NEW YORK—Councilmember Jessica Lappin used to wake up at 4 o'clock every weekday morning for figure skating practice. After two hours of gliding, twirling, and leaping, she would head straight to her homeroom at Stuyvesant High School.
“I really learned discipline and time management from competitive figure skating,” Lappin said.
Today, time management is an imperative part of Lappin’s work. She is a mother of two, wife, council member, the chair of the Committee on Aging, and the co-chair of the Women’s Caucus. On some days, Lappin only has time to take in a few slurps of soup for lunch before rushing off to a three-hour council meeting.
Despite the demanding hours, Lappin wouldn’t trade her job for anything.
“It’s incredibly rewarding work. What’s nice about local government is that what we do is very tangible,” she said. “If it’s helping to open a new school or helping a senior get a hot meal, we can often really feel it, see it, and touch it.”
