About the Candidate

Hello all! My name is Kimberly Tucker, and, as I tend to have to tell people, I do actually go by Kimberly. I'm running for city council in District 3, because I'm passionate about Portland and making it a better and more equitable place while still keeping it weird.

I live in the Madison South (name change TBD) neighborhood, where I bought a townhouse in 2024, but I've lived in Portland since 2022 and have known it was going to be home one day since 2007.

I have a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in special education with an emphasis in inclusive behavior intervention. I graduated from both programs with honors, including receiving an outstanding graduate student award upon completion of my master's. I also co-authored and published a practitioner article with two of my grad school professors and one of their doctorate students in a journal adjacent to my career field.

I've worked in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for over 11 years and am dedicated to providing the utmost standard of ethical and trauma-informed care to my clients as I'm autistic and have ADHD myself. I recently sent information about a conflict of interest statement to Dr. Jon Bailey to ensure that I uphold my ethics code regarding dual relationships given that some of my supervisees and clients are potential future constituents.

Volunteering has been one of my long-standing passions, and I'm currently an active volunteer with NAMI of Multnomah County. In the past I have also volunteered via Kiwanis clubs and various organizations that serve causes near and dear to my heart. To ensure there are no conflicts of interest, I do not currently receive a stipend from NAMI for any of my services and have a plan to shift my volunteer time to work with school-aged children participating in the extracurricular Destination Imagination if elected to ensure that I am able to vote on funding for important causes without the need to recuse myself.

I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years, I'm panromantic and demisexual, I'm a firm believer that science is the magic, spirituality, and higher power in our Universe, and I am continually crossing off tattoos from my "wish list." I don't believe in putting on a mask or filtering my truth to please the crowd but in showing up as authentically as I can, regardless of the situation. Like I say, autistic bluntness is usually the best policy.

I live with my two cats, Lemon and Cinder, and have numerous friends, neighbors, family, and a partner (and his two cats) who mean the world to me.

Some of my hobbies and interests include photography, pretty much anything related to mammals, marine animals, and birds, reading, writing (mostly poetry), singing, most anything to do with music in general, watching baseball games, board games and other nerdy ventures (say hi if you see me at Rose City Comic Con!), getting into nature, psychology, neurodivergence, and education.

I believe that life is best lived when you experience it wholly and fully and not via a phone screen.

Lastly, I live by the tenets that community, communication, and interdependence are key to any successful society. Let's keep Portland weird together.