SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — When Monica Montgomery Steppe was sworn in as the District 4 San Diego County Supervisor in 2023, she made history — becoming only the second Black elected official to serve on the board, and the first Black woman to ever hold the position in the board's 171-year history at the time.
"Of course, I always wanted to do great things with my life, but I never thought this would, this would be it, so I'm very grateful to have landed here," Montgomery Steppe told ABC 10News.
Growing up in southeastern San Diego in the 1980s and '90s, Montgomery Steppe said she was surrounded by examples of leadership, even if they didn't come with a title.
"I saw black women leading everywhere I went, right, but they were leading sometimes in the classroom or in organizing or some of the areas that didn't get as much notoriety," Montgomery Steppe said.
Her parents were among those early influences.
"They were, are, business owners in San Diego and have been for a very long time. They were always in a position where they had to advocate for fairness and equity in the business arena," Montgomery Steppe said.
Those lessons guided her to elected office. She was first elected to the San Diego City Council in 2018 before taking her seat on the county board in 2023 — a seat that carries the legacy of Leon Williams, the first Black San Diego City Council member, and later, the first Black county supervisor.
"Oh, I love Leon. Just a wonderful, wonderful man," Montgomery Steppe said.
Williams, who passed away last March at 102 years old, had a message for Montgomery Steppe before she took office.
"I know you'll do a great job. There's a lot of good that can be done on the board. There's a lot of influence that you can create and make visible for many people. Sometimes, just being visible and helping showing way is what people need," Williams said on a recording.
Montgomery Steppe said she carries that spirit with her every day.
"That's really a big part of his legacy, was that we should put that love and care into action within a bureaucracy and within government," Montgomery Steppe said.
After Williams left the board in 1994, nearly 30 years passed before another Black elected official held a seat. And in the board's entire history, since it was first formed in 1852, no Black woman had ever served — until Montgomery Steppe started her term in 2023.
When I asked her what comes to mind when she considers how long it took for someone like her to reach that seat, she didn't shy away from the weight of that reality.
"I was very grateful to be the first Black woman in this seat, but also it's sad that we have a history of almost 200 years where a Black woman had never occupied a seat on the Board of Supervisors," Montgomery Steppe said.
For Montgomery Steppe, representation is not just symbolic — it is tangible. And as she carries forward the legacy of Leon Williams, she is focused on defining her own.
"One of change. One that draws more people to government because they trust that we are there and here for them. That's what I want my legacy to be," Montgomery Steppe said.
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