay Area ambulance company, working to improve staffing, operations and company culture.

After I left, numerous employees and colleagues reached out to tell me they appreciated the work I had done and the impact I had made.

That stayed with me.

Maybe I was doing something right.

And maybe it was time to build something of my own.

I was done building someone else's dream.

Betting on Myself

At 29, I opened a restaurant.

Then COVID hit.

Owning a small business through that period gave me a completely different view of government decisions, regulations, employees, customers and what it actually takes to keep the doors open when circumstances change around you.

Eventually, I found myself back where I started: emergency medical services.

Only this time, I wanted to build the kind of company I had always wanted to work for.

Building County Medical Response took nearly two years.

There were plenty of moments when I wondered if I could actually pull it off.

That's the funny thing about doubt. Sometimes it doesn't come from someone telling you that you can't.

Sometimes it's your own voice.

And sometimes you have to answer it the same way.

Tú puedes, mijo.

Now we just needed ambulances.

Believe it or not, I found three matching ambulances on Facebook.

Then an old friend gave us our first real opportunity.

It was a Thursday.

He asked me:

“Can you start tomorrow?”

I had no employees and not much of a plan for how we were going to pull that off.

So naturally, I said yes.

That Friday, we started with three calls and just one employee besides me.

Today, County Medical Response employs more than a dozen people plus a leadership team and serves communities throughout our region.

Why Live Oak

Live Oak has been home since 2013.

Over time, it became more than the place where I laid my head at night. It became the place where I wanted to plant roots, raise my family and invest in the future.

Something changes when you stop seeing a house as just a house and start seeing it as your home.

You notice what needs attention.

You see what could be better.

And you recognize what's worth protecting.

That's how I see Live Oak.

I see a city with so much opportunity in front of it. A place where we can strengthen what already makes our community special while creating more opportunities for local businesses, safer neighborhoods and a future that gives our kids even more reasons to call Live Oak home.

The decisions we make today will shape what kind of community our kids inherit.

So I started paying closer attention.

I attended meetings. I asked questions. I listened.

And eventually I found myself thinking the same thing I have thought at so many other turning points in my life:

I can help.

Service has been the common thread through all of it. I've never been very good at walking past a problem I think I can help fix or staying quiet when someone needs a voice.

That's why I'm running for City Council.

I bring a willingness to listen and experience making difficult decisions, managing limited resources and taking responsibility. I've seen government decisions from the perspective of a first responder, an employee, an employer, a business owner and a father raising his family here.

Those experiences shaped how I see service and what I believe I can bring to Live Oak.

For me, public service is the next opportunity to do what I've spent my adult life doing: serve people and leave something better than I found it.

I'm a father. A paramedic. An entrepreneur. A neighbor.

And when things get tough, I still hear that voice:

“Tú puedes, mijo.”

And I know I can.

I'm ready to get to work, Live Oak.