Neighbor to neighbor: Janice Barela from stay-at home mom to county manager

In this profile I spoke with Torrance With this series, The Independent will highlight community officials, and others, in the small towns and cities we cover. We think it is important that the public gets to know the people who help make important decisions. Maybe it’s your town’s mayor, or the police chief in the next city over that you want to know more about. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Is there somebody you think would be a good candidate for this series? Let us know! Here are some of

County’s new Manager, Janice Barela. Janice went from being a stay-at-home mom to running an entire county, but it took a while to get there. Janice let me in on a lot of the struggles in her personal life, but also what made those struggles all worth it. Keep reading for her story.

The Independent: So starting off, where are you from?

Janice: Originally, is that what you mean? I came by way a couple of places. I was actually born in New Jersey. My dad, that’s where his family is from. My dad was born in Puerto Rico and he relocated when he was 12 years old to New York, and that was a culture shock for him because of how cold New York was in comparison to Puerto Rico. Also, not knowing anything any English at that time. But he ended up joining the military and he was in the Air Force, and then he ended up being stationed in Clovis at Cannon Air Force base, and that's where he met my mom.

What kind of activities did you like to do as a kid?

I liked dresses, I liked dolls. I liked Barbies and all that kind of thing . ... We used to play hide and seek, kick the can. I kind of played those games, but I preferred to stay inside and play with my dolls, and be the one that was dressed up, not in jeans and out there playing. Whenever we moved to Clovis, my sister ... says, “Janice you should go out for volleyball.” ... She just bugged and bugged and bugged, and I said, “Fine. If I do this, will you leave me alone?” ... I was thankful that I gave that an opportunity even though that wasn't who I was growing up, and it wasn't my personality to be playing ball, or to do any of this stuff because it helped me to have stability in my life at a time that I went through some rough times growing up that made it more difficult. Had I not had that stability and that teamwork, and then the coaches and a schedule and all that, it would've been difficult.

Did you continue these activities through high school?

I did. I went on and played in high school. I started every game I ever played, and I played in the North-south All-star basketball game as well. I was offered scholarships to play volleyball and basketball in college, but my goal was to become a pharmacist.

After high school, did you continue with pharmacy school or did something change along the way?

A lot changed along the way. I completed one semester of college, and then with the dynamic that I had in my household, growing up my parents didn't get along very well. My dad was an alcoholic, he was a functioning alcoholic, which meant he would work, but he was drunk anytime outside of that. My mom was a somewhat functioning clinically depressed person, so she was either at work or she was passed out asleep kind of thing when she got home. They didn't have obviously the best relationships and they were, in my opinion, checked out of life so we raised ourselves . ... So, when I met my husband, that was something that was so incredible to have somebody that I saw that vision with and so I went after that instead of the education. I dropped out of college and we started our family. We were young when it happened. When we got married, I was 19, and he was just one week short of being 19. We started our family and I had our first baby when I was 20 years old and every two years after that we planned and have three kids . ... Then now to be young grandparents is pretty cool because we have six grandkids, so we’re excited about that part of it.

How did you end up in your current job as county manager?

When we started having kids, I became a stay-at-home mom . ... But we did that on a shoestring budget because my husband at that time worked at the sod farm in Mcintosh . ... I remember being concerned about spending a quarter if I went to a yard sale because I could use that towards bread or towards milk. I know what it's like to be in that situation of not having, but still being able to provide the best that you can for your family.

But what I ended up doing was: I knew that there was a position available as a deputy treasurer for the county, and I knew that county treasurer so I went to her and I said, “I heard that you're possibly looking for somebody in this position. I would be willing to come in. I don't have experience that you're needing, but I love math and I would love to have the opportunity to see if I love business math,” because I never took business math . ... I just flew in into that position and I loved it . ... Then after she retired, the commissioners appointed me to take over and finish out her term as treasurer.

I was all set to be run for the position and work towards that . ... Now fast forward to when it was time for me to declare candidacy, I asked my deputy treasurer if she would run instead because ... I don't want to be on the ballot at the same time [as my husband] . ... He missed out on winning his election by 1% of the vote, it was really close, and I went in to be the deputy under the current treasurer . ... My contract [as deputy county manager] started February 1 of this year and then in June, [the county manager] let me know that he's moving to become the Sandoval County Manager. His last day was July 26 and my first day as interim county manager was July 27 . ... September 26 was my first day as officially the County Manager.

What's your favorite thing about working as County Manager and what motivates you to work hard?

That’s easy. My favorite thing is people . ... This is what it means to me to be in this leadership role, is that I know I have a great team that I work with every single day, and I love coming to work and being able to do everything I can to support them. I guess for me it's knowing not only that I care about all the people in our county, but now I'm actually in a position of influence to actually make a difference in their lives, and in the level of service I’m able to provide.

Moving on, this is more of just a quick answer round. What is your favorite TV show?

I don't know. That’s a question that I don't know that I have an answer for. I like “Shark Tank.” ... I like hearing about the business aspects of things.

What is your favorite movie favorite? My all-time favorite movie is “Return to Me.”

Who is your favorite musical artist? You’re asking me questions that when I was younger, I could have just spit those out. I think it would be Koryn Hawthorne, she's a Christian artist.

If you watch sports do you have a favorite sport or team?

I do. This creates more battles in my home than anything. It is football and I am a New York Giants fan. All the rest of my family, literally, are all Dallas Cowboys fans. But my personality is I always cheered against Dallas just because I’m mean, and I decided I needed to pick a team, so I picked the Giants since their Stadium is in New Jersey.

What is your favorite food and where is your favorite place to eat out?

My favorite food is barbecue and my favorite place to eat out would be Rudy's.