Lena's Story
I was raised in San Marcos and am a product of the San Marcos Unified School District. I attended Woodland Park Elementary, San Marcos Middle, and San Marcos High. I also come from a family of educators— my mom was a principal in El Cajon and my step dad worked for Vista Unified as a Speech Pathologist.
I feel very fortunate to have received the education I did from San Marcos Unified. I loved school and was very involved on campus, in sports, and with other extra-curricular activities. I ran on the track & field team and played soccer. I enjoyed leadership opportunities throughout high school including serving on the Associated Student Body (ASB), was drum major of the marching band, and was selected as a student ambassador on a trip to Japan.
After high school, I attended the University of San Diego and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and started working in Accounting at Upper Deck in Carlsbad. A few years later, I went back to school to complete my Master’s in Business Administration at Cal State San Marcos. While in graduate school, I started working in recruitment. My career in Human Resources with Scripps Health and New York University Langone has encompassed human resource operations, engagement, change management, recruitment, retention, and employee relations. Having the flexibility to work while also raising my family is very important to me, which led me to start my own small businesses within the property management and health/wellness industries.
I met my husband, Viktor, when we were in high school. We were friends through college and enrolled in grad school at CSUSM at the same time. We started dating a couple years after graduation. At the time I lived in Encinitas, and he lived in Oceanside. We moved back to San Marcos shortly after our wedding, in part because we wanted our future children to have the same high quality educational opportunities we had in San Marcos. We had four boys in five years and since then, my husband and I have adapted our work schedules to be able to care for our children. My role as their mother will always be my first and highest priority.
Community service and involvement has always been very important to me. I served on the San Marcos Student Neighborhood Relations Commission from 2018-2021, helping make sure our local government is addressing the concerns of our student community. When our oldest son started Kindergarten at Richland, I knew I wanted to be involved with the school community. I joined the PTO (FOR Club) and served as Vice President for one year and President for two years. I also served as a school representative to SMUSD for the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) from 2019-2021. I have been a member of the San Marcos Lions Club from 2021-2024 and served as 1st and 2nd Vice President. I have been an active member of Grace Episcopal Church where I served on the Vestry for six years, Treasurer for two years, and Senior Warden for three years.
