About Jen

Jennifer brings smart, common sense leadership to Springfield. She is a tenacious and pragmatic problem-solver who has earned a track record of tackling corruption in Springfield, protecting the rights of women, and fighting for a cleaner environment.

Jennifer isn’t afraid to speak truth to power. She was among the first members of the Illinois House to publicly call for former Speaker Madigan’s resignation and helped form the voting bloc that ultimately led to his retirement. Jennifer understands that to move forward, Illinois needs to meet a higher standard of transparency and accountability.

Jennifer’s service to community includes pioneering the use of pro bono social workers to serve as guardians’ ad litem to ensure that no child is left to navigate the complex immigration system alone.

Jennifer’s grandparents emigrated from China in the 1920s, started a business and a family. Based solely on their nationality, the federal government sought to deport them under the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Ultimately, her grandparents gained citizenship and raised her father, who served the country in the military and participated in the civil rights movement.
As an attorney at Winston and Strawn, Jennifer partnered with the National Immigrant Justice Center to represent victims of child trafficking and forced marriage. As a founding member and co-chair of the Illinois Unaccompanied Children’s Task Force, Jennifer advocated for systemic changes to courtroom procedures involving vulnerable children. These experiences led Jennifer to the North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic where, as the first Director of the immigration law practice, she developed the capacity, policies and procedures to meet the needs of Dreamers and other low-income residents of the community.

Gun violence is an epidemic and, to Jennifer, it’s personal. Domestic violence and guns are American crises that end approximately 50 women’s lives every month. Jennifer’s family is among those who have experienced this horrifying statistic firsthand, losing her cousin and her two children when they were murdered by their father. Jennifer will demand common sense laws that keep guns out of the hands of abusers and other violent individuals, and she’ll fight to keep dangerous weapons of war off our streets. She knows it’s time to turn tragedy and loss into action, which led her to support several bills designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including Fix the FOID.

Jennifer’s life experience and family background give her a unique ability to build connections and find common ground among different perspectives. She knows that our democracy thrives when all voices have equal opportunity to be heard. As state representative, Jennifer will bring those voices into the ongoing debate on critical issues in Illinois. Solutions to seemingly intractable problems will be resolved only if lawmakers are willing to see past differences and work together.