It’s important for voters to understand who I am, where I came from, and what I value. I hope the information on this page will help you get to know me and decide whether I’m the person you’d like to have as your next mayor.
Above is my amazing family. My husband Ed (far right) is the Chief Business Officer at the Wisconsin Union. My daughter Catherine (next to me) is almost 10 years into her career at Epic. My son Michael (on my other side) graduated from Middleton High School and is now in his second year at Madison College. My son Nat is a violist in Reno where he lives with his partner Fran who works at the Nevada Museum of Art. Also pictured is my mother Rose. She lived with us during the pandemic when this picture was taken. We lost her in November 2025 at the age of 98. She may be gone, but she’s still my inspiration.
My Early Life and Career
I’m the youngest of five children born to first-generation Americans who grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago during the Depression. My father Joseph Shuster was a proud union carpenter for decades, and he served in World War II in the Pacific as a Navy radio operator (he trained at Camp Randall). Dad retired in his 50s due to physical challenges resulting from cancer treatment. He later developed Parkinson’s disease. My mother Rose Shuster was his devoted caregiver for over a decade until he passed away in 2001.
Mom had to drop out of school at the age of 14 to help support her family. When I was a child, she obtained her GED. She worked in many different jobs during her life, as well as at the greenhouse across the street from my childhood home. Mom died in November 2025 at the age of 98.
Mom and Dad spent the first 18 years of their marriage living in my paternal grandmother’s house. When I arrived in 1966, that two-bedroom house was home to a family of eight — three adults and five children, ages 0 to 16. In 1967, Dad built a four-bedroom house for us so we’d have a little more space.
My parents were solidly blue-collar workers who instilled a strong work ethic in me and my siblings Joe, Susan, Kathy, and Linda. Mom and Dad both encouraged me to do something neither of them had a chance to do: get a good education. I followed their advice.
Throughout my high school and college years, I earned money any way I could to pay for college. I babysat, house-sat, and pet-sat; waited tables, washed dishes, answered phones, prepared food, and worked the cash register at three different restaurants and my college’s food service; hung and tagged clothes at a clothing distribution center where my mom worked; served as an administrative assistant for 10 different bosses; tutored, typed papers, and served as a lab assistant in college and a teaching assistant in graduate school; and interned with East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the National Opinion Reseach Center, and two nonprofits focusing on public policy.
My internship with the Council of State Governments (CSG) in Lombard, Illinois, turned into a full-time position when I finished my master’s degree in 1992. In 1998, I began working from home when my family relocated to Sheboygan. Four years later, I retired early from an extremely rewarding 29-year career at CSG so I could take care of my mother, who had moved in with us during the pandemic. In 2022, when conditions were improving, my mother decided to move back to Illinois and I decided to run for a seat on the Common Council. Voters in District 6 elected me with 65% of the vote. Since then, municipal government has been my “second chapter.”
Experience and Education
I made my career at the Council of State Governments, or CSG. When I retired in 2021, I was the director of CSG’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus, a binational, nonpartisan group of state and provincial legislators collaborating on policies to restore and protect the Great Lakes. I held that role for 10 years, developing model policies for reducing people’s exposure to lead in drinking water and to reduce nutrient pollution entering surface waters. I also led the Caucus’s efforts to collaborate with other Great Lakes organizations on advocacy at the Congressional level for environmental and economic priorities for the region.
I also directed CSG’s Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Project. For 29 years, I worked with federal, state, and tribal officials on policies, plans, and procedures for shipments of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste through the Midwestern states. I also engaged Midwestern state officials in the U.S. Department of Energy’s programs to develop a national high-level radioactive waste repository, clean up sites formerly used to produce nuclear weapons, and define a new approach to siting storage and disposal facilities with the consent of host communities. I provided invited testimony and presentations about nuclear waste transportation and stakeholder engagement before President Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, the National Academies’ Committee on Transportation of Radioactive Waste, and the Wisconsin Legislature’s Special Committee on Nuclear Power.
My career started in the Chicago suburbs, but I began working remotely from home in 1998 when my family moved to Sheboygan. Before beginning my career, I earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s degree with a major in geology from Lawrence University in Appleton.
