Conversation with the Wives of the Berks County Commissioners

Commissioner Christian Leinbach chats with the wives of the three commissioners — Jennifer Leinbach, Zylkia Rivera, and Sharon Santoni — about their experiences, perspectives, and roles as the spouses of Berks County Commissioners. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome to another edition of County Connection. I'm your host, Burks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach. We have a fun, for me it could be potentially frightening, uh program today, something I've never done before. Uh, an idea that actually my wife suggested, and so our guests today are wives of the three Burks County Commissioners. I want to welcome Zilkia Rivera. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Christian. I'm happy to be here. And Sharon Santoni. Thank you for having me. Pleasure. And my wife, Jennifer Linebaum.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Oh, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Oh, well, I'm glad all of you are on the show. Uh, I think there's probably a little bit of fear and trepidation among my colleagues, uh, Commissioner Rivera, uh, Commissioner Santoni, but uh, they even agreed this could be a lot of fun. So we want to have a conversation today. Uh I don't want anyone to feel any kind of pressure. I I wanted this to be a fun, great, enjoyable interview. And so why don't we start at the beginning? And I'm gonna start with each of you, kind of where did you grow up? Uh, what shaped your outlook on life, your marriage, and when did you, if you didn't grow up here, when did you come to Burks County? Start with Zokia.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Sure, sure. Um, I came to Burks County, uh, actually to Pennsylvania in 1996. And um I'm originally from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and um I'm uh fully bilingual. Uh when I uh first came, uh it was hard to communicate. I had that that barrier, but I kept working hard and here I am.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

You're you're doing great. How did you meet Michael?

SPEAKER_03 2:07

I met Michael in Puerto Rico uh at a taekwondo school. So for those of you who don't know, Michael is four then in uh taekwondo. So he can defend himself really well. He owned the school too. Yes, he owned a school. Uh his dad uh uh took uh uh the taekwondo uh to Puerto Rico and he opened different schools and um that's how I met him. Um actually we enrolled um my sister in Taekwondo classes and he was the instructor that had to come and and give her the test. And then he um found me there. Yes, yes. My sister passed all her tests.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Very good. And when were you married?

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Uh we got married in 1994 in Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Children?

SPEAKER_03 2:59

We have um two children. Andrea, he's 25 and Adriana, she's uh 20.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

And what do you do for a living?

SPEAKER_03 3:07

I have a wonderful team under Keller Williams uh Platinum Realty. Uh we have uh six great agents, and uh we strive to serve the community in uh the best way possible.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Great. Well, we're glad to have you on the show. Let's go to Sharon. Tell us a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up? Uh how did you and uh Dante meet and tell us about your family and any of your professional experience?

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Okay. Well, I'm born and raised in Berks County, really haven't lived anywhere else. Um so that could be boring, but it's not necessarily twist and turn to it all. But um uh so I am one of the fortunate few that um have done the whole North 13th Street education. So from 13th and Union all through Albury College. Um I grew up really at one point on the campus of Albury College and then up a few blocks off of Kelshner Field. Um I met Dante. We knew we had a lot of friends in common in high school, although we went to different high schools, uh, but met each other later at a Berks County famous watering hall, third and spruce. Oh yeah, West Reading. Yes, yes. And um that's kind of weird. Oh, what I did for a living, um I'm retired now. Right. I um I worked in senior housing for over 25, maybe close to 30 years, and then I worked in home health care at the end of my career, all in sales and marketing.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

And family?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Family. We have two daughters, one in Philadelphia who's 25 years old, and one in South River, New Jersey, who is 28 years old.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

About to get married at the end of the summer.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Oh, well, congratulations. Thank you. And Jennifer, tell us about your background and experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Sure. So I was born in Southbend, Indiana, and I met uh I met Christian in college, and it's kind of a funny story. We were in a German class, and we weren't sitting right next to each other, and we used uh our German names, so you were Nicholas, and I was Yuliani, and uh it was only through trading papers, quizzes to grade in class that he discovered my real name and who I was, and we started dating them. We got married right as we graduated. We have three children, Matthew, Laura, and William, and we have three great four grandchildren, um Gracie, Logan, Darby, Ophelia, and number five is coming around Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Wow, very exciting. So being the wife of any politician, uh, and I know that has different contextual meanings to different people, but we are elected officials. What is that like? What what's the good? Um I don't know if I want to get into the ugly, but what are the challenges? What's the good part? Uh who wants to jump in and talk about the experience of being the wife of a Brooks County Commissioner?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

All right. Thanks, ladies. I think what I like the best is you're really part of the fabric of the community. And being the wife of a commissioner means that you get invited to a lot of uh a lot of events, a lot of organizations, and you meet the people who really care about our community the the most. They put their heart and soul into it, they look for opportunities to serve, and when you go to these events, it just gives you so much pride in our community and how many good people there are trying to help either improve the community itself or the lives of others.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Positives. Let's stick with the positives. Who wants to jump on next?

