By now you may have heard of an up and coming Winter Springs resident, Victoria Colangelo. She has certainly made her mark in a short period of time. You could have seen one of her many videos on social media in which she does a great job interviewing several of our city’s influential leaders.

Raised in Boca Raton, Florida, she graduated from UCF, loved our area, and made her home here. She majored in Business Administration with a specialty of Service Marketing. While in college Victoria was involved with a group called Society for Marketing Professional Services. She did a lot for this organization and soon became its president. Even before graduation, she was highly recommended by her professors to be an intern for a small “mitigation company” in central Florida and that’s where she went to start her career. She worked all the way up from intern to president. And then, six years ago, she left that job to start her own business called The Mitigation Banking Group, Inc. which does environmental consulting all over Florida.

Victoria had a proclivity for politics from an early age. She grew up with a political background. Her father served as city commissioner of Boca Raton and she would often tag along with him when he was involved with Parks and Recreation and other commission assignments. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she was taking it all in and learning valuable lessons for her future.

“Doing this kind of work is just in my blood,” said Victoria. As a schoolgirl, she ran for student government and was elected president of both her junior and senior class. Like father, like daughter.

In 2009 she attended a political leadership institute where she met Charles Lacey, prior to being elected as the Mayor of Winter Springs. He was so impressed with her talents that he asked Victoria if she would be interested in running for a commission seat in Winter Springs. Because she was in the process of moving to another home and not quite ready to become involved in city politics, she declined that possibility. But times have changed and Victoria is now quite ready, willing, and able to take on the job and has announced her candidacy for Commissioner of District two, where she lives.

Victoria has many pro-active visions for the future of our city. To begin with, she is reviewing the budget to make sure all things are in order, transparent and fiscally sound. Victoria plans on expanding the arts in our city, continuing the expansion of State Road 434 to reduce traffic, bringing in more and better restaurants, and most importantly, solving our water crises by using local potable water and enhanced water treatment technologies.

Victoria works closely with Bryan Bruce who is her fiancé, confidant, videographer and number one fan. They have a wonderful personal and working relationship. Bryan is also a graduate of UCF and has his degree in Communications. After graduating, he worked for the Marriot Corporation. He has an extensive background in radio, video and telecommunications. Bryan said, “Radio and TV has turned into Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. It’s a natural evolution from what I’ve learned, in order to convey what is happening using contemporary media resources.”

Victoria and Bryan have three children between them. They are Bella, age 16; Lily, age 12; and Briella, age 10.

Together, Victoria and Bryan are an unstoppable couple who set their sights high and can be very proud of their many solid accomplishments.