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Jocelyn Yow (born 1995) is a Malaysian Chinese Vietnamese American politician who currently serves as city councilmember of District 4 in Eastvale, California (December 2018-present).[1][2] She also serves as the Legislative Advocacy Director at IGNITE National, a non-profit organization that works to elect young women into office.[3] On December 10, 2020, Yow was sworn in as mayor of Eastvale, making her the youngest woman of color (25 years old at the time) to serve as mayor in a California city.[4]
Yow was born in San Jose, California.[5] She is the daughter of a Chinese-Malaysian father and Vietnamese refugee mother.[5] Her father grew up in a small village in Malaysia and moved from the United States in the 1980s to pursue engineering at the University of Arizona, becoming the first from his village to go there.[4][5][6] Her mother grew up in Vietnam but fled to a refugee camp in Malaysia as a result of the Vietnam War.[5] Thereafter, she moved to the United States where she met Yow's father.[5] When Yow was one year old, her family moved from the United States to Kedah, Malaysia, in order to take care of her ill grandfather.[5] During her time there, she studied at SMJK Keat Hwa in Alor Setar.[5] As a kid, she joined several service-oriented organizations through her parents' guidance such as Lions Club, the World Association of Girl Guides, and Girl Scouts.[6] She learned English through watching American media such as Disney Channel, HBO, and Hallmark.[7] However, she is also a native speaker of Chinese and Malay.[2] In 2011 (age 16), she moved back to the US, settling in Eastvale, California in hopes of attending college.[5] A few years later (2014), she graduated from Norco College with an associate degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences.[8] There, she was a member of the Honors Program and Alpha Gamma Sigma.[8] She was also the youngest student body president and served as student commencement speaker.[8][7] She then transferred to UC Berkeley and earned a bachelor's degree.[8][1][3] Recently, she earned her master's degree in Government from Harvard Extension School.[4][5][3]
Prior to running for city council, Yow was a district representative for the California State Senate and an immigration specialist at the United States House of Representatives.[1][4][2][9] Yow also served as staffer to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Gil Cisneros.[2][9]
In 2018, she ran for Eastvale City Council at the age of 23.[6] She won a seat on the city council by a 40-point margin and became the first woman of color to become an Eastvale city councilmember.[3] She was also the first Malaysian American to hold a position in public office in the United States.[5] She was then appointed as mayor on December 10, 2020, becoming the youngest woman of color in a California city to do so.[3]
Her main goal as mayor was to implement Eastvale's first library.[9] She successfully secured $2.5 of the $30 million necessary for this project in private funding which starts building in 2023.[10] As mayor, she also secured $8 million in funding for Eastvale's police station, spearheaded the Eastvale Little Library project, and served as advisor of the Eastvale Youth Council.[11]
In 2021, Yow served as Policy Manager at IGNITE National.[12] She was later promoted to Legislative Advocacy Director.[3]
In 2022, Yow ran for re-election in District 4 of Eastvale, winning by 69.77% of the votes.[13] She was endorsed by elected officials such as Corona City Former Mayor/Councilmember Jacque Casillas, Jurupa Valley Mayor Chris Barajas, and several others [11].
In 2019, Yow was awarded the Alumnus of the Year Award by Norco College in addition to being a scholarship donor.[8] She also earned the Rising Star Award from the California Democratic Party, Asian Pacific Islander Caucus.[2]
Yow is a survivor of intimate partner violence.[14] From this relationship, she had a son, Kayden, in May 2020.[5] She is a single mother.[15]
Yow has a younger brother.[16]
She hopes to become a community college professor in the near future as it is a system that benefited her and her family greatly.[9]
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