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Sure. Uh I love the fact that uh Michael is uh bilingual and bicultural, and uh he's able to understand uh different nationalities, different people that come to our uh Burrs County area uh because he's very diverse. So he's by being bicultural and bilingual, he's able to serve So bicultural. Yes, he's half half uh Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch and half Puerto Rican.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Yep, and he calls himself Dutch Orican.

unknown 7:49

Yes, what else?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, what else would you call yourself? But that is a good point.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Yes, so that I like the fact that he's able to help uh at the individual level also, uh not only the community as a whole, but he has that heart to help individuals uh as they their constituents as they come into the office with uh different issues. If he doesn't have the answer, he tries to find the answer for them and connect them with the services and resources that they need.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

How about you? What is it that you like the most?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I'm gonna take off of what you said a little bit because I feel like education is one of the greatest assets of being uh married to or being um in any form of politics. I always said my husband, I feel like got a master's degree in many subjects because you you and maybe not quite a master's degree, but you you got a broad education on a lot of uh opportunities and assets within the community. So um I I really and of course as well I did along the way. I I learned a lot about um what opportunities there are out there, things I would never know about the community. We got to travel, we got to be part of community events, I got to be able to belong to community organizations and be a part of them. Um, that I probably wouldn't have had that opportunity had I not been married to him. So uh it's it's opportunity and education that I think is um has been my greatest enjoyment of what he's done for a living.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Before we get to what you like least, let's talk about the balance, family, and the role of county commissioner. The one positive is we don't have to go to Washington, D.C. We're not at the federal level. Uh I just can't, quite frankly, imagine the challenges and pressures that puts on a family. But there still are pressures that a family feels as a result of having uh a mother or father, frankly, in a public elected role. Who wants to tackle that?

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I guess it's my turn, huh? Go ahead. Since I threw you under the bus earlier, I guess I should take it. But um I I think the challenge is trying to keep your family grounded um and keep the family in a family role uh and normal and not not thinking they're special, not putting too much on pressure on them to be something that they're not or they don't want to be. Um so you know it's always that balance of keeping everybody um on an even playing field or going in the right direction, I guess, is another way of of putting it. Um so I I think it was hard for my daughters, although there were times that people asked my daughters what their father did for a living and they didn't know. I don't know. I don't know what he does. So so that was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

I know his title, but I have no idea what he does.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Uh I believe the the difference that uh we made uh by having the support of our children, um, and have Michael having my support, was uh to make the decision as a family. So ever since he uh presented the opportunity to run as a commissioner, uh we involved the children. He asked me and we had a a meeting, we talk about the pros and cons, and and we made the decision as a family. So now that he's uh a county commissioner, no, they they know that uh they have to support their dad. And uh we also try to involve them uh at the different events. I go with Michael to different events. Uh we can make them to all of them, but at least uh we we share as a family in in that way, and we haven't had uh uh issues after we involve the children with with the decision making.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

I think that's an important point. Uh that's one of the things that all three do pretty well. Often uh the three of you meet at events because unlike many politicians that I know, uh you never see their spouse or rarely see their spouse. Uh with this group, it's very common. Uh even conferences, uh County Commissioners Association. I know all three of you have been have been uh up to conferences and be able to spend time time together as well.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

We have a good time.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

We we certainly do.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Jennifer, the balance.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

The balance. You know, I w I think you're in a partnership with your husband and you want him to succeed, and you want to spend time with the family as well, too. I would say the only tough part of it is sometimes the holidays. If it's Fourth of July or it's Memorial Day, or it's Veterans Day, there's going to be a parade. There's going to be a speaking opportunity. So you just Or multiple parades. Yes, multiple parades. So either you go along or you take your family with you and you enjoy it together. You find ways to keep the family unit together, and usually it's a lot of fun. When it comes to conferences, um Sharon and I at w at uh just this past summer, you and Dante were involved in uh whitewater rafting, and Sharon and I went to Falling Waters and we had breakfast together and we had a great time. When we're up at Hershey, um Zilke and I, we like to have fun, and we'll get together during that time as well, too. So it's really a fun opportunity, and I can tell you that both of these ladies are my friends, and I really enjoy spending time with them.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

