Hello
I moved here when I was 12 and have never lived anywhere else since. I get asked often if I'm ever going to leave or why I haven't yet, and my answer is always that this is my home, this is my community, and I truly can't think of anywhere else I'd rather live.
Gina moved to Hendersonville at age 12, fell in love with it, and never left. She has worked with children and families in Henderson County for over a decade, and attended Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock to get an Early Childhood Education Associate and UNC Greensboro for a Bachelors in Human Development and Family Studies. She works at a Henderson County family resource nonprofit, supporting teen parents through understanding child development, finishing school, and making informed choices for their futures.
Her initial interest in local government began with the housing market- she rented for 14 years in downtown, Fruitland, Etowah, and Flat Rock, before she and her husband were able to buy a home in 2020. If they hadn’t bought at that time, it’s likely that they would have had to move out of their hometown. Gina saw the walls closing in for the teen clients she works with, too: looking back on her own life, at 17 (2007!), Gina started renting a room close to Hendersonville’s Main Street. She was able to walk to work and save up for a car to expand her options, and eventually get to college for a degree. But the teens she works with now don’t have the same choices she did- many of them stay in unsafe or unstable housing, far away from economic opportunities, because of the rapid increase in demand. She started looking for a way to meet that need, and realized that it all starts at the local level.
In her time on council, she has prioritized intentional growth that seeks to encourage balance between the need for affordable housing and retention of community character by leaning on infill development, missing middle housing, and zoning reform.
She is the liaison for the City’s Environmental Sustainability Board, a board she sat on prior to her election to City Council. The Board focuses on outreach and education around sustainability in big and small ways, from modeling methods for home sustainability at the Farmers’ Market to advising city policy.