Elena Guajardo was elected to San Antonio’s City Council District 7 on June 7, 2005. Elena brought her unique combination of experiences in small business, corporate America, the non-profit sector and training as a social worker to City Council.
Born and raised in San Antonio, Elena grew up in the family’s grocery store, Guajardo Grocery and Meat Market. As a young girl, Elena worked in the family store learning the value and rewards of hard work and challenges of small business.
Elena is a proud graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. After high school, Elena earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree majoring in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin (1974). In 2000, Elena completed her Masters in Social Work from Our Lady of the Lake University (member Phi Alpha National Social Work Honor Society Delta Chapter). In 2001, Elena graduated from the Community Leadership Institute.
Professional Career and Public Service
Elena began her professional career with Southwestern Bell. At Southwestern Bell, Elena demonstrated her ability to excel and was rapidly promoted into executive positions including Marketing Communications Representative, Marketing Staff Assistant, Supervisor- inter-city/inter-state, Manager-Technical/Network Operations, Manager-Capital Budget, and Manager-Transmission Equipment Engineer. After 27 years of service, Elena retired from Southwestern Bell in 2000 as Associate Director-Staff Support and Measures. Elena’s worked helped pave the way for the future roll out of DSL.
Elena became the first open gay candidate to win City Council seat in June, 2005. On City Council, Elena served on the Quality of Life and Intergovernmental Affairs committees. She was a strong advocate for working families and protecting the environment. For her commitment to environmental issues the Sierra Club awarded Elena as an “Environmental Hero”. The Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) selected Elena the “Elected Public Official of the Year” in recognition of her dedication to supporting the needs of the community. Elena served one term on Council.
Prior to joining City Council, Elena had devoted herself to serving her community through numerous organizations, including dedicating herself to Respite Care of San Antonio, an emergency shelter for children with disabilities and as a coordinator of Cursillo, ACTS, and Kairos Teams.
Elena also served on the boards of the League of Women Voters, Human Rights Campaign, City of San Antonio Affirmative Action Advisory Committee, Bexar County Tejano Democrats, National Association for Women, Stonewall Democrats and the National Association of Social Workers.
Since leaving public office I’ve been involved in community boards and projects.
The first invitation came from the Chief of Police who invited me to be on a citizen’s advisory council. San Antonio has the highest teen pregancy rates in the state and I want every woman to have access to safe and affordable health care so I accepted the invitation to participate on the board of Planned Parenthood. I was also recruited to join the board of Camp, Children’s Association for Maximum Potential, which is a camp for children with disabilities and gives a week of summer camp experience and respite for the families during the summer. To expand my organization skills in the arts, I was invited to be board chair for the Alamo City Mens’s Chorale. I enjoyed my one year term. During the primary season, I was invited to travel to Philadelphia and Indiana to do Latino get-out-the-vote outreach. Today I’m involved in voter registration and get-out-the-vote coalitions for our November election. I’m also excited about several teaching opportunities to share my experience about city government and public service.
