Kuala Lumpur: The new Mayor of Eastvale, Riverside County in California, Jocelyn Yow has become the youngest woman of colour to serve as Mayor of the city. She is Malaysian and Vietnamese, as her father was Malaysian and mother Vietnamese.
The 25-year-old, is a mother of a six-year-old boy and is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently working on a masters degree in government at Harvard Extension.
In 1996, her family had to move to Malaysia, when her paternal grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, due to which she had to spend 10 years here, where she learnt her family heritage, history and culture.
“I am honoured to be my parent’s daughter, and I am proud to be a Malaysian Vietnamese Chinese American,” she said.
Riverside county has 55,602 residents and she is one of the very few young mothers to serve as Mayor of a California city. She previously worked as a district representative in the California State Senate and was an aide to the US house of representatives.