Rutherford County Mayor candidate Heather Ann Brown knows she is an underdog in this August’s election.

However, the candidate says, regardless of what transpires on Election Day, she wants to work to improve the lives of everyone in the county, and this includes major overhauls of the landfill, the probation system and the county tax rate.

A vote for Heather Ann Brown is a vote for yourself, the candidate tells a voter.

Murfreesboro Pulse: Tell us a little about yourself; what is your educational and professional background?
Brown: I was raised Southern Baptist and at a very early age every time the doors opened I went to Franklin Road Baptist Church. I was very young and sitting one Sunday morning by a gentleman who looked like he was 100 years old. Everyone had already started singing hymns and he was still fumbling to find the page so I just reached over, took his hymnal, found the page for him and gave it back to him. We never exchanged one word and I never saw him again. But I found out when I was in junior high school that this life champion fully paid my tuition and his Sunday school class ended up continuing to pay for my full schooling at Franklin Road Christian School.

When I was a junior in high school I realized that unless I planned to stay in the protective bubble of FRCS and become a minister’s wife, missionary, or in some type of service to FRCS that I had to go to another school so I could see another side of things. That’s what path the light chose for me and I’ve mostly followed that light because if I found myself deviating from where that light was leading I always was led back to the path it meant for me to follow. I went to Oakland my junior and senior year.

I realized early on, that I had to make my own way. I got my first job at 16 years old at Rally’s Hamburgers. After working fast food, I then switched to waitressing. When I was 17 years old I had to make a decision of whether to go to college for an art major and a minor in science, which I knew would put me in high debt, or go to cosmetology school where I could use my art talent, help people and learn from them. Attending cosmetology school forced me out of my extreme introvertedness.

I have run a very successful business for 15 years. Then a situation close to my heart required my full attention, so I tended to that. The light had led me to that point, and I then helped to solidify a non-profit called Ember’s Inc. Because of my natural tendency to want to learn and my attention to detail I was led to run for Mayor of Rutherford County. I see the need for a better way of doing things for our county. I was tired of hearing from our leaders what we’re going to do. I don’t want to hear “We’re gonna,” I want to hear “We did!” I don’t want to hear “We can’t,” I want to hear “We will!” and I don’t want to hear “We can’t save taxpayers money” or “things are fine and they don’t need to be fixed,” I want to hear “We saved you, the people, money because we fixed things or made them better for your family and community!”

Why did you decide to run for Rutherford County Mayor?
I saw a need that I’m uniquely qualified for and I saw that our community is not being served to its fullest potential. We have to look further than the now. We have to look at the now and beyond that, and we need leaders who keep in mind that they need to be setting up an infrastructure that the next leader that comes into office that takes their place can build upon. I see the ability to make things better, save taxpayers money, get revenue back into our economy and to turn our foreseen problems into assets. The people don’t want to elect and pay leaders who just talk about things and pass our community problems onto future leaders. The people want to see things done and their money spent wisely.

What would you like to see at the landfill and how will you accomplish that?
I would like to get an Eco Cycle; that’s an energy efficient electric generator powered by waste. Pair it with a medical grade water purifier to dispose of our waste that keeps our air clean that cleans our water, creates clean energy, creates jobs and creates revenue. We don’t need to pass our waste problem onto someone else to figure out and deal with. We’re always going to have waste, so let’s make it work for us and our community instead of it being one of our biggest problems. I am working on a presentation to present to the CEOs of Coca Cola and Nissan, leaders in Washington, medical investors, etc., to invest in this proposal, and I’m confident they will because it benefits everyone involved and it would be a first around here. Among other ideas, I will stop any superfluous spending, rework our budget and put money back into our local economy by phasing out our use of Providence Community Corrections and rerouting more of our court’s money back into our education system.

What is the biggest challenge facing Rutherford County and what is your plan to face it?
The biggest challenge facing Rutherford County is complacency and procrastination by our leaders and my plan is to show them another way, replace complacency with excited hope and to do it now instead of later.

For more on local elections, visit rutherfordcountytn.gov/election.