11.22.24

Senator Ashby Announced as IIDA’s 2024 Legislator of the Year

The Northern California and Southern California chapters of the International Interior Design Association have proudly selected Senator Ashby as the 2024 Legislator of the Year (LOTY).  This is the fourth year that IIDA has honored a member of the Legislature with a LOTY Award.

IIDA believes Senator Ashby clearly demonstrates the following criteria for this year’s LOTY award: commitment to equity reflective of our diverse membership, political courage, and leadership within the Legislature. In her current role representing State Senate District 8, Ashby serves as Chair to the Senate Business, Professions, and Economics Committee where she is actively leading the charge to improve business and professions policy in California. Among other important legislation, she authored SCR 29 in 2023, the resolution that declared Women in Construction Week to highlight women as a visible component of the construction industry.

IIDA admires the dedication and persistence it took for the Senator to become a pioneer in her field and ultimately the champion for disadvantaged groups that she is today. Before she was elected as the first woman in 20 years to represent Sacramento in the California State Senate, Senator Ashby was a single mom, working full-time while attending school. She eventually graduated with her Juris Doctorate and used her education and training to help foster youth, parolees, incarcerated women and transition age youth. She was then elected to the Sacramento City Council where she was the sole woman for more than half of her tenure and the only member in city history to serve as Vice Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem for 8 years.

In addition to the Senator’s personal experience, her policy goals align to uplifting all Californians in their professional workplaces. Given the pronounced equity issues facing the commercial interior design profession, IIDA recognizes now more than ever the importance of having strong female advocates like Senator Ashby leading in this space.