About Ocean
I was born in Dunedin and grew up in St. Petersburg. My family has called Florida home for generations, with roots stretching across the state, including Sebastian, Gainesville, St. Petersburg, and the Tampa Bay region.
When I was five years old, my family moved back to Florida from Chicago to live with my great-grandparents, John and Ethel Jones. They became some of the most important people in my life. My great-grandfather served as an Air Force pilot during the Berlin Airlift, and my great-grandmother spent much of her life supporting her family as a military spouse.
Growing up surrounded by several generations of my family taught me something that has stayed with me: every generation inherits the decisions made by the one before it. That is true for families, and it is just as true for Florida.
Learning How Systems Affect People’s Lives
Public service wasn’t something my family talked about in theory. It was simply the work they did.
My grandmother spent many years as a social worker helping people with disabilities navigate difficult situations. My mother is a librarian at the University of Tampa, where she helps connect people with information and educational resources. My father has spent his career as a solo attorney helping people understand and work through complicated legal systems.
Watching the people around me made me realize that government is not just politics. It is the collection of systems people rely on every day: schools, roads, emergency services, courts, utilities, and public institutions. When those systems work well, people can build better lives. When they fail, ordinary families bear the cost.
An Unconventional Path
I attended Sam Rampello Downtown Partnership School and Northeast High School before beginning college at Rollins College.
Like many people, my plans changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I left school while helping care for my great-grandmother as she struggled with dementia. That experience reinforced something I had already begun to understand: life rarely follows a straight line, and public systems matter most when people face unexpected challenges.
I later returned to school through St. Petersburg College, where I am completing my bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Administration and expect to graduate in the fall of 2026. My studies have strengthened my belief that good government is not about reacting to problems after they occur, but about planning ahead, building resilient institutions, and making decisions that leave future generations better off than we found them.
What I Believe
I believe government exists to make society function well.
That does not mean government should try to control every part of people’s lives. It means government should do its responsibilities competently, transparently, and responsibly.
People should be able to trust that roads are safe, schools are strong, infrastructure keeps pace with growth, emergency services are prepared, insurance markets are held accountable, and local communities have the flexibility to solve local problems.
I also believe elected officials should have the political courage to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions, and think beyond the next election cycle. Florida is strongest when its Legislature includes people willing to bring different experiences, perspectives, and ideas to the table.
Why I’m Running
I’m running because I believe Florida deserves leadership focused on the long term.
Our district faces challenges that cannot be solved by slogans alone. Transportation affects our ability to get to work, visit family, enjoy our parks, and participate in our communities. Poorly planned growth strains infrastructure and increases costs for everyone. Rising insurance, housing, and utility costs make it harder for families to build stable lives.
I believe in planning before crises become emergencies, investing before infrastructure fails, and holding government accountable for delivering results.
My campaign is built around three principles:
Stability. Build communities that are prepared for the future rather than constantly reacting to the present.
Accountability. Ensure government, insurers, and public institutions follow through on the responsibilities they have to the people they serve.
Affordability. Address the underlying causes of rising costs so Floridians can build secure futures without being priced out of the communities they love.
Florida has given my family opportunities for generations. I want to help ensure it remains a place where future generations can build their lives with confidence, knowing the systems around them are working for them, not against them.
What I’m learning from
I believe public service should start with curiosity. No one person knows everything, and I think good leadership means staying open to learning.
These are a few educational creators and channels that have helped me better understand science, technology, energy, government, and the world around us.
Public Education and Civic Knowledge
CrashCourse
CrashCourse is one of the best examples of free educational media on the internet. Its channels cover history, government, economics, science, literature, philosophy, media literacy, and more. I appreciate CrashCourse because it makes learning accessible without making it feel shallow. It has become a resource for students, teachers, classrooms, and anyone who wants to better understand the world.
CrashCourse Government and Politics
A helpful introduction to how American government works, including institutions, rights, elections, political parties, and public policy.
CrashCourse U.S. History
A broad overview of American history, including the conflicts, movements, failures, and progress that shaped the country.
CrashCourse World History
A way to understand civilizations, power, trade, religion, war, culture, and how societies have changed over time.
CrashCourse Economics
A clear entry point into markets, labor, inequality, public policy, and how economic decisions affect real people.
CrashCourse Sociology
A helpful introduction to how societies, communities, institutions, culture, inequality, family, education, and social systems shape people’s lives. I appreciate it because public policy is not just about laws on paper. It is about understanding how people actually live within systems.
CrashCourse Media Literacy
Especially important in the modern world. This helps explain how information spreads, how people are persuaded, and how to think critically about what we see.
Science, Education, and Big Questions
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Kurzgesagt creates animated videos about science, society, technology, space, health, and humanity’s future. I appreciate the way they take enormous questions and make them understandable without losing the sense of wonder behind them.
PBS Digital Studios
PBS has built a wide collection of educational channels covering science, history, nature, culture, space, and public life. I value resources like this because they make high-quality educational material available to the public. Channels like these are used by students, teachers, schools, and lifelong learners as a way to better understand the world.
PBS Eons
PBS Eons looks at natural history, evolution, prehistoric life, and the long story of life on Earth.
PBS Terra
PBS Terra focuses on nature, climate, wildlife, and the systems that shape the planet.
Veritasium
Veritasium explores science, engineering, physics, and the way we understand the world.
Law, Rights, and Accountability
LegalEagle
LegalEagle explains law, courts, constitutional issues, legal procedure, and current events in a way that is accessible to people who are not lawyers.
History, Democracy, and Public Life
Heather Cox Richardson
Heather Cox Richardson helps connect current events to American history. I appreciate her ability to explain political moments in a broader historical context, showing that today’s debates did not come out of nowhere.
Understanding history matters because public life is shaped by the decisions, conflicts, and institutions that came before us. The more we understand that history, the better prepared we are to protect democracy and improve it.
Energy, Infrastructure, and the Future
Undecided with Matt Ferrell
Undecided looks at clean energy, housing, batteries, solar, and emerging technology. I appreciate that it asks not just what is exciting, but what is practical, possible, and worth building.
Practical Engineering
Practical Engineering explains infrastructure, water systems, roads, bridges, stormwater, and the built environment. This is the kind of information that matters deeply in a growing state like Florida.
Media That Has Influenced Me
Logical Fallacy Monsters By Blique (great reference guide and explanation of many varieties of logical fallacies)
The Plagiarist
One of my favorite novels because it reminds me that our understanding of the world is always incomplete. The story explores how people’s entire sense of reality can be challenged, encouraging humility, curiosity, and respect for perspectives different from our own. It also celebrates the importance of preserving culture, because culture is ultimately the story of people, and people are what matter most.
Why This Matters to Me
Florida is facing serious questions about growth, affordability, water, energy, education, infrastructure, and long-term stability.
I do not believe elected officials need to pretend they know everything, in fact I believe this is to be counter productive. I believe they should be honest, curious, and willing to keep learning.
Good government requires humility. It requires listening. It requires understanding complicated systems and caring enough to keep asking better questions.
Note: This page is a personal list of educational creators and channels I enjoy. Listing a creator or channel here does not imply their endorsement of my campaign.