Celeste Rodriguez works every day to solve challenges and respond to San Fernando Valley residents' needs. She understands firsthand the hardships working families face. As a public servant for over a decade and the Mayor of San Fernando, Celeste has tackled tough issues and delivers resources for affordable housing, community safety, healthcare, and services for veterans, seniors, and children.
As your Assemblymember, Celeste will work to create meaningful, long-lasting solutions that lead to better futures for all of us.
Northeast Valley Born and Raised
Celeste's upbringing shaped her understanding of the struggles and triumphs Northeast Valley families experience. Celeste's family immigrated from Mexico to Pacoima. She and her siblings were raised in the Northeast Valley, from North Hills to Sylmar and all the neighborhoods in between. Growing up, Celeste’s parents ingrained in her the values of service and social justice. Her father helped found the Cesar Chavez March for Justice, which Celeste has attended with her father since she was a young girl, while her mother worked for the Regional Center to provide services for Californians with developmental disabilities. Determined to build a better future for her children, Celeste's mom fought to get her children into the best magnet programs LAUSD offered. The quality public education her mother tirelessly advocated for is what opened the door to better opportunities for Celeste’s future.
While attending James Monroe High School in North Hills, Celeste developed a passion for advocacy and service. As part of the Santa Rosa de Lima youth group, she volunteered to collect food and traveled to distribute toys at Posadas in Tijuana. She also joined Students Together Organizing Peace, the youth arm of LA Commission on Assaults Against Women (now Peace Over Violence), where she served as a peer educator and a mentor to middle school students.
Celeste helped her family navigate economic and housing insecurity when her mother experienced a workplace injury. She began working for the City of San Fernando while attending LA Mission College. After earning her Associate's Degree, she transferred to San Diego State University, where she graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Economics. While at SDSU, Celeste joined a student-led organization that advocated for higher education funding and against drastic budget cuts to the Cal State University system.
At age 24, Celeste became a living kidney donor to help save her oldest brother's life, who had been on dialysis for over five years. Her family reflected on this life-changing decision when she walked alongside the OneLegacy float in the 2024 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Dedicated to Lifting Families Out of Poverty
Celeste Rodriguez is focused on creating and implementing cradle-to-career policies that improve outcomes for our community members.
After graduating college, Celeste joined the Los Angeles Mayor's Homelessness Services Team, where she focused on prevention and helped connect unhoused veterans with much needed resources they earned from their service. She continued this work while earning her Master's in Social Work from USC.
As the LA Mayor's Deputy Director of Community Development Strategies, she led efforts to provide support services and economic development opportunities throughout the city. Celeste oversaw the development and implementation of financial empowerment and poverty alleviation initiatives at the Community Investment for Families Department including LA's Guaranteed Basic Income pilot and Free Child Savings Accounts, which help families save for college. She was responsible for the Family Source Center System and Survivor Services, networks of nonprofits that support the city's most vulnerable families with emergency services, stability assistance, and generational wealth building.
In November 2020, Celeste was elected to the San Fernando City Council. As San Fernando's Mayor, Celeste ensures residents have a voice in their local government by establishing a public engagement policy, translation services, and childcare for community meetings—all firsts for the city. Celeste works to ensure economic stability in her community by distributing food to families in need and creating a Social Services Coordinator and Economic Development position to help residents access and navigate city resources. She has led the creation of a Community and Business Resource Center in City Hall and helped small businesses access grant funding. Celeste spearheaded the effort on San Fernando's Homelessness Action Plan and advocated for a dedicated Housing Coordinator and an outreach team.
Celeste has volunteered with the Cesar Chavez Commemorative Committee of the San Fernando Valley, an organization her father helped found 30 years ago. The Committee established the Cesar E. Chavez March for Justice in the Northeast Valley and aims to teach youth about Chavez’s legacy.
Celeste serves on Comisión Femenil of the San Fernando Valley, an all-volunteer, 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for Latinas, their families, and their communities through education, leadership development, and community involvement.
Celeste lives in San Fernando, where she and her husband, Robert, are raising their two children. In their spare time, they play charades, have living room dance parties, and play at their local parks.