City Government Experience
Since being elected to Council in 2022, I have served on eight committees and I’ve held leadership roles on three of these. I currently serve on the Finance and Personnel Committee (former Chair), Plan Commission (Vice Chair), Water Resources Management Commission, and the Workforce Housing Committee (former Chair).
Previously, I served on the Public Works Committee; Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Transit Committee; Airport Commission; and Sustainability Committee. Prior to joining Council, I was a member of the Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and I chaired the Sustainability Committee. As the Sustainability chair, in 2021, I had the honor of representing the committee when it received the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s Award for Innovative Approach to Problem Solving.
Community Involvement
Since 2018, I have been a volunteer at WayForward Resources. In 2020, I joined the League of Women Voters of Dane County. I chaired the League’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for two years and I also served on the Board. I’m a member of the Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy and the Ice Age Trail Alliance. In 2021, I served as a volunteer facilitator for the Nehemiah course “Black History for a New Day.”
Values and Guiding Principles
When I ran for District 6 alder in 2022, I wanted to help make Middleton become more sustainable, equitable, and accountable as a city. These values guide me in my work as District 6 Alder, and they’ll guide me as mayor.
I’m a process-oriented person. If the process is fair, I’ll accept the outcome even if it isn’t the one I would have preferred. I don’t believe the ends justify the means.
I believe in evidence-based policy making. Having spent over 30 years in the field of public policy, I have the skill to scrutinize the evidence presented to determine whether it’s solid.
I grew up in a strong union household, so I’m committed to using union-made signs and other campaign materials. My parents were hard working, very frugal, and honest, and these are the values they instilled in me. I strive to be a kind, compassionate person, so I’m committed to running a positive campaign. I have a strong sense of fairness and will call out injustice or prejudice when I see it.
Climate Action
I live my principles. I’m very concerned about climate change, so I’m going to great lengths to reduce my carbon footprint and set an example that others can follow, if they choose.
My husband and I installed a 6-kW solar array on our roof. We have replaced all but one of our gas-powered appliances with electric models, including two air-source heat pumps. The water heater and two gas fireplaces (which we don’t use) are the only things that use natural gas in our house. We switched to electric for lawn mowing and snow blowing to reduce emissions. All our lightbulbs are energy-efficient LED bulbs. We have driven two hybrids since 2017. In 2025, we bought our first electric vehicle (a used Chevy Bolt).
We’ve taken other sustainability measures, too. In 2019, we converted our backyard to restored prairie to increase water infiltration, which reduces our home’s impact on the city’s stormwater management services. The native plants also provide habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions from lawn maintenance, and store carbon. Industrial agriculture — especially beef production — is a large source of greenhouse gas emissions, so shifting to plant-based foods is becoming more common as a way for people to reduce their carbon footprint. I stopped eating meat in 1998 and have been vegan since 2012.
Home Life
I spend much of my day doing Council-related work. My Westies Daisy (left) and Fredo keep me company and remind me to take a break every once in a while. (If Daisy looks grumpy in this picture, it’s probably because this was Fredo’s first visit to what would soon become his new home.)
In my free time, I like to read, do puzzles, go to the gym, cook, attend concerts with my husband Ed, walk in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy near my house, and visit friends and family. On Fridays at noon, you’ll find me playing pinochle at the Senior Center.
My 15 Minutes of Fame
When I lived in Sheboygan, a good friend and I closed an indoor shooting range that a local gun club operated in our children’s middle school. We chose not to make what may seem like an obvious argument against guns in schools. Instead, we focused on lead in schools (the range required users to fire only lead bullets). The Chicago Tribune (here is a PDF of the article) covered the beginning of the four-year effort; the Seattle Times briefly mentioned it years later in coverage about students and exposure to lead in indoor shooting ranges (click here for PDF).
How to Pronounce My Last Name
I share my husband’s last name. “Janairo” is a Filipino name, derived from Portuguese, with a Spanish pronunciation. The “J” has an “H” sound, and “Janairo” rhymes with “Cairo” (the one in Egypt — not the one in Illinois). Here’s a helpful recording by Anne Marie Lewis, my amazingly talented sister-in-law who is an accomplished audiobook narrator.
No worries if you don’t pronounce my name correctly. It happens all the time!
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