One thing we didn't touch on uh that impacts our relationship is you have a full-time job. I don't think you mentioned what that is, and that often requires travel.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

It does. Thank you for mentioning that. I am I'm so blessed to work for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. I oversee their technology investment office. And so a lot of times I'm traveling all over the Commonwealth to visit stakeholders and our colleges and universities and seeing what's going on in the field of innovation and new technology. And sometimes you get to come along.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

I do, I do.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

And uh but it is, I think the word that's consistent is it takes takes balance. So what's the toughest part of being the spouse of Michael, Dante, and myself? Who wants to tackle that one first?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

I think she hit it holidays. Being able to, I mean, I I had I don't have any family left here in Berks County, so it doesn't involve just going down the street or going to another neighborhood. It me it involves traveling to another city, which cuts out the whole day because one of my brother lives on the other side of Washington DC, and that traffic's pretty much a nightmare, so you know you count two full travel days. Um so you can't do that. You really can't, um I guess you can, but I mean you you don't want to do that, and um, so it's very hard to um have holidays like everyone else does.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yes, I I think uh not being able to make it to all of the events that he gets invited, or I mean we get invited, uh it's it's kind of sad because sometimes you see uh the person that invited you at another event. Oh, you didn't go to the event that I invited you, but we we can only do so much. Um and that's uh that that would be a challenge right there, not not being able to go to everything that we we get to be invited.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Sometimes it's hard because it's uh being a county commissioner is a very public, very stressful uh position. And sometimes get your husband gets beat up a little bit, either by the press or the media or the public, and they don't they don't have a full understanding of the issue or what's happening, and seeing them carry that burden is kind of hard sometimes. I mean, you know, if it's just if it's one thing, you just kind of you let it go. But if it's something that's really high pressure and dear and dear to them, that's hard. And so for us, how we try to cope with that is uh pray through the situation, talk with friends, and then sometimes you just need to get out and take a walk. Go, uh, I know Christian, you like to go up to Hawk Mountain up there and just walk through there, and that's a that's a real an easy way for you to kind of blow off steam.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Yeah, very good point. So let's switch gears. Um, what are your favorite places, restaurants or other types of destinations, celebrate or just uh you and your husband to go out for dinner? Who wants to tackle that? Some favorite places in Berks County.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

I uh I do love um to go out and eat. I I do like to cook, of course, don't get me wrong, but but going out to eat is special too. Uh so I I love uh Platinum Cafe uh right there.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Um Cross from First Energy Stadium, yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Yes, and um I also like uh GJ Pizzeria and Bakery. Uh he's uh actually one of my clients. We helped them uh it's been established there in uh on Main Street, uh 500 block on Main Street in Blendon. And um we love clingers uh at the airport. Yes, at the airport. That's great. The the the wings there are amazing, and uh we also like salute. Ah, Giovanni.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

You want to go next to it?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Sure. Well, if it's a if it's a date night, the best place is Gracie's 21st century cafe. Very good. Gracie's Ciatis is just it's um there's over in Pine Forge. Pine Forge. There's nothing like it. It's it's uh it's like a a five-star Michelin chef, Mediterranean food, very eclectic, but she makes you feel so welcome, you're never rushed, it's fantastic food. Uh that's where we would go for a date night. But one of the things that Chris and I like to do is uh sometimes in the evening, maybe a Friday night or on a weekend, we'll go and pick up some takeout and we'll go to uh Berks County Park. We've sometimes we've gone to Blue Marsh and just just take out our folding chairs and just have a kind of impromptu picnic and enjoying Berks County's finest destinations are really our park systems. And what's your favorite takeout? Oh, pizza.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Anything Italian is what I would say.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

And Christian loves fried chicken.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yes, I do love fried chicken.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

You have a favorite fried chicken, please?

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I I hate to admit it. I Redner's fried chicken is really good, but my favorite fried chicken, and I know this will get me in trouble, is Popeyes. Oh I just of and they're original, not the spicy. I just I love their fried chicken, and I'm a dark meat person, and she loves white meat. So we get our if we get a rotisserie chicken, it's perfect. She eats the white meat, I eat the dark meat. How about you, Sharon?

