Nabeela Syed's Journey from Graduation to Governance

Some may say that it takes wisdom to serve a nation, and since wisdom often comes with age and experience, this can be daunting for the young Nabeela Syed, a hopeful resident of Palatine, who ran as State Representative of Illinois District 51 at the age of 22.

However, having wisdom is not the only defining factor of a great leader. It also takes vision.

While wisdom may come in years, the vision starts when we are young. Years of trials, successes, and the accumulation of knowledge may help us gain wisdom, but it takes a dream filled with curiosity and hope to create a meaningful vision.

This was Nabeela Syed’s starting point: a vision for Illinois. When asked to enumerate, Nabeela gracefully enumerated her top legislative priorities, “[One], lowering the cost of prescription drugs, [two], maintaining investment in our early childhood education and public education system, and [three], reforming our tax structure.” Understanding that change does not happen overnight, she shared that she is addressing this one item at a time. Still, she understands the urgency of having these fulfilled, saying, “I can see that our families are struggling to afford the basics, like healthcare and a home mortgage, and it's imperative that we bring those costs down."

Vision meets action

Between wisdom and vision, either is useless without action. So, after graduating from college and completing her studies in Political Science, she realized how crucial it was to elect someone that will help progress the community. “I think the State Representative position was one we really needed an improvement in-- so I decided to run myself after a nudge from a great friend of mine who is also from the Palatine community,” she recalled.

Once in position, Nabeela chose to maintain an on-the-ground approach to making sure that she keeps in touch with her constituents. “My office prioritizes getting out in the community,” she said. “At least once a month, we host Mobile Office Hours where we set up a table in our local libraries and meet with constituents.” Apart from that, they also actively participate in fairs, community events, and conduct door-to-door outreach to ensure that people are informed about the resources available at the district office

However, what happens when the opinions are diverse and often, opposing? Nabeela answered that they make sure to document everything. She elaborated, “So, when I am making those decisions down in Springfield, I can look and see what our constituency says before taking that vote.” The effort does not stop there as they are also looking for ways to ensure that they hear from folks who may not be as likely to reach out. They do this through targeted community engagement or by working with organizations that may work with folks in our community.

Oppositions and Opportunities

Listening to the people may be the most crucial part but it only gets half of the job done. Initiating laws to realize these desires can be faced with significant opposition. Nabeela experienced this when she received a striking pushback from pharmaceutical companies for working to create the Prescription Drug Affordability Board. 

“I believe that these pharmaceutical companies have been able to price-set in low-competition markets for far too long without any oversight, and this policy could change that for the better,” she explained. Although the legislation did not pass last year, Nabeela is still proactive with her stand. “I think we handle it by continuing to work on the legislation -- It is important to have those conversations, debate the facts, and change minds.”

With an open mind, she understands that some good policies will take time to pass and some will face pushback when there are companies who will be negatively impacted. “We just need to decide what our priorities are, determine what we believe is unacceptable, and change it.”

By having this mindset, they have made remarkable efforts to make their office accessible to the younger generation. She elaborated how they run a  Youth Advisory Council where they “bring high school students together once a month to discuss legislation currently making its way through the state legislature, and we have them debate on a District 51 community budget, where they actually get to dole out $1,000 to community organizations in our district.” Students enjoy this kind of involvement as they learn more about state budgeting. She also proudly shared their other programs such as the District 51 Fellowship Program and the Internship Program which gets students even more involved with our office. “In our first year and a half, we've really gotten to know our young people, and it makes us feel like our future is bright.”

Personal and professional goals

Vision may stretch our horizon in the far future and action may make us move towards that, but it is through goals can we measure if our actions have met our vision. Nabeela shared that her current goal is to really enjoy her job.”Right now, I just really enjoy my job. And it is a big job! I love this community-- I feel connected to this community, and I would be honored to get to continue to do this job. I think that's already a pretty good goal,” she expressed.  She believes that she still has a lot that she can do to help achieve larger goals for the district, like promoting development, supporting small businesses, reducing property taxes, and increasing housing opportunities. “We are doing well, but we have potential. Potential to do even better,” she said filled with hope.

With her big goals for District 51, it makes anyone wonder how she balances her personal and professional life. To which Nabeela admitted that it can be hard. The saying, “You can't take care of anybody else if you don't take care of yourself first” has become tried and true for her. She then expounded: “How good of an advocate can I be if I don't know myself first? How good of a debater can I be if I can't keep a cool head? And hey-- I'm only 25! I lean a lot [on] my family and friends to be my support system.”

Truly, Nabeela Syed’s journey from college graduation to district governance has been a testament of vision and action. It was her vision to propel towards a meaningful future that made her take action and make it come true. 

This was evident when we asked for her advice to the young generation who wish to enter politics: “Prepare, but don't prepare forever. Be confident, but don't be too afraid to be wrong. You know when you're ready to go for it; it's okay–it's good even–to trust yourself. “ 

Nabeela is aware that her case of running at 22 is not the norm, and she assures that it is okay to not start as young as she was. But she believes that there is a need for people in the office who actually care for the people. So, if you are ready for the challenge, she leaves this advice: “Please feel empowered to take that leap!”