I’m an immigrant, a negotiator, and a fighter. I’ve sat across the table from powerful people, and I know how to make them pay their fair share so working families can have a shot at a decent life. 

My father immigrated from the Philippines to Woodbridge when I was eight years old, hoping to make a better life for our family. But when my mom and I followed in the mid-2000s, we found ourselves in the middle of a recession. I’ll never forget watching them work multiple jobs and switch careers just to make ends meet. When I got to Rutgers at 15, I used that world-class public education to study how markets work—and learn how to give the working class a bigger slice of the pie. I built a career in corporate finance and was proud to provide stability for my family while working on the cutting edge of energy and AI. It seemed like our American dream was coming true. But when I got into positions of leadership, I saw levels of greed and corruption that no sane person could ignore.

For millions of Americans, the dream of a decent life that my family chased has become an inescapable nightmare of constant struggle. In the richest nation in the history of the world, it doesn’t have to be this way.