Gina Driscoll, St. Petersburg City Council Vice-Chair

In every sense of the word, Gina Driscoll is an advocate. For her community, for her family – and yes, even for her dogs.

She is a longtime St. Pete transplant from Dade City, where she grew up as the oldest of six. Her work has taken her to Orlando and North Carolina, but she has spent the last 13 years advocating for issues here in St Pete.

I suspect Gina’s focus comes from her many years working in the hospitality industry and sales. She understands that not everyone sees eye to eye but has an innate ability to traverse differences in opinions to help guide us to fair decisions that are good for the whole.

Gina is always looking for innovative ways to make our city better today, tomorrow and far beyond her term on City Council. Early in her term she took on the usage of single-use plastics throughout St. Pete, joining with local businesses to launch “NoStrawStPete” to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws. Gina sits on the Resiliency and Sustainability committee, perfect for this initiative.

Early in her career and during her campaign, Gina was quickly embraced by the LGBTQ community. It was no surprise then that when she heard Orlando had proposed a resolution to recognize LGBTQ-certified businesses in its city procurement that she said, “Let’s do that, but make it better!”

Gina reached out to St. Pete’s Small Business Liaison and Greenhouse Manager and to myself to determine how we might include and track LGBTQ businesses in our Small Business Enterprise program. In June, all seven members of City Council voted unanimously to recognize LGBTQ-owned businesses in the small business program. The resolution gave the business owners access to training, workshops and assistance as they grow their businesses.

It takes empathy, understanding and allies to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ community and those who may not understand us. Gina Driscoll works day in and day out to bridge these and other gaps. She is a true advocate and is very worthy of the remarkable title.

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