Judge Lilla Szelenyi on Politics, Finding Balance, and How To Change The World The Well-Balanced Fish

Think of the qualities of a person running for public office: driven, hard-working, earnest, honest, and yoga teacher certified? In the case of Judge Lilla Szelenyi, yes! So often we think politics and our vote doesn’t matter, but Lilla sheds some light on how our civic action has a much more far-reaching effect than one would think. Her personal and professional history is as colorful as our conversation with her. She spent her childhood under an oppressive Communist Hungarian government, experiencing the tragic cliche of lining up for bread every morning. After moving to Australia, where her dentist mother served the aborigine population and eventually settling in the United States, she created a career in law while still managing to throw a few major personal milestones in there. She has completed an Ironman and is a certified yoga instructor, a job she is still doing now while working as a judge and running for Superior Court in Alameda County.