By Justin Adams | [email protected]

There will be two new faces on the Sandy City Council this year, after a bit of a reshuffling occurred during November’s election. Zach Robinson, who previously served as an at-large city council member, opted to instead run for re-election to represent District 3. Taking his place as one of the council’s two at-large representatives (meaning that they represent the whole city) will be Brooke D’Sousa.

D’Sousa was born and raised in the Salt Lake Valley, and has lived up and down the Wasatch Front her whole life. After working in the financial services sector for 17 years, she shifted career fields to real estate, in part to secure a better balance between work and family. That change resulted in her paying closer attention to community issues.

“I was interested in learning about the cities around me, so I started paying a little more attention so I could provide an extra level of service and knowledge,” she told the Sandy Journal. 

In 2017, she participated in Sandy’s Citizens Academy program. Also participating in the course that year was Zach Robinson, who successfully ran for city council at the end of the year. 

Around the same time, D’Sousa said she started regularly attending city council meetings. She quickly became a familiar face in the council chambers, where meetings are sometimes sparsely attended. The more she attended, the more she realized that she could see herself up on the stand.

“I realized I had the knowledge and the background to feel that I was qualified to do the job,” she said. 

As opposed to some candidates who get involved in city politics because they’re upset over a specific issue in the community, D’Sousa said she really just wants to give back to her community.

“I think Sandy is an incredible city. I have overall enjoyed the direction that the city has gone. I’d like to see it continue on that prosperous path. I really just have a desire to serve,” she said.

D’Sousa brings to the council her experience in finance, real estate and also as a local business owner. An avid quilter, she decided four years ago to open an online fabric store. She also completed a business degree from the University of Utah in 2020. 

Those skills will certainly come in handy as she works with the rest of the council to tackle the many issues facing Sandy City. Among those issues, D’Sousa said are taxes and affordable housing—two of the top priorities mentioned by Sandy residents as she was out knocking on doors during the campaign. 

One advantage D’Sousa will have as she joins the council is the fact that she’s already been able to cultivate relationships with many of her new colleagues simply by attending meetings over the years. That will be crucial, she said, because nobody can accomplish anything on the city council on their own.

“I recognize that the council functions as a team; no one can really do anything on their own,” she said. “Relationships are incredibly important, relationships where you can have tough critical conversations where you can still be productive and walk away as friends.”