Jessica
was photographed by Clayton Hauck at See You Soon during a Keep it 100 session on April 13, 2025.
Interviewed on location and edited by Clayton Hauck.
“I graduated during the recession. There was a foreclosure crisis happening. My family almost lost their home, and I'm seeing a lot of things that happened in the early 2000s happening again”
Jessica’s Music Playlist:
“Prince”
How are you feeling today?
I feel really good. I just had my photo shoot and am feeling very self aware. (Laughs) But good!
What brought you in today? You mentioned needing photos for a specific reason. What's going on with you?
Yeah, so I've decided to seek an appointment for a vacancy with the 8th District Cook County Commissioner. And then following that vacancy, I'm going to run for office — I'm gonna run for the 8th District Cook County Commissioner seat.
(Editor’s note: since this interview took place, Jessica has assumed the role she was seeking)
Have you ever run for office before?
No, I think that's a good thing. (Laughs)
Is there something specific that motivated you or just literally everything going on in the world?
You know, I think the short answer is everything going on in the world. I think a little bit of a longer answer is: I was born and raised in the 8th District. I grew up in Belmont Cragin. And so, I know what our community needs are because I've experienced a lot of the struggles that people have on the Northwest side. I graduated during the recession. There was a foreclosure crisis happening. My family almost lost their home, and I'm seeing a lot of things that happened in the early 2000s happening again with costs of living increases, property tax assessments going through the roof. And so for me, this is an opportunity to give back to the community that raised me. And so I'm really looking forward to take on this leadership role and I wanna do it with the community — I wanna be very participatory with it, because I believe in participatory democracy and that's the leadership style that I think I'll bring.
What does a Cook County Commissioner do?
So I mean, I think what's really important is that a lot of people don't know what a commissioner does, and I think that these elected officials who have been in these seats for so long, they get away with, you know, people not knowing what they do.
And so, a Commissioner: they oversee a lot of what the Cook County Board maintains. There's the forest preserves; Cook County health, which I think is extremely important, because with the Medicare cuts coming from the federal government, there's gonna be a lot of people who are gonna have to access Cook County care, which is, you know, a lot more affordable. There's a Belmont Cragin health clinic not too far from here. You have a lot of low income families that depend on Cook County health, and so, it is really a lifeline. To me, Cook County health is one of the more important things that the commissioner oversees, but then there's also Cook County jails, right? And so I think it's also about helping to make sure that due process is taking place, especially now, when you have a lot of agencies across the country skirting due process. And so those are kind of the big three things a commissioner oversees.
They also help with property tax appeals and I think there's a real opportunity to push the Cook County Assessor to rework his formula so that people aren't being priced out of their homes.
That's a lot, and you speak well about it. Is there anyone in Chicago or beyond that inspired you to actually run for office?
Yeah, so I actually was the Chief of Staff for a very long time for former Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa. He was the 35th Ward Alderman. I worked with him for many years overseeing our service office. I think it was working with our constituents who would come in and who would need help, and seeing the issues they were dealing with, whether that’s: tenants trying to organize against mass evictions; mixed-status families trying to get protections for their families, fighting deportations; or it's helping un-housed neighbors get housing through working with CHA and working with landlords to get them housed. So I think it's that experience working alongside him, and working with some of the folks in our progressive Northwest side movement that had made me interested and now willing to take this next step.
Also, President Claudia Sheinbaum. She is the first woman to serve as President of Mexico, and I am incredibly inspired by her leadership.
Cool. Off politics and work, tell me a little bit about what you like about Chicago. Where do you hang out? Where are you eating?
So on the record, Chicago is the best city, okay? I've been to New York. I've been to LA. Chicago is it! Let me tell you.
In terms of food, it's hard because I love all sorts of food. If we're thinking about in our neighborhood over here, I'm addicted to Loaf Lounge. Their breakfast sandwich is amazing. It's so good. I think Jibaritos y Más is a good staple. You have a long day at work, you can pick up Jibaritos y Más and then go home. I like Superkhana. It's nice, it's delicious, it's eclectic. I like a lot of fusian foods—
Are you ordering that butter chicken calzone?
Yeah, that's delicious! We need more of that. We need more fusion.
Connecting it back, unfortunately, to politics: that's why immigrants are so beautiful and important to our city. Because it's through those cross-cultural exchanges, we get things like the butter chicken calzone.
What about any other hobbies you have outside of food and politics?
Yeah, I'm a painter. I make a lot of oil paintings. I learned it in high school on it's just something I kept up with, and so, to de-stress I just play some music and paint some oil paintings.
I love it. Do you ever show your work anywhere, or have you done any shows?
I have not done any shows. I’m one of those people where I'll paint something, and then if somebody comes by and they're like, “Oh, I really like this.” I'll say, “Do you want it? You can keep it.” And so I have to retain more of my work [to eventually do a show].
Do you have a favorite artist? Not necessarily a painter. Music or anything?
I like Prince a lot.
You know who's really good? Pizza in the Rain. They do oil paintings and they're like Chicago buildings. They do some buildings from other cities too, but they've done a lot of local buildings from the northwest side, which is super cool. You should check them out.
Do you have a favorite place you've been to outside of Chicago or a dream destination you've never been?
I'm Colombian, and I've been to Colombia a lot of times and it's beautiful. I recommend everyone go. But I would say outside of that, I've never gone to South Korea and I'd love to go. I remember when I was a kid, I saw some PBS food show and they featured all the food over there, and I was like, I need to go. So that's the dream vacation.
Sweet, anything you want to end on a joke, an anecdote, a story?
Oh, gosh, a joke?! (Laughs)
I’ll just say this: I really like the Kimball Arts Center and I like this space here. I’d never been to this floor and it's so massive… I like that it's becoming more of a community space.
Awesome. I appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
📍Jessica lives in Chicago
She is the Cook County Board Commissioner for the 8th District
➡️ You can find her in IG @vasquezforcounty
➡️ You can find her website here.
You can book your own Keep it 100 session here. ✨📸✨
Gallery of Clayton’s favorites from the session:
