The Power Women of Fresno County

We met on a Friday morning. At the Downtown Club in Fresno.

A place often frequented by high profile officials.

And high profile they are: Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims,  Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, and Fresno Fire Chief Kerri Donis.

All seated at one table for the first time.

"Altogether in one place, this is the first,” Mims says.

We gathered them together to get their take on a unique situation…four women holding these top four positions.

"It is very unusual for fresno which doesn’t get represented as a more progressive place in the state to have some many women in leadership,” Swearengin says. “It is a pretty remarkable thing, I think we all kind of just snuck in there (laughs) and now women play a very prominent role in our community."

It’s a message of equality they hope is being heard loud and clear.

"I think it sends a message that your gender really should not dictate who you are or what you can do or set limitations for you,” Smittcamp says.

Not everyone has always seen it this way.

"When I first started people assumed you could not do the job because you’re a woman, if you were a man they assumed you could,” Mims says.

"When it comes to having men resist women in the fire service, of course that was there. It’s called change," Donis says with a laugh.

When asked if there was a moment in time that you had to tell someone to knock it off, this is what the women had to say.

"You know I didn’t have to. I think it’s not what you say it’s what you do and they got the message very clearly that I wasn’t going to tolerate the silliness that might go on,” Donis says.

A moment in time does stand out for Smittcamp.

It happened early on in her career in open court, comments made by an opposing attorney.

"I’m not going to be told what to do by this little girl and the judge in Madera much to his credit called a recess and called us in the back and told him I will hold you in contempt and I will arrest you if you ever disrespect a member of the bar or a lady or a prosecutor in my courtroom again,” Smittcamp recalls.

Smittcamp says that’s the only time in her 20-year career she felt a bias against her for being a woman.

Sheriff Mims admits it’s getting better in law enforcement, but has also experienced discrimination.

Asked about an example that sticks out in their minds of a time when they had to stick up for themselves, Mims recalls a moment from her first job on a small police force.

"In a way that many people may not expect. My first job was with a small city police department and I would get dispatched to calls and there was another police officer who would show up to every single call I went to and his feeling was he felt he had to protect me,” Mims says. “I had to put a stop to that."

Their best advice in dealing with sexism: speak up and don’t tolerate it.

But most importantly, don’t count yourself out, even if others do.

"If you are seeing things through your own prism of bias and expect others to have bias as well then you really set yourself up for failure,” Swearengin says. “I’m extremely grateful that I had a mom and a grandma who made it extremely clear to me that there were no barriers."

And family– to these women– comes before everything else.

"My biggest challenge in being a woman and being a female is being a mom as well as being the district attorney," Smittcamp says. "I try to never miss a game and I’ve seen the mayor out at baseball games in our baseball hats and in fact right after I was elected, I called the mayor and asked is it okay if I still go out in my sweats?”

“You have to! You absolutely have to,” Swearengin responds.

"We still get to dress like moms,” says Smittcamp.

“You get to go to the grocery store in your sweats. Yes, absolutely," adds Swearengin.

When asked if she ever thought about not running for DA because of that balance, Smittcamp says, “absolutely.”

"It’s true that was one of the most difficult challenges for me was to say, ‘yeah, I’m going to go for this because of trying to find that balance,” dDnis says.

"I remember when I was considering running in 2006-2007, my top consideration was this right for my family,” Swearengin says.

All of them tout supportive family and friends in being able to "juggle it all." Because trying to "balance it all,” according the Sheriff Mims, is impossible.

"Everyday you set your priorities and every moment you make a decision about what you need to be doing because if you’re worried all the time about finding balance that’s even more pressure on yourself. Having the support system to know sometimes I’m 110 percent here, sometimes I’m 110 percent here, but it’s not 50/50 all the time. I let young women know you’re off the hook for the balance thing."

These moms all too often get pulled away for functions, events or, in their line of work, tragedies.

"It breaks your heart when they’re asking when are you going to be home," Donis says.

When at the same time, their other family may need them more than ever.

Most recently for Chief Donis following the tragedy surrounding Captain Pete Dern’s fall.

And when tragedy strikes, no matter a man or a woman, a leader has to take charge.

"It’d be easy and it’s the most comfortable spot to set back and see how things go, but if you don’t step up the organization will spin out of control," Donis says.

Stepping back has never been their approach. They’re leaders, but moms first.

They’ve risen through the ranks and gotten past diversity.

They’re role models for women and girls, alike.

They’re the power women of Fresno County.