By Dianne Fukami

(This story is made possible with the support of the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation).

Ellen Kamei accepted the position as mayor of Mountain View in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley at just 36. Her election by her city council colleagues highlights just one momentous step in a career still ahead of her. 

Kamei’s exposure to leadership and politics began early with internships with the mayors of Philadelphia and New York. On her way to receiving a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Pennsylvania, she credits early contact with women trailblazers and such Japanese American leaders as Rep. Mike Honda and Norm Mineta with shaping her political aspirations. 

Her mother Rosemary however remains her biggest inspiration, exposing her to public service at an early age by not just taking her to campaign events but successfully running for political office herself.  Ellen also credits her paternal grandfather Kenzo Kamei, a second-generation Japanese American, for teaching her the skills that helped her navigate her way in the political world as a woman and person of color. She observed the way he dealt with the world, which taught her empathy and how to handle the microaggression and discrimination she would later face as an adult.

 Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi believes her family provides grounding: “Her commitment to the community is rooted in her life experience as a daughter of Chinese, Puerto Rican, and Japanese ancestry, with her father being a survivor of the Heart Mountain World War II concentration camp.”

Ellen’s career path always hinted at a life of public service, especially given her early exposure and her mother’s passion, but she always thought she’d be a behind-the-scenes player. When she returned to the Bay Area after graduate school, she joined leadership programs that included the New Leaders Council in Silicon Valley, and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute, where her mentor was Margaret Abe-Koga, a former mayor and current city council member in Mountain View.

Ready to spread her wings, Ellen applied for and was appointed to the Mountain View Environmental Planning Commission. Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong has known Ellen for more than a decade and observed early on that, “Ellen had this incredible grasp of policy, budgets, and operations. But what really made her special was how she used that knowledge—she always led with a heart for the people who depend on County services the most.” 

As Ellen’s experience in the public service sector increased, she realized that a behind-the-scenes implementer could not affect change and improve individual lives the way that an elected official could. That epiphany changed her trajectory. She ran for the Mountain View City Council in 2018 and has been a member ever since, planning for her next chapter when she terms out next year. She is not ready to announce what her next step will be, only that her passion is helping people.