Candidate for
Council Member; City of Los Angeles; District 4

Tara Bannister is running to represent the people of the Fourth District because she believes City Council needs to have a bigger, bolder, and brighter vision for LA than it does now. City government can do better on the basics + like safe communities, accessible sidewalks, quality roads, and spurring new economic development + but Tara believes that by working together we can reach even higher. Tara is on a journey to ensure that Los Angeles is the very best place in which to live, work, and raise a family, and that LA residents can afford to do so.

Tara Bannister learned the value of hard work from her father, Cedric Joseph Bannister, who, working as a silversmith in Ireland, collected scrap shavings of silver from the floor each night until he'd accumulated enough to buy a one-way ticket on a ship to America. Mr. Bannister would eventually meet Tara's mother, Jeri, a professional musician and teacher, and raise their family in Turners Falls, Massachusetts.

Tara immediately fell in love with the City of Angels when she moved here 25 years ago as a freshman at USC. The city's rich diversity, creative energy, pulse of ingenuity, and warm welcoming people cemented Los Angeles as Tara's choice to make home and find her own California dream. After receiving a degree in political science, Tara's hard work and boundless enthusiasm propelled her through various campaign roles and eventually to being senior advisor to the Governor of California.

A veteran communications and engagement professional, Tara has worked with nonprofits in the community advocating for awareness of HIV and AIDS, and has helped guide clients on developing relationships between those who work and those who live in her community. She's helped several entrepreneurs start small businesses, and she is currently on leave from the National Apartment Association, where she directs all affairs for the western United States.