This woman is set to become the first Indian American on Rancho Cordova City Council

Sirisha “Siri” Pulipati is set to become the first Indian American and woman of color on the Rancho Cordova City Council.

Pulipati had 12,021 votes as of Nov. 20, finishing second in a three-winner race to earn a spot on the council. She’s an engineer at Intel and a longtime community volunteer who’s worked with organizations such as the Rancho Cordova Homeless Assistance Resource Team and Saint John’s, a shelter for homeless women and children.

Pulipati, a graduate of Leadership Rancho Cordova, was endorsed by the Democratic Party of Sacramento County, the Sacramento Central Labor Council and Women Democrats of Sacramento County.

A council role will be her first foray into public office.

“There were a lot of headwinds saying, ‘Maybe this isn’t the time to run,’” Pulipati said. “I only have one answer: Now is the time. There is never a wrong time.”

Pulipati was born and raised in India, then moved to the United States some 20 years ago to obtain a master’s degree in electrical engineering at Sacramento State. She’s since been living in Rancho Cordova, where she and her husband are raising two kids.

Her first steps toward getting involved in community work started more than 10 years ago, when Intel set up an email pen pal program between their employees and young schoolchildren to promote science, technology, engineering and math fields.

At first, Pulipati said, she wasn’t sure the students would be interested in hearing the perspective of an Indian American female engineer. But she soon realized that there were many people eager to hear her experiences and, more so, looking for more diverse aspirational figures.

“They’re really hungry to see and hear people of color in ... positions of power,” Pulipati said. “You kind of step up to see what else you can give back to the community.”

Those first few emails led to a broader interest in the issues Rancho Cordova’s community faced, prompting her to become more involved with the district’s school mentorship program, Indian cultural activities and nonprofits, especially ones aimed at relieving homelessness.

As she became more involved in the community, Pulipati said, she started developing a sense of the issues that mattered to the people she worked with, whether that was the roads where the most potholes were, the budgets schools were struggling with or the parks people wanted renovated.

With no previous political experience — and, Pulipati said, no previous political aspirations — her campaign powered to a win through an entirely grassroots effort driven by her immediate circle.

“My campaign was run purely with the help of my friends and myself,” Pulipati said. “We had no political background, no big (political action committee) support … We were one foot in front of the other.”

At times, the campaign trail was intimidating, she said, especially when she started getting hate mail belittling her for discussing her identity as an Indian American woman during her campaign. Getting more representation into local government was part of her motivation for running, she said. Still, Pulipati felt that she had the experience and community ear necessary for the job.

“The fact is, I am a woman … but I’m also an engineer, I’m also a community volunteer,” Pulipati said. “I know what’s happening with the city. I know how to manage a budget. And on top of that … I am a woman of color that can bring that voice to the City Council.”

First steps in office

Pulipati’s priority once she takes office in December will be to work with small businesses to start revitalizing Rancho Cordova’s economy, she said. She also plans to work with community leaders to translate information about the city’s resources into the multiple languages spoken by residents, she said.

One of Pulipati’s major goals is to work with the school board to promote programs that create more paths to STEM careers for women, especially women of color, whether that’s through creating more internships or getting more vocational training into K-12 programs.

“I really believe education opens doors,” Pulipati said. “The more you see somebody like you doing that kind of a job … it plays a role in dispelling these stereotypes in STEM.”

She also plans to focus on homelessness, working with community leaders to create plans that rehouse people based on their individual needs, rather than through broad-stroke policies. Those plans should include building more affordable housing, she said, such as at vacant and underutilized lots identified by the city along the Folsom Boulevard and Coloma Road corridors.

The Rancho Cordova City Council election has yet to be certified, so while Pulipati refrains from stating she’s won outright, she said she’s “cautiously optimistic.” When the results are official, she said, she plans to celebrate with her mom, husband and kids before getting to work.

Pulipati added that she was “very thankful” to her mother and father for instilling confidence in her. She’s sure that her father, who passed away in 2012, would be proud to see her step up for her community to take up office, she said.

“(I want) to open up doors for a lot more people to come out and start representing themselves in all positions, whether that’s in school boards, PTA meetings, community service, elected office. … If you believe in something, I hope people will just go and do it.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.