Inside the Office of Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.): Jennifer Van der Heide

Age: 44
Hometown: Minneapolis
Education: J.D. — University of California, Hastings College of the Law; B.A. — Tufts University — international relations
Last job: Tribal attorney, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Calif.
Best thing about being chief of staff: Rep. Mike Honda, and developing talented, diverse and good-hearted staff.
Management style: Nurturing, demanding, creative.
Top priorities in your current role: Keeping my boss happy, healthy and successful; contributing to the effort to move progressive issues forward.
Most embarrassing moment on Capitol Hill: Having to sing karaoke, with my off-key voice, as part of my “official duties” with Rep. Honda.
Interests outside of work: Thinking globally, acting locally with my 6-year-old daughter, Zara; swimming; dance; and struggling to become bilingual in Spanish.

Jennifer Van der Heide’s workload is a reflection of her boss’s ambition. Not only does the chief of staff assure that Rep. Mike Honda’s (D-Calif.) office runs smoothly, she also keeps him pushing forward on his top legislative issues, such as immigration and foreign policy. Then there are his leadership roles. She helps him balance the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (he’s chairman), Congressional Progressive Caucus (he leads its Afghanistan Task Force) and the Democratic National Committee (he is vice chairman). And as a former tribal attorney, she often takes the lead on Indian Country issues that the congressman works on.

Van der Heide has worked for Honda for 15 years, so she knows by now that there isn’t much downtime in his office.

“I met him and have just been inspired ever since,” she said, explaining that she started with Honda when he was in local government and helped run his congressional campaign.

Earlier in her career, Van der Heide became interested in tribal law on account of her familiarity with Native American issues as a native Minnesotan as well as an inspirational law school professor. While working at California Indian Legal Services, she got an early lesson in politics.

“It was the first time for me in a smaller community, so part of it was small-community politics,” she said. “Tough politics.”

She leveraged that experience to help Honda get elected to Congress. Today a big focus for her is to keep her boss’s operation humming.

A top priority now, she says: “Attract good staff and keep them happy.”