When Mercedes Perez started working for the City of Plant City four years ago, something that helped sell her on the strawberry town was its history with prominent women in local government. Women like former city manager Nettie Berry Draughon and former mayor Sadye Gibbs Martin proved years ago that it’s not just a man’s world in City Hall.
Now, like Draughon and Martin before her, Perez herself is making city history.
The assistant city manager, formerly the city’s Human Resources and Risk Management Director, was appointed to the position in July. Perez became the first woman to hold the role in Plant City’s history. She wasn’t told that part until after she got the job.
“It was a really cool feeling,” Perez said. “You don’t realize it when you’re going through it because that’s just daily work, but then you hit that sort of accomplishment you’re like, ‘Wow.’ You’re almost humbled being near those types of figures Plant City has had. I’m very blessed.”
It’s been the most challenging time of her four years with the city. In addition to carrying out her duties as assistant city manager, Perez also continued to work double duty in the HR department while the city searched for someone to fill her previous role full-time. But the experience of learning so much about how the city works and getting to try something new in her 22-year career in government has been worth it.
“This is what I was hoping for, so it’s exciting,” Perez said. “Life throws things at you. Sometimes opportunities present themselves. You have to take a shot and go forward.”
Perez is particularly excited to see how Plant City will develop over the next few years. Though she’s not a Plant City native (she grew up in the Florida Keys), Perez called her first visit to the strawberry town a “beautiful surprise” and said the small-town feel drew her right in. That’s something she doesn’t want to lose. But now that the wheels of change are turning, Perez feels that the right people are in place within the City of Plant City to push things forward without losing that sense of place.
“Even though it’s a little scary to say, ‘Oh my God, are we going to lose that downtown home feel,’ since getting this role I feel a lot better about it,” she said. “I’m quite excited about it. In my view, it depends on the people at the helm and how they’re controlling that growth. I am super confident. We have such an amazing commission that really does care and is invested in our city. We have a city manager who grew up here… this is a really exciting moment and that’s why I took the chance of trying to get this role. I knew that was coming.”
Right now, Perez is focused on doing the best job she can in her new position. She doesn’t have much free time these days — she’s a self-described “workaholic” — but wants to help growth in another area when she finally gets some.
Perez doesn’t believe knowledge and wisdom should be kept under lock and key. She thinks it should be passed down to the next generations because, in her opinion, it’s good to leave something better than it was when you found it. She’s volunteered with children in the foster care system as a mentor in the past and would love to do that again for young people. If a young person is just a good role model away from being the next shining star in local government, or in whatever field their dreams are in, she’d love to do for them what her role models did for her growing up.
“I’ve been very lucky to have good leaders, good bosses and good supervisors that have been willing to share knowledge and offer support,” Perez said. “That’s how I got to where I am. You work hard and you try and learn as much as you can from the people that can give you that knowledge to keep growing as a person.”
Get to know Mercedes
What’s the best advice you’ve gotten?
Always be true to yourself. No matter what position you have or what choices you have to make professionally, you always have to stay true to yourself. You have to account to yourself at the end of the day.
What’s your favorite book?
Oh, the Places You’ll Go. I started college later in life because I had my children young. I started college when my youngest started high school. I said ‘We’re all gonna do this together.’ It’s funny because somebody gave me the book and I was like, ‘What is this?’ I think it has such an amazing message behind it. To this day, when my kids graduated high school, I gave them the book. When they graduate college, I give them the card that goes with it.
Who is a woman that’s inspired you?
My mother. She taught me to be strong, but she taught me to be caring, kind and respectful. She was a safety net, but she would always push to make sure I’d always keep pushing myself.
What do you hope to see change in Plant City in the next 10 years?
This might sound very corny, but I think more open communication on all sides. I am a firm believer that sometimes everybody has the best intentions to tackle a project in anything, but everybody comes at it from a different angle and they fail to take that step back to say, ‘Why don’t we tackle this as a team?’ One of the things that I’m seeing that I would love to see continue and improve upon is that open communication with different groups in the area… when you have that, you go in the right direction.
Which three words would you use to describe yourself?
Driven, compassionate and self-reflective.
What’s the hardest life lesson you’ve learned?
That you’re never gonna be perfect. That’s the hardest one I’ve had to learn. I’m very stubborn when it comes to that because it’s almost like you try and do the best you can, but it sometimes doesn’t work out because life just works that way. I’ve learned that it’s OK. I think that as you mature, you realize that’s just the way life is.