{"id":114653,"date":"2025-12-31T06:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114653\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T06:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T06:30:20","slug":"for-lourdes-ayon-san-diego-lobbyist-and-comedian-relationships-are-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/114653\/","title":{"rendered":"For Lourdes Ay\u00f3n, San Diego lobbyist (and comedian), relationships are key"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story<\/a> was originally published by Capitol Weekly.<\/p>\n

For Lourdes Ay\u00f3n, lobbyist by day and a comedian by night, \u201cthe policy brain and the comedy brain are totally different.\u201d She\u2019s found a way to conquer both.<\/p>\n

In 1984, Ay\u00f3n\u2019s family packed up their bags and headed to San Diego from their Tijuana home.\u00a0 At 11, she found herself in a \u201cculture clash.\u201d She didn\u2019t speak the language, she didn\u2019t sport the same labels as her classmates and was teased for being different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a little bit of shame that came with it,\u201d Ay\u00f3n said. \u201cWhy am I not blonde? Why don\u2019t I have blue eyes, and why don\u2019t I have the language to be able to speak it in a way where people aren\u2019t going to make fun of me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother\u2019s father was an American who moved to Tijuana, where he met Ay\u00f3n\u2019s grandmother. Ay\u00f3n and her father were able to obtain citizenship through her mother, and she remembers frequent visits to the immigration office during her childhood as they were naturalized.<\/p>\n

By the time she\u2019d picked up English a year later, she\u2019d also assumed her first unofficial job, translator for her parents. \u201cIf you\u2019re an immigrant, your first job will always be as a translator,\u201d she joked. That experience, she now sees, was early training for a career built on sustaining relationships.<\/p>\n

The eldest of four, Ay\u00f3n said she grew up with a strong sense of responsibility to her family. College wasn\u2019t something they talked about. It wasn\u2019t until her senior year of high school and her classmates began discussing their plans that she realized higher education was an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere weren\u2019t any, I don\u2019t recall, seeing role models for me to think, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m going to be like this,\u2019 \u201d she said. \u201cI was still so connected to the family, where I had this role as the eldest, that I had to care for my siblings or care for the house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undaunted, she enrolled at 17 at San Diego State University, where she found it a confusing and difficult experience. She transferred to Southwestern College and finally discovered the mentors she had never had.<\/p>\n

It was during this time in 1994 that\u00a0Proposition 187<\/a>\u00a0hit the ballot. California voters approved the measure that banned undocumented residents from public services and required state and local agencies to report \u201csuspected\u201d immigrants. The proposal was later struck down, but for Ay\u00f3n, it was a turning point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first time that I was like, politics sounds like something we need to be a part of as Latinos,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember thinking, I need to be at the table when these conversations are being had, so that someone can talk sense into whoever\u2019s having these discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attending college near home proved difficult, as her parents wanted her to begin a family. Unwilling to put school behind her, Ay\u00f3n headed to UC Davis to complete her undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in Spanish. She toyed with becoming a forensic psychologist, but politics was calling.<\/p>\n

Shortly after graduation in 1997, she visited legislators\u2019 offices at the Capitol with her resume in hand and the help of a lobbyist friend. She landed a receptionist job for then-Assemblymember Denise Ducheny, who represented Senate District 40. Her easy communication style and warmth allowed her to bond with nearly everyone who walked through the door.<\/p>\n

Among those who noticed was\u00a0Maria Garcia Anguiano<\/a>, who worked with Ay\u00f3n during those early Capitol years and has remained a close friend. Now the senior director of government affairs at Fresenius Medical Care, Garcia Anguiano said she and Ay\u00f3n clicked right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cLourdes has always been a people person, and so she\u2019s always connected with the people first,\u201d Garcia Anguiano said. \u201cPeople are so attracted to Lourdes because of her energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ay\u00f3n moved from clerical work into policy by taking a short break to work on then-Councilmember Nelle Soto\u2019s campaign for the State Assembly. It was her first real introduction into the fast-paced world of politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went in as a young, naive person. I walked out of there a grown woman,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After several years at the Capitol, Ay\u00f3n left to help her father with his construction business. With the Great Recession in full force and taking its toll on the business, she returned to working in government relations around the San Diego area, including director of state and local government relations at UC San Diego.<\/p>\n

In 2010, she joined then-Councilmember Ben Hueso\u2019s campaign for state Assembly. When he was elected, she was back in the building as a legislative aide in his office.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very much a romantic when I think about politics and policy \u2014 in particular, about improving people\u2019s lives, even though it\u2019s hard to do.<\/p>\n

Lourdes Ay\u00f3n, Governmental Affairs Manager FOR SAN DIEGO gAS & ELECTRIC<\/p>\n

Ay\u00f3n would go on to hold various roles, including communications director, select committee consultant and eventually chief of staff to former Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez. She says it was one of her favorite positions at the Capitol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very much a romantic when I think about politics and policy \u2014 in particular, about improving people\u2019s lives, even though it\u2019s hard to do,\u201d Ay\u00f3n said. \u201cI loved the pride that comes each day walking into that white building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her approach, she said, was rooted in empathy. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven when we worked on policy issues, Lourdes always found a way to say, \u2018This budget cut is impacting this specific constituent or person,\u2019 \u201d Garcia Anguiano said. \u201cShe put a human face to things.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nearly two decades in public service, Ay\u00f3n\u2019s life shifted again. A divorce after 20 years of marriage left her intent on creating stability for her daughter. Around that time,\u00a0San Diego Gas & Electric<\/a>\u00a0offered her a job, and she\u2019s been there for eight years.<\/p>\n

She said it was her supervisor, Kent Kauss, the regional vice president of external relations at SDG&E, who persuaded her to join the team. Her strength, she believes, lies in relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job really is creating and maintaining, sustaining relationships, and that comes so naturally to me,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether you win or lose, the relationship piece is what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was during this same period of personal upheaval that Ay\u00f3n turned back to comedy. She had dabbled a decade earlier but abandoned it when life became too demanding.<\/p>\n

She began performing at open mics, writing jokes drawn directly from her own experiences: immigration, motherhood, menopause and the contradictions of being a Latina professional in politics. \u201cMy comedy is little vivid snapshots of my life,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s messed up, and it\u2019s also really funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends say that even in the early days, her humor and candor set her apart.\u00a0Leilani Aguinaldo<\/a>, senior director of government relations at School Services of California and a long-time friend, remembers how funny Ay\u00f3n was at her first set in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always been such a good communicator,\u201d Aguinaldo said. \u201cWhether we\u2019re talking as friends, about life (or) about policy, there\u2019s sincerity about her and that\u2019s part of the connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since returning to the stage, Ay\u00f3n has performed at clubs across the West Coast, including\u00a0Mic Drop Comedy<\/a>\u00a0in San Diego, where she recently sold out an early show and nearly filled a second.<\/p>\n

Now she manages both worlds with care. When the legislative session winds down, she can write more. During busy weeks, she focuses on work and saves her creative energy for the stage. It\u2019s a balance she\u2019s cultivated between the serious work of advocacy and the lightness of laughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work just as hard in politics as I do in comedy, and it is a really delicate balance,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing balance, it\u2019s very much who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capitol Weekly<\/a> covers California government and politics in order to enlighten and educate Californians about public policy and state governance, and to provide a platform for engagement with public officials, advocates and political interests.<\/p>\n

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