Anna Nordberg, Champions Luncheon Co-Chair

Anna Nordberg, co-chair

“The great paradox of becoming a parent is that your world shrinks in many ways,” says Anna Nordberg, a journalist, volunteer and mother of two. “You have less time and more responsibilities, but your perspective can also widen as you become increasingly aware of your surrounding community and the desire to give back.”

Anna, who serves on the board of Children’s Council, has always been a champion of child care. When she was eight years old, she wrote into a contest for kids asking what they would do if they were elected mayor of New York City. Her idea was universal day care. It didn’t win. The New York Times covered the contest, referring to her suggestion as “one of the loftier notions.” Her mother had to tell her that meant “unrealistic.”

Despite this early setback, Anna’s belief that all families should have access to affordable, quality child care remains intact: last year Anna served as Chair of Children’s Council’s Child Care Champions Luncheon. She returns as Event Co-Chair this year, along with Barbara Shragge, for the event, to be held on April 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“Barbara’s experience as a young widow raising her kids as a single parent is a moving and powerful example of why child care and support for parents is vital to our community,” she says. “The event honors heroes in early care and education, but in my mind, anyone who walks into the room is a child care champion.”

Anna started her career in New York as an editorial assistant at InStyle magazine. She later pivoted her focus toward children and families, landing a job at Cookie, a parenting magazine. As an editor at Cookie, her favorite part of the job was producing the “Smart Cookie Awards,” an event that honored celebrity and everyday mothers doing extraordinary work for women’s and children’s causes.

Years of working on these types of events gave Anna the opportunity to meet and learn from women who had seen a need.  She soon began volunteering with an organization that helped women and children impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Now, years later and ten states away, her focus on family issues has come full circle as she serves a vital role at Children’s Council while she raises two kids. Anna feels even more passionate about the connection between child care/early education and children’s success.

Anna is extremely excited to return in a leading role for Children’s Council’s Child Care Champions Luncheon. The luncheon celebrates a full range of advocates for early education, as well as child care providers serving families in San Francisco.

“Last year, we were so honored to have 300 people at a first-time event,” she says. “This speaks to the level of support and engagement with child care and early education in the city.” For Anna, the highlight was recognizing Delia Suarez as Family Child Care Provider Honoree. Delia has run her family child care business in the Bayview long enough to see many of her former kids go to college.

Anna’s dream is that San Francisco will become the first city in the nation to have universal child care, and pilot that as an example for rest of the country. Currently Anna is also working on a memoir about becoming a mother without her mom, who died when she was 17.

Join Anna, Barbara, the rest of our wonderful event hosts, and San Francisco’s leading child care advocates for what promises to be an extraordinary event on April 6. Click here to buy tickets now!