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Um, so I would say our favorite fancier um date night because it was our first date, was it mom? Chapy's spreading off the circle.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Italian food.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Italian food. My husband's obviously 100% Italian, so he I've always loved Italian food, but he's grew up on it. Um, so that's one of the best. Um unfortunately we lost Willoughby's, which was a favorite fancier place to go. Um looking forward to seeing what the new place will be like. Um and then casually we um because we live, we live in the old Vandy Fair complex, and um we can we have the world's our oyster, we can pretty much hit anywhere. Um Building 24 is a big favorite of ours to just go at the end of the night. Um and um they have a nice event space if you're looking for to do events, and it's easy for us, we walk back and forth, but um Penn Avenue is West Reading Penn Avenue's any choice. A lot of choices they are are our favorites. We like the good old bar cart and uh pretty much any place there on the avenue.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

So let's talk about some hobbies and pastimes. What is a hobby or a pastime that recharges you, Zelkia?

SPEAKER_03 21:17

I uh love to dance.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

That is true. What kind of dance? Salsa?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Uh yes, I like uh salsa, bachara, merengue, which is uh Hispanic dances. Um I dance at any type of.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

And what kind of a dancer is Michael?

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Michael. I uh already taught him uh two of the styles, and it's there's one to go, which is salsa, and I'm very hopeful that he's gonna learn. And I also invited Christian and Jennifer to come along. And we have a day to learn how to salsa, so I hope they accept the challenge.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

So that's what you love as a Pastime. Skip, go to Jennifer. What is your favorite pastime that recharges you?

SPEAKER_01 22:08

I love to cook and I love to try out new recipes, especially from the New York Times cookbook. But anything, I just love to cook and try new dishes, and it brings me great pleasure to have like small dinner parties and just to share food.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Sharon. So that's one of my little secrets. I'm a needlecraft person. So I knit, I crochet, I do other things right now, mostly knit and crochet. So that's if I'm tired, that's what I'll sit down and do. I also like to walk along the trails over by the museum, and even I just like to walk up and down Penn Avenue. That's uh fun to do. Um I also um do a little bit of painting.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Oh, great. Art, what type of art?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Uh I I work in acrylics mostly, but I just started to um work again with watercolors. Oh, okay. I always found them very challenging, but now I'm um giving it another whirl.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Great for you. Uh in the roughly four minutes or so that we have left, uh what special skill or talent does your spouse have that Brooks County may not be aware of uh that you want to share? This is the one that's question that scares me the most, but uh, who wants to jump on this first?

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Well, I I will. Uh my husband likes to bring people together. Um he's very good at uh maintaining, starting and maintaining friendships over long periods of time. So um, and it comes down to loyalty because he's a very loyal person, and so it's a lot of fun when he meets new friends, and I get to meet them, meeting his old friends, some of whom I know, some of whom I didn't know, and so it is uh I think that's one of his special talents. Great.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

I have to say that uh Michael is a great husband, he likes to help around the house, and that makes a big difference. Uh that's uh uh one of the secrets of staying married for 31 years. So he um yeah, we we help each other around the house with the kids, and yeah, that's that's so you make a great team.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Great, yes, Jennifer.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Well, I don't know if you know this, but my husband likes building projects. Actually, we built our own log home with the with the help of friends and family. Um he's built other things around the house. Uh recently, a couple years ago, he enlarged our deck and put a roof over it. The project that everyone knows about is the tree house for the grandchildren. That is almost wrapped up. And it's really funny because nowhere wherever we go in the community, the first question out of everyone's mouth is how's the tree house coming? So he's a great builder, he's he's great with construction.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

So, real quickly, we're like down to a minute and a half. What do you bring to the team that people may not know about? Zokia.

SPEAKER_03 25:31

I am passionate about the community. I uh work for nonprofit organizations for 10 years, and um my um idea of of being here in the community, I I have a successful business, but it's not only for me. I want to be able to give back to the community and help in a greater way, and that's what I I bring to the community. I love to be involved uh with the Hope Rescue Mission and the Lighthouse Center for Women and Children, and um that's um uh who I are, who I am.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Sharon.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Um I'm gonna use the word stability. Um I try to keep everything down to earth and grounded and keep our family together and try to keep things running as smoothly as possible. Your job is very demanding as in any form of politics, so you can't have things go awry in your personal life because you have too much going on in your professional life, so you just try to keep things going um a nice even keel for the whole family.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

30 seconds.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

I think I'm an encourager. My dad was an encourager, and I think he really instilled that skill and that desire for me to just to be somebody who encourages others in their walk.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this very special edition of County Connection. I hope that you now understand that the women behind the men that serve Burks County are amazing ladies. And I want to thank Zilkia, Sharon, and my wife Jennifer for being guests on the show today. This is your host, Commissioner Christian Leinbach, saying thank you for joining us for another edition of County Connection.