BDC Members and Affiliates,

Please find below an introduction and a “Ten Questions” interview with Emily Talago, candidate for Bozeman City Commissioner.

JP

JP: What is something interesting about yourself most people don’t know?

ET: I drive the same 1987 toyota I bought when I was 15.

JP: What keeps you up at night right now?

ET: Physically? The new event center across the street. Mentally? The challenge of pragmatic problem solving in a culture of self-rationalized, self-righteous sanctimony. You can't solve problems with someone who values the high of being right over being satisfactorily convinced by objective evidence (which is much less exciting).

JP: Tell me about the most important strategies you will employ if elected as a City Commissioner?

ET: Be efficient, but don't rush. It's better to accomplish a few things with excellence than to have a giant pile of great ideas untouched or done half-assed. Transparency builds trust. If you can't approach the public and clearly articulate benefits of a policy or funding decision, then there's a likelihood it isn't actually beneficial. Trust your gut, but trust the data more. Keep a sense of humor. Life is awkward, difficult, and stressful. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.

JP: Tell me about a moment that could be described as “a fork in the road” for you?

ET: Six years ago, I was in the death throes of a toxic relationship, burnt out in my career as a research scientist at MSU, and living amidst the timed-out construction site of my home renovation. Maybe not so much a fork as an inner traffic circle. I needed to exit right. I broke off my engagement, left the research lab, and picked up work doing everything from custom tile to framing layouts. I was raised by a big family of tradesmen. My father is a third generation nurseryman and works our family's landscape contracting business. As it turns out, growing up on job sites has proved quite valuable in Bozeman's current economy. I started working for Cashman Nursery and started my own horticulture business. My house is under perpetual renovation, but I'm okay with that now. My new livelihood isn't glamorous and at times I wonder about the career I left collaborating with Nobel Laureates. But it's a brief glance and I'm much more content to keep looking ahead.

JP: What do you see as your toughest challenge, thus far, in Bozeman?

ET: My challenge? Navigating bureaucracy. I spend a stupid amount of time reading through commission and board agendas and minutes. I don't have netflix, I watch meeting recordings. Thanks to covid, the various attendees don't see my repeated headdesk or hear my exasperated sighs. Decorum is lost on me (but I'm getting better). Our community's challenge? Thanks in part to the targeted marketing of our geographic amenities, it's now regular practice to refer to and define our community by skiing and fishing access rather than people and culture. This hegemonic change left our town vulnerable to economic exploitation. The cost of growth is being shouldered by everyone. We're a highly desirable place to be. We need to leverage that reality to allow anyone to capitalize and benefit from subsequent economic rewards.

JP: Would you say you lean toward “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

ET: Yes. Actively participating in self-government and the betterment of society is an obligation of democracy. There's not enough space in this interview to articulate the entirety of what democracy and community has done for me.

JP: What is one of your favorite quotes?

ET: You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. -Woodrow Wilson delivered at Swathmore College Oct. 25th, 1913.

JP: What is the key point you would like readers to take away from this interview?

ET: I'm a smart, hard working, pragmatic, responsible woman who's not afraid to be wrong. I have genuine love and gratitude for this place I call home. I don't think we need big data to game out every decision, and that people are capable of constant, rational thought as evidenced by their resilience and ability to solve problems in real time. Local government can't force people to flourish, but they certainly affect whether someone even can.

JP: Thanks for taking time out of your busy campaign to engage with the Bozeman Development Consortium