Legislative Meet & Greet
Join us for a candidate meet and greet that will provide you the opportunity to educate the candidates on how Interior Design affects the public health and safety and ask questions on various topics surrounding the built environment including:
small business issues
women and minority business concerns
real estate and building development
questions
registration
hosted by
Lisbeth Linert - VP of Advocacy
Jaclyn Szerdi-Morrison - Dir. of Advocacy
Laura Barrett - IIDA SFL Advocacy Chair
speakers
Senator Jason Pizzo
Senator Pizzo was elected to the Florida Senate in 2018, representing 15 cities in Miami-Dade County, and currently serving on five Senate committees, including Criminal Justice & Community Affairs. Senator Pizzo also served as an appointee to the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force, where he rewrote, and will propose in the legislative session, the most significant changes in Florida’s criminal justice system.
Pizzo was named Miami-Dade Democratic Party’s Legislator of the Year, and received this year’s Defender of Home Rule award, the highest honor from the Florida League of Cities.
Prior to holding office, Senator Pizzo received his undergraduate degree in Journalism from New York University, his master’s degree in Finance from Columbia University, and law degree from the University of Miami, where he clerked at the U.S Attorney’s Office, and earned the CALI Award for Excellence in Criminal Procedure. In 2011, he was sworn-in as an Assistant State Attorney for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, where he helped create the SAO’s Gun Violence Initiative, which focused on cold case shootings and homicides involving juveniles. Despite his distinguished record as a prosecutor, Senator Pizzo has successfully championed two bills into law which provide basic necessities to female inmates, as well as protection against solitary confinement and shackling of pregnant inmates.
Rep. Elect Christopher Benjamin
CHRISTOPHER IS A NATIVE SOUTH FLORIDIAN AND THE OLDEST OF SIX SIBLINGS. HE IS THE ONLY CHILD BORN TO HIS IMMIGRANT FATHER, JEAN BENJAMIN (FROM ST. MARTIN, FWI) AND AFRICAN AMERICAN MOTHER, JACQUELINE BENJAMIN (FLAGLER – FROM KINGSTREE, SC). FROM THE AGES OF 2-14, CHRISTOPHER LIVED WITH HIS SINGLE MOTHER AND FOUR YOUNGER BROTHERS. BEING THE OLDEST, CHRISTOPHER DEVELOPED A STRONG SENSE OF FAMILIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND IMPORTANCE OF BEING A GOOD ROLE MODEL. CHRISTOPHER’S MATERNAL GRANDFATHER WAS AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN HIS YOUNG YEARS, AS HE SERVED AS AN EARLY EXAMPLE OF A DUTIFUL HUSBAND AND A PROVIDING FATHER. HIS GRANDFATHER WORKED HARD AND INSTILLED A STRONG WORK ETHIC IN CHRISTOPHER AND THE PRINCIPLE OF WORKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT EVEN IF IT MEANT HAVING MULTIPLE JOBS – AN HONEST WAGE FOR AN HONEST DAY’S WORK. GROWING UP, CHRISTOPHER FACED THE USUAL OBSTACLES FOUND IN THE INNER CITY BUT BECAUSE OF THESE STRUGGLES HE OBTAINED INNER STRENGTH, DISCIPLINE AND INTEGRITY.