Houston City Council Member Amy Peck first ran for office in 2009, when she was only 24. This was before it was cool to be young and in politics. At the time, it was hard for her to be taken seriously. She really had to sell herself, to prove that she knew what she was talking about, that she had studied it. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in both Psychology and Government from the University of Texas – Austin, she went on to receive her master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of Houston. Council Member Peck interned at the VA Hospital in Houston, where she helped returning Veterans and Vietnam Veterans who suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Even before she was elected to serve, Council Member Peck was no stranger to District A in Houston, the district that she represents. She is a lifelong Houstonian, and seeing first hand the issues that afflicted her community is what made her want to serve. She grew up having political conversations with her father, but her biggest role model was her mom. Peck’s mom was not only a mother, she also worked as she raised her family. She saw how community politics really play out in your life on a local level.
Council Member Peck knew she wanted to serve her community from junior high. It made sense in 2009, as she was working at the state level with a state senator. Though she did not win, she was still determined to work towards bettering District A. It was while she was serving as Chief of Staff for Brenda Stardig, the District A Council Member at the time, that she decided to run again. However, this time Peck was pregnant. Similarly to 2009, she had to prove that she was capable of being in office. Her due date was on election day, but she told her doctor that was not going to work. A few days after her win, she gave birth to her first daughter.
Council Member Peck sees flood mitigation, infrastructure, and public safety as the biggest issues facing her community. She works toward finding any available dollar to put into infrastructure projects for flood mitigation, but because of the large scale of the projects, she says Houston needs funding from bigger and higher levels of government. On the issue of public safety, she wants to make sure there are enough officers to protect the community. She works towards funding police technology, to make HPD’s job easier.
It’s difficult in general for women in politics, you have to strike a balance between being strong, but not too strong. This was compounded by the fact that Council Member Peck was pregnant. “In order to prove to the community that you’re fit to serve, you really need to do your homework. Get to know your community and learn the issues they face well, because that is what the job is about. Losing may not be the best feeling, but if you’re passionate, it is not the end of the world.” Council Member Peck says if she can win while pregnant and serve while being a new mother, any woman can!
