Meet Rebecca
Rebecca Hermosillo, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, grew up in the Sonoma Valley where she has ambitiously pursued goals for herself and the community that she says provided her so many opportunities. The youngest of seven children, Rebecca was born in Sonoma and grew up on the Leveroni Dairy, where her father was a milker for three generations of the Leveroni family.
She enjoyed working alongside her father, the late Camilo Hermosillo, cleaning cow barns while exploring the creeks and woodlands around the ranch, developing an abiding respect for the area’s working landscape.Rebecca credits her family for instilling a work ethic that served her well in in her life, college and during her career in the private and public sectors while raising a family as a single mother. Hers is a story of unwavering determination to lead a purposeful life in the community she loves.
“I was always determined to succeed, though there were times when I did not know exactly what that looked like,” Rebecca said. “I was driven to get from point A to point B and to never give up.”
While working full-time and caring for family, Rebecca spent four years completing course-work nights and weekends to earn a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Park University. When she graduated in 2019 her parents attended the ceremony. Her father, fiercely proud of his daughter’s accomplishments, would die several months after he watched Rebecca receive her degree.
“It was so gratifying that both my parents could be at my graduation because they had so much influence on who I am,” said Rebecca, who had previously attended Santa Rosa Junior College and Empire College.
For decades, Rebecca has worked and volunteered for groups that build community and elevate people, particularly youth, that often need the most guidance. Since 2013, she has worked in the Santa Rosa office of Congressman Mike Thompson. She now serves as Senior District Representative in Thompson’s office.
Ready for her next challenge, Rebecca has set her sights on being the Sonoma County Supervisor representing the First District, which includes the Sonoma Valley and eastern Santa Rosa. It’s an area she has called home all of her life.
“I believe one of the things that I offer is that I look like the community I live in,” said Rebecca, referring to her Latino heritage and the area’s growing Latino population. But she wants to represent all sectors of the region whether farmer or farmworker, white or Latino, disenfranchised or not. She truly believes government can work for people in ways that improve lives and the land around them.
“I want to provide access for everyone so that they know that government can and does work for them,” said Rebecca. She is pragmatic and in tune with the struggles of families living and working in an area that is so expensive.
Rebecca's Story
Deep Roots in the Sonoma Valley
Rebecca Hermosillo’s roots run deep. Her father originally came to California in 1947 through the Bracero program, which brought Mexican laborers across the border for seasonal work on the state’s farms. He picked prunes and strawberries throughout California.
While back home in Mexico, he met and married Maria, the love of his life, and they started a family. Each year he returned to California on a seasonal basis, working hard and sending his earnings to his family.
As the Hermosillo family grew, Camilo was determined to make a better life for his wife and children in California. He moved to the Sonoma Valley and eventually had the opportunity to relocate to the Leveroni Dairy where he worked for decades as a milker. His position on the dairy allowed him to secure permanent residency cards for himself, Maria and the five children they had at the time. While living and working on the Leveroni Ranch, Camilo and Maria had two more children – with Rebecca being the youngest of the Hermosillos’ seven children.
Rebecca said she was fortunate to grow up in a stable home on the Leveroni Ranch where her family had good housing and a steady income while being provided meat and milk from the ranch. She attended Sassarini Elementary School, Altimira Middle School, and Sonoma Valley High School.
Inspiration to serve
During her teenage years, Rebecca’s parents opened Mi Tienda, Sonoma County’s first Mexican market and restaurant along Sonoma Highway in The Springs. It was a community store through and through, serving the Valley’s growing Latino population while providing a gathering place for neighborhood residents.
Knowing the working-class roots of the people they served, Rebecca remembers her parents allowing customers to run up a tab if they could not afford to pay their bills, offering help to neighbors and those in need. It fostered in Rebecca the desire to care for the most vulnerable in our community – a passion she’s put to work throughout her life.
Years after the closure of Mi Tienda, Rebecca, a single mom, put herself through school, attending SRJC and Empire College. Her education paved the way for her to become a legal secretary for the law firm Kemp & Kemp on the Sonoma Plaza. Her next job was as an executive assistant to the CEO of GC Micro Corporation, a Petaluma-based company that sells computer software and hardware to Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies. Working closely with the company’s CEO Belinda Guadarrama, Rebecca saw first-hand a strong, driven leader, who was civically engaged and someone who looked like her and was relatable.
