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With an eye toward community service and wanting to give back, Watsana Thiravong is running for a Second Ward seat on the Austin City Council.

Thiravong will be challenging Jason Baskin, who is running for a second term on the council.

A person with a long history in Austin, Thiravong was the first in her family to attend and graduate college and holds a BSA in Business Administration from Southwest Minnesota State University.

She’s also been a business owner and a human resources director for Good Sam.

“I understand that there are differences in opinion, but collaborative work and respecting each other is what makes Austin home to me,” Thiravong said. “We are all in this together and it would be an honor and my duty to find solutions to the big issues in our community.”

Thiravong said that there is an overarching desire to serve she would bring to the council, but under that umbrella comes some specific areas she is looking forward to working on, including a subject her family personally dealt with in moving back to the area.

“I am running for the Second Ward City Council on the single family [housing] shortage our family went through while transferring back to Austin in July 2021,” Thiravong said, adding. “I want to help empower our youth through philanthropic and volunteering endeavors and tackle the Wastewater Treatment Plant debacle using all the leadership skills I honed from various classes, professional experiences and life lessons.”

She further added, “It is also a great time to give back to the community that has supported our family for so many years.”

Throughout the process, Thiravong hopes to be a source of professionalism in her quest to be elected.

“As candidates, as well as  those who hold office, we are all professionals and well intentioned,” she said. “I applaud my opponent and wish him well. Good luck to everyone running for office in 2022.”

Thiravong is married to husband Chico and has two daughters: Megan, a sophomore at Saginaw Valley State University and Ailani, an eighth-grader in the Austin Public School system.