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Susan Talamantes Eggman was born on March 3, 1961 in Castro Valley, California. Her father ran a fruit stand, while her mother, an immigrant from Mexico, worked first as a telephone operator and then a hospice social worker. Susan spent most of her childhood on a farm in the Central Valley, observing firsthand how difficult mental illness can be. She watched both her aunt and her high school girlfriend struggle with significant mental health issues. While still in high school, Susan began her decades-long career in mental health working as a milieu manager at Crestwood Manor, a skilled nursing facility for patients with severe mental illnesses.
Upon graduation, Susan spent time in the military, then earned a bachelor’s in psychology at Stanislaus State. After college, she worked in a drug and alcohol program in Turlock, California. Shortly thereafter, her mother suddenly fell ill, so Susan balanced caretaking with grad school. She earned her PhD in social work at Portland State; with her mother’s help translating, she interviewed families all over Central Valley about how Mexican Americans navigated end-of-life care in the American healthcare system. Her mother watched Susan defend her dissertation right before she passed. Susan started teaching at Sacramento State in 2001.
Although Susan loved mentoring students in the classroom, when she watched Bush’s election and then subsequent invasion of Iraq in 2004, she became determined to show her students the importance of standing up for their beliefs via political action. Starting with joining the Stockton City Council in 2005, Susan pivoted to politics and held an impressive career across the Stockton City council, California State Assembly, and California State Senate for over the next 12 years.
Susan focused primarily on expanding mental health care access, as she knew firsthand the consequences of an inadequate system. She advocated for Laura’s Law to ensure people at risk of endangering others would be required to medicate. She launched the Lanterman-Petris Act to help people access mental health care rather than locking them in prisons where they would be deprived of that care. She helped pass SB 43 to expand the definition of “gravely disabled” to include people with mental illnesses that prevented them from maintaining their own health. She also passed Proposition One to fund more housing facilities to support people in the state mental health system.
Holding steadfast to her belief that environments shape individual and community growth, Susan was also a staunch advocate for environmental protection. She worked on multifamily recycling programs, as well as a project to build solar panels on roofs of lower-income families. Susan’s other important contributions include Get Fit Stockton, Take Back the Parks, expanding Archest Discovery Challenge Academy to NorCal, and numerous literacy drives.
Throughout her political career, Susan remained out and proud of her identity as a Latina lesbian. She served in the LGBTQ Caucus and the Stonewall Democratic Club, where she gave out scholarships for queer kids, hosted leadership training in queer communities, and always advocated for queer and BIPOC leadership in public service positions. Susan concludes her interview with a call to action for political participation and leadership, especially among the upcoming generation of queer young adults.
