Let The Locals Decide What Happens in Our Dunes

Debbie Peterson moved to Fresno, California from the Midwest with her family at the age of 11. She spent one year as journalism major at CSU Fresno and transferred to the University of Idaho, graduating with a BS in PR (Communications). After graduating, Debbie helped her mother launch The Brownie Baker in Fresno, CA and then moved to Glasgow, Scotland where she was a marketing and Public Relations executive for a national bank and two advertising firms. She worked to develop and test soft drink products and conducted market research on specialized yachting products. In 1984, while on an entrepreneurship course at Glasgow University Debbie launched the award-winning California Cake & Cookie Ltd., based on her mother’s business. The company quickly grew to 85 employees and to distribution throughout Britain to airlines, trains, supermarkets, restaurants, independent retailers and caterers and also exported to French supermarkets. After branching out with multiple subsidiaries and brands, a trucking company and London distribution center Debbie sold out to a management buy-in and worked as a management consultant for several UK development agencies, working with business startups, business planning, public relations, business transitioning, manufacturing and food production. Debbie is the author of the California Cake & Cookie Cookbook, distributed nationally in the UK through Barnes & Noble and Great Scotswomen in Business. In 1998, shortly after her son, Jonnie was born, Debbie relocated to Grover Beach, spending two years brokering California boutique wines to European wholesalers. In 1999 Debbie teamed up with her mother to form Peterson Team Realty. As a broker, Debbie now employs two full time agents, two assistants and also is a subcontractor to right of way contractors. Debbie served on the Grover Beach Planning Commission from 2005-2008, as a city councilmember from 2008 to 2012 and a two year term as Grover Beach’s first directly elected female mayor from 2012 to 2014. As a member of the council marketing subcommittee Debbie helped develop the City’s new logo, marketing materials for the fiber optic cable for the City. She also advised on the development of the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments logo. During her term she worked with a joint authority team to gain coastal commission approval for the City’s Beachfront Hotel and Conference Center and successfully defended an appeal of the project to the Coastal Commission. She has championed the creation of the fiber optic network in Grover Beach. Debbie has served on the boards of Visit San Luis Obispo, participating in the creation of the Savor the Central Coast event; the Housing Trust Fund; and the Grover Beach Chamber of Commerce. Other board positions have included the San Luis Obispo County Council of Governments, San Luis Obispo County Regional Transit Authority, South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District, San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District and San Luis Obispo County Economic Vitality Corporation. As a communication major, it was important to Debbie that government meetings be accessible to the public, that the public be given a full hearing, and that the process could become less intimidating. She also championed transparency above and beyond the legally required standard, and often intervened to ensure that at least the minimum standard was honored. Debbie is trusted to tell the truth - whether people want to hear it or not - believing that no change can happen without first working from what is really going on.