Candidate: Andrea M. Toledano

Andrea Toledano was born in Venezuela, and when she was three, her family relocated to South Florida, where they opened up a textiles business in Dania Beach, seeking the American Dream. Today, her family is in real estate. Growing up, Toledano attended Jewish day schools where a large portion of the students were from other nations; there, she learned the value of community integration, fair representation, and a quality education.

She later went on to complete her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Florida International University, where she worked as an academic consultant at the Center for Excellence in Writing, followed by her Master of Science in Education, majoring in Higher Education, at the University of Pennsylvania.

At Penn, she completed research for Write4Change, a writing platform where students from all over the world share creative and thesis-driven pieces, and she completed an independent study on the future of distance learning in higher education, culminating in a literature review. 

It was at Penn where she learned to combine her passion for writing with her drive to influence education policy back home in Florida. She has been writing and tutoring on a freelance basis for over seven years, and this has led to research interests in: disability learning; pre-school attendance and academic performance later on; and framing pedagogical frameworks, especially as it relates to remote learning in higher education. Today, she sits on the Editorial Board of the University of Pennsylvania student-run Perspectives on Urban Education journal and remains connected to the wonderful professors and mentors she met throughout the duration of the program.

In Broward, she is actively working to improve the well-being of young residents. A member of the Tower Club, she helped relaunch the young professionals committee, Emerging Executives, which unites young professionals from many of Broward's most influential organizations. She is on the Develop Committee of Emerge Broward, and on the Rising Leaders and the Education & Workforce Committees at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she sits on the Board of the Fort Lauderdale Performing Arts, INC., the parent organization of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus (Florida's first gay performing arts organization). 

As for children's education initatives, she runs weekly volunteer programming at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, including "College Corner" and creative writing workshops, in North Lauderdale. She believes that what goes on at home and outside of school is just as influential -- if not, more -- as what is taught on a school campus, and these skills often lead to professional and interpersonal success.

Given her Venezuelan heritage, Toledano has always been an advocate of building a strong educational infrastructure that serves all students, primarily by designing educational programming that is cost-effective and promotes emotional intelligence in and out of the classroom. She has extensively researched the effects of self-confidence on academic productivity, and a focus on EQ creates a safe environment for student learning. As such, she started a nonprofit organization -- Stand Up Life -- alongside Marq Cerqua, former NFL linebacker, who was her supervisor during her communications internship with the NFL Players Association in high school.

Stand Up Life seeks to use mentorship and programming -- like creative writing workshops -- to promote emotional intelligence in (and especially out) of the classroom through a business partnership model. Toledano believes that non-profit organizations provide an excellent framework for education reform; they often teach kids lessons that they don't know they're learning, committing to research and to the strategic use of funds. Meanwhile, the children are equipped with simple yet valuable life skills -- like those learned through lessons in personal finance, creative writing, and social engagement -- that can then be funneled back into workforce development. Currently, Stand Up Life is primarily based in Broward, though there are partnerships based in other cities and the ultimate intent is to create chapters across the world.

Stand Up Life's model is the premise of her campaign for Broward County Commission, District 7; she hopes to demonstrate feasibility through research as well as by designing cost-effective community programming -- like phone-free park zones, creative writing workshops, civic duty presentations, and new mom orientations -- through well-designed curriculum with the help of professionals across various industries.