Cerritos Mayor Mark Pulido
CERRITOS, California—Between the two bustling metro centers of Los Angeles and Orange County lies the City of Cerritos, a quaint suburban city that boasts a robust economy, a family-friendly environment and a standard of living that puts a premium on recreation and holistic educational growth.
Also located near key business centers in Southern California (Irvine, Santa Ana, and Anaheim) Cerritos is practically the geographic center of the Los Angeles Basin.
At the helm of the Cerritos city government is a true homegrown leader, Mark Pulido — the city’s first Fil-Am mayor.
A resident of the city since 1972, Pulido was elected to the city council in 2011. He went on to serve as Mayor Pro Tem in 2013-2014. In March 2014, he was appointed by his fellow city councilmembers to become the next chief executive for the City of Cerritos.
Then outgoing City Mayor Bruce W. Barrows praised Pulido for being a lifelong resident who has “worked diligently and responsibly” for the city.
Barrows, who nominated Pulido to become the next City Mayor, said that he believes the Fil-Am leader “will do an excellent job in continuing to work in a positive, [collaborative] manner” on behalf of the city council and the constituents they serve.
Pulido has an extensive track record in serving the local community and also has exemplary professional experience in working for local, state and federal government.
He was elected to the ABC Unified School District Board in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005 and 2009.
From 2007-2008, he served as the Board President for ABC USD. He also served as the Board’s Liaison for the ABC Federal Head Start and State Preschool programs for seven years.
In 2009, Pulido was honored by the LA County Office of Education with its “Board Member of the Year” award. In 2013, he was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. to serve on the California Volunteers Commission.
Born and raised in Cerritos, giving back to his community came naturally for Pulido. The Pulidos came to Cerritos in the 1960s, when his father brought them to California. Pulido’s father used to work for the California Division of Highways, which is now called CalTrans.
Sometime in 1965, his father served as a bridge engineer who oversaw the construction of the freeway interchanges in Southern California.
In addition to being a civil engineer, the elder Pulido was also one of the first Filipino-American real estate brokers to have his own real estate franchise in Southern California. During that time, Pulido’s father was aware of plans to develop the Cerritos area from a dairy community to a vibrant suburban city.
Homegrown leader
For Pulido, becoming mayor of the town he grew up in brings him full circle.
As a 6th grader in Cerritos, he took part in a walking tour of America’s first solar-heated city hall — the Cerritos City Hall.
“Walking through those doors, each one of us in the 6th grade class had a chance to sit in each of these [councilmembers’] chairs, just for a few seconds, but I had no idea then that I’d be here now,” Pulido said at the city council’s reorganization meeting and mayoral transition ceremony.
Looking back to his old days as a young Cerritos native, he thought that he was a late bloomer.
In an interview with Asian Journal, he revealed that he had a speech impediment when he was a kid — he was a severe stutterer. Because of this, he almost never spoke in elementary school.
Pulido said that his condition affected his ability to communicate and impacted his development and understanding of his surroundings, as a child.
Thanks to the help of his educators, he got the assistance he needed to overcome this challenge while growing up as an adolescent.
Although a slight lisp is still audible when Pulido speaks, it is evident that his communication skills have grown by leaps and bounds.
It wasn’t until he was in junior high, when he started opening up to the world and socializing with his peers. At that age, he discovered how diverse the community of Cerritos was.
It was also during his high school years at the Whitney Community Center that Pulido discovered that he could be a leader himself, when he helped found an organization called Club Kaibigan.
“I began to realize that I can become a leader myself, much like my parents,” he said.
In that organization, he saw a powerful desire from multicultural members to learn more about Filipinos and the Philippines.
As a young man, Pulido’s drive towards community-building was inspired by his parents and other community advocates whom he met along the way. He admitted that he has a long list of those who served as his role models.
“It’s a long list. A lot of it is because I’m a student of history, and I commit myself to never forgetting the people that have invested in me,” hesaid.
Pulido credits his parents, Rudy and Ester, as his primary role models. His parents, as well as his grandparents Alfredo and Esperanza Lagmay, taught him the value of sacrifice in service and courage in community involvement.
His parents’ involvement in Filipino community organizations and movements made a tremendous impact on Pulido.
His grandfather Alfredo, and great grandfather Alejo Lagmay were servicemen with the Philippine Scouts, under Gen. Douglas McArthur. On his father’s side, grandfather Jose Pulido was a native from Naic, Cavite who joined the US Navy in 1927 during the Commonwealth period.
Growing up in a family that has been deeply-rooted in military, civic, and community service, Pulido saw firsthand how leadership and sacrifice go hand-in-hand.
“I wouldn’t just say they’re my role models. They’re my heroes, because of what they did, the sacrifice, the service, the courageousness of coming here to the United States,” he said.
His other role models include Manong Philip Vera Cruz, fellow UCLA Bruin and former Hawaii Governor Benjamin Cayetano, and Warren Furutani.
Vera Cruz, one of the Delano Manongs whom he had a close relationship with, was his valued friend and political advisor.
Gov. Ben Cayetano helped him realize that it is possible for Filipinos to run for public office and win.
Warren Furutani is charismatic, passionate, and a staunch advocate of empowering the Asian American community.
Furutani was as much an inspiration to Pulido, as much as he was to most Asian American community and political figures in California. Furutani encouraged him to further his career in public service by running for the ABC Unified School District.
A student of history
Born to a generation that bridges the pioneers of the past with the young leaders of the present, Pulido has seen Filipino-American history unfold. He has also learned a great deal from the lessons he learned from his mentors, advisers, family and friends.
He said that his great childhood and education was further enriched by his parents’ involvement in the Filipino-American community, and local politics.
“I saw this growing up, not just as a child, but also in high school, and in college — when I started to get involved in leadership myself in UCLA,” he said.
He admitted that at a certain point, there were expectations from the community, as well as from himself to give back to the community — to challenge himself to be a leader of something larger than the student body of UCLA — more for the community that raised him.
His high school sweetheart and wife, Gloria Perlas Pulido, went to the same high school and college as he did. Ultimately, the couple decided to come back home to Cerritos to raise a family.
“And what better place to raise a family than where we grew up?” he said.
As city mayor, Pulido is focused on being inclusive and representing of all the members of the Cerritos community.
“The manifestation is that is coalition-building, bringing people from all walks of life to be a part of something. That’s one thing I’ve tried to do — to be inclusive, to be [a] representative of the diversity in our communities, and to give everyone an opportunity to participate in improving their community,” he said.
As a late bloomer who gradually developed into a community leader and an organizer over time, Pulido said that it’s truly beautiful to have witnessed the development of the local community.
“It wasn’t something out of the blue. It took time for us to build up to this possibility, this empowerment of our community,” he said.
“It’s a story of persistence, perseverance. Things don’t just happen out of thin air. It’s the result of hard work.”
Pulido’s journey to where he is now has been an extremely difficult one.
But he proved that it could be done — that anyone can achieve more than what they’ve ever dreamed, for as long as they push hard and fast, to break down the perceived limits and build on the experiences they gain along the way.