Tara Campbell prides herself on being prepared. At the end of 2018, the 25-year-old made history when she was appointed mayor of Yorba Linda, California, becoming the state's youngest female mayor in history. Nearly three months into her term, she’s focused on leading the city where she grew up and proving that her youth is an asset to city governance.

She acknowledges that being a younger candidate comes with added pressure, more than people might expect. When she first ran for City Council in Yorba Linda, in 2016, Campbell had already served on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission (during that time, she attended council meetings and diligently studied the city’s spending).

She was elected to the City Council in November of that year. After two years, the council appointed her mayor.

“I didn’t doubt myself in knowing how to do the job,” she tells Teen Vogue. “I grew up in this community. I knew that city budget inside and out.”

The November 2018 midterms marked a landmark election for women elected to Congress, and mayoral races also saw change. Campbell is part of a wave of younger, female, more racially diverse mayors who were elected to office at the end of 2018.

Municipal government is not known for being glamorous, particularly in smaller cities like Yorba Linda. The quiet, affluent suburb’s population of 68,000 is dwarfed by nearby Los Angeles’s population of nearly 4 million. Attendance at a recent City Council meeting was no more than 35 — and that was before four Eagle Scouts, whom Campbell recognized at the start of the meeting, sheepishly slipped out the back door. During the meeting, Mayor Campbell fielded questions from residents about water drainage infrastructure, the placement of traffic cameras, disease-bearing mosquitos, and progress on city construction projects, handily pulling up numbers from the budget or details from zoning laws.

Those tiny, behind-the-scenes decisions that make a tangible impact on people’s everyday lives excite her. “We focus a lot on the national level, but the local level is really where the rubber meets the road,” she says.

Growing up, Campbell was more focused on sports than on politics. She attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, hoping to study journalism. After she returned home from a summer internship in Washington, D.C., though, her outlook on politics changed. It was 2013, and the government shut down over the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, in Yorba Linda, there was an effort to recall City Council members from office.

“I was like, how is this happening in my hometown?” she recalls. She realized two things: first, that frustration and gridlock occurred at all levels of government. And second, that she might be able to make a much-needed impact at the municipal level.

“I wanted to help,” she says. “There [were] problems at home.”

Councilmember Peggy Huang, who was mayor in 2017 and now serves on the council with Campbell, recalls criticism that her younger colleague faced early in her campaign. “People said, ‘Well, she’s so young; she doesn’t even own a home; she just got out of college. I mean, what does she know?’” Huang tells Teen Vogue.

Huang met Campbell in 2014, at a local political leadership training program for women. She encouraged her to run for local office, and as mayor, Campbell has gone to Huang for advice.

“She knows her stuff, and you know she’s smart,” Huang says.

In Yorba Linda, as in many smaller cities, being a mayor is not a full-time job. In addition to her mayoral duties, Campbell works full-time as the communications director for Orange County. She takes calls and meetings as mayor on her commutes and during lunch breaks. On weekends, she makes visits to community centers, places of worship, and Little League games.