Guadarrama opened Rebecca’s eyes to the world of philanthropy, community service and local politics. Under her mentorship, Rebecca became actively engaged in community and nonprofit work on many levels.
Commitment to Community
Valley of the Moon Teen Center
After her work as a legal secretary, Rebecca joined her sister in the real estate industry, helping families achieve the goal of home ownership. It was during this time that Rebecca joined the Board of Directors of the Valley of the Moon Teen Center, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a safe and welcoming environment for at-risk youth.
During her tenure on the Board, a teen-aged boy was shot and killed in Sonoma Valley’s first gang-related shooting. The boy was killed while sitting on a picnic bench, sending shockwaves through the usually quiet, family-oriented Springs area. Rebecca felt the pain that the sudden loss of life had in a tight-knit community. Seeing the impact that shooting had on Sonoma Valley teens, Rebecca organized grief counseling for those affected, and 65 impacted individuals came to work through their trauma. It wasn’t long after this incident that Rebecca was named the Teen Center’s Executive Director.
During her time as the Executive Director, Rebecca mentored countless teens, providing them with a safe space, sense of purpose, and family spirit. Rebecca recalls one reluctant teen who, once he finally visited the center, made it part of his daily after-school routine. To keep teens out of trouble, Rebecca saw it as her duty to create a warm, welcoming place: she would cook family dinners for the teens, , guide, mentor, and provide a constructive outlet for vulnerable youth to have a sense of home, and look at creating a path as they transition into young men and women in our community.
Rebecca was also instrumental in creating innovative programs for the center’s teens: establishing the Outdoors to Excellence program, which allowed the center to take teens hiking, biking, and on an overnight trip to the coast; Skills for Life, which allowed teens to earn a California Food Handlers Card for those interested in food service and hospitality work; and Lovin’ Oven, which gave teens an opportunity to do pop up dinners and cater for local fundraisers while learning the fundamentals of running a business.
The Office of Congressman Mike Thompson
Before joining Congressman Mike Thompson’s staff, Rebecca volunteered for the Congressman’s “Connecting Latino Voices” get out the vote effort. Her work impressed a friend, then a top aide to the Congressman, who encouraged her to apply for a Constituent Services Representative position in their district office.
While Rebecca was initially unsure about the opportunity, she was compelled by the possibility of working directly with her Sonoma Valley neighbors to improve their quality of life and find solutions to complex federal issues. She applied for the position and was hired in 2013.
As Rebecca embarked upon and found her footing in the Congressman’s office, she flourished, working to solve constituent problems at the federal, state and local level.
In January 2023, Rebecca celebrated 10 years of service in Congressman Thompson’s office, a decade also marked by personal milestones including her perseverance to earn her Bachelor’s Degree and receiving the biggest blessing in her life: becoming a grandmother to Mateo.
Rebecca Hermosillo now oversees Congressman Thompson’s Santa Rosa office, leading the office as Senior District Representative.
Rebecca has also volunteered her time to make a difference on local boards, commissions and nonprofits, including:
-
Speedway Children’s Charities Board of Directors
-
Goodwill Industries Redwood Empire Board of Directors
-
Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund Steering Committee Member
-
Pepperwood Preserve Youth Advisory Council
-
Sonoma County Sheriff’s Latino Advisory Council
Family
Despite all Rebecca has done to serve the community, she has never lost her focus on family. She feels fortunate to live with and care for her mother, Maria, sharing a home together in The Springs.
Rebecca is also a mother of two adult sons: Cory and Ramon, as well as a grandmother to 6-year-old Mateo, who brings happiness and joy to the entire Hermosillo family.
Rebecca continues to carry on her family’s legacy of hard work, and being grateful for opportunities available to uplift themselves and others. She hopes to bring those values of gratitude, compassion, and community service to Sonoma County as a member of the Board of Supervisors.
If elected, she is committed to working hard, never quitting, and always putting service above self.
