Thank you for your support and votes! It has been my honor and privilege to serve my beautiful home community on the Select Board in Provincetown, and I look forward to the next chapter of public service.
With much appreciation,
Lise King
Lise is proven leadership for Provincetown - preserving our past, preparing for our future.
In my tenure on the Select Board, I have worked consistently and tirelessly to represent and raise up all of the voices in the community - workers and business owners, young and old, life-timers and newcomers.
Thank you for your votes to continue our important initiatives and works in progress, and so I can champion your concerns every day as we emerge from the pandemic and tackle the big issues facing our town.
I’m honored to be your Select Board Member, and am so grateful for your support!
Thank you,
Lise
I have decades of public policy experience
and a Master in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2011). I then spent three years as a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy (2011-2014) and continued with classes at Harvard Business School (social entrepreneurship), MIT (media) and Harvard VES (documentary film).
I have worked at the local, state, federal, and tribal level on a range of policy issues including public health initiatives with the Great Lakes Intertribal Council, a Great Plains tribal wind energy consortium with Sen. Tom Daschle, Safe Schools Initiative and education policy with the Bureau of Indian Education (Department of Interior), national Native Get Out The Vote efforts with the Democratic National Committee, and many more.
My former husband and I founded and published The Native Voice newspaper, which became the largest independent Native American newspaper in the nation. I served as traveling press on the Kerry for President campaign in 2004, and on Obama for America campaign in 2008. I held White House press credentials throughout the Obama administration and reported from the White House during tribal leadership gatherings.
Provincetown, for me, (like many of you)
…is my forever home. I first experienced flying down the dunes as a young child (yep, that’s me in the orange and yellow bikini with my aunt Nancy Pearlman, my cousin Jack Newman (his dad was Malcolm Newman of Starving Artist’s Studio), my mom, Provincetown artist Bunny Pearlman, owner/operator of The East End Gallery for 25 years, and my great grandmother Jenny Criss.
(Some of you may also have known my uncle Harry “the Hat” Pearlman who was a bronze artist alongside Carl Tasha and owned The Waverly store, his kids Cid and Rafe, auncle Lazlo Pearlman, and aunt Edie Pearlman who was an expert in African art and owned Kudu and LLama Galleries with her wife Sherry Dranch)
My parents divorced when I was eight and my sister, Jahna Rain and I then began the inter-parental shuffle between mom in Provincetown and dad in Sarasota, Florida. We spent summers, holidays, and some winters in Ptown, and as an adult I have lived in other places, NYC, Los Angeles, South Dakota, Boulder, CO, and Cambridge, MA while at the Harvard Kennedy School, but have always come back to my maternal childhood home. And coming full circle, I have raised children in Provincetown and I am so blessed to be able to spend time with my mother who is now 82 and lives down the block from me.
I have been lucky to land back in the Safe Harbor
And this is the ONE home I have, the community where I am committed to being of service, to giving back heartily to this place. No matter how many years I serve, it will only be a fraction of what this place has given to me and my family.
After living in town on-and-off for many years, I also came back here after my own divorce in 2009 and began a new journey as a single mom. I feel so fortunate that THIS is the place my mom’s family chose to live, and that she raised us here amongst the arts and cultural community.
My children both went to local schools (VMES aka Provincetown Elementary, Nauset Middle, Nauset HS, Sturgis West) and have followed the artistic family tradition - my daughter, Shiala studied with my mom and others (including Bert Yarborough and her “Uncle Arthur” Cohen) and is now a painter, graphic designer (we collaborated to create my campaign signs) and entrepreneur. My son, Nathan studied at PAAM in the Art Reach program and then apprenticed with Romolo Del Deo as a sculptor. His first bronze sculpture was chosen for an exhibit of contemporary Native American artists at the Berta Walker Gallery. Nate is currently a physics major at UMass Honors College and has been taking classes from home during the pandemic.
(Photo of Nathan Balk King, Provincetown, 2009)
Preserving this magic of this place is personal
to me and my family. The rich history, the vibrant culture, exciting summers and the solitude of the winters - all placed within the context of this most precious geography.
My top priority as I serve this town is always to find the balance between holding the past and reaching for the future. We can honor our traditions and the layered history of this town AND build the economy and housing, support the small business owners and workers AND community-level economic interests, preserve the environment AND take action on critical infrastructure development. But these efforts take mindful action to build consensus and a respect for the complex nature of our community.
My background in public policy, community development, and social impact combined with my deep understanding of our community gives me a deep well of experience to draw upon in my role as Select Board Member.
I always advocate for the health and well-being of the community AT LARGE and work to include ALL VOICES at the decision-making table. I know the struggles of being a single mom and entrepreneur (at the same time), have built successful businesses, and then went back to get my masters degree as a mid-career. I know what it means to work hard in order to succeed, and I am 100% committed to working for Provincetown.
(Photo of Shiala King on the dunes, 2018)