Lisa Song Sutton

Anthony Mojica

Lisa Song Sutton Lisa Song Sutton

Lisa Song Sutton, former Miss Nevada, United States 2014, is a candidate for U.S. Congress, Nevada District Four. Sutton is also an entrepreneur and the founder of Sin City Cupcakes, Ship Las Vegas and is a partner of Christie’s Real Estate right here in Las Vegas.

Sutton originally went to law school and worked in a law frm before assuming her role as an entrepreneur. It was something she did with full confdence and in her own way, which certainly is a trailblazing idea that she continues to use today as a businesswoman and Congressional candidate.

Opportunities are what you make of them. Following the status quo or the typical path to “become successful” doesn’t always work for everyone and isn’t representative of everyone’s everyday reality.

“I grew up with an overbearing, Asian tiger mom. So I was in every extracurricular activity you could possibly think of, tap dance, fute lessons, piano lessons, and all the things. As a result, academics was extremely important and then I had this overlaid time management soft skill that was embedded into me from age fve onward,” Sutton said.

Having gone to college and law school, Sutton worked at a law frm here in Las Vegas after she graduated. Fast forward to the end of 2011 when Dannielle Cole, the co-founder for Sin City Cupcakes, reached out to Sutton prior to their company being established and told her about the alcohol-infused cupcakes she had started baking. Sutton told her that moving from Florida to Las Vegas to start her business would be perfect since Vegas is a great spot to house a business centered around alcohol-infused cupcakes.

Now, Sutton is making her step over into the political sphere as she runs for a seat in the U.S. Congress, Nevada District Four. The chance to sit on a Congressional seat to represent Nevada is the ultimate opportunity that not only is meant to serve the people and better the community, but it’s also available to those same, everyday people. Sutton is one of those everyday Living LArge LV

people that wants to really serve and give back to the community she grew up in and see it fourish.

“It’s a whole new ballgame. It’s just been incredible, but really it’s rooted in my community work, so as a former Miss Nevada, philanthropy and getting involved in the community’s always been part of my lifestyle. It’s something I did growing up with my parents and church and then, you know when you realize that there’s a real opportunity to give back to your community in a tangible way, that for me is very fulflling. So, my run for Congress just came about with these unique sets of circumstances kind of looking around and realizing that there’s an opportunity here to serve the community in a larger way, in a way that really impacts on a day to day level. Frankly, I was looking around going ‘someone should run for this seat’ and I’m making phone calls and fnally I realized I spent a large part of my professional career as a speaker and a writer encouraging others to stand up for something they feel strongly

about and not to be scared of uncomfortable situations. I was like, I have to take my own advice and so, now it’s time.”

Sutton is a frm believer in representing, serving, and giving back to her community, which is evident through all her volunteer and nonproft activities she’s participated in.

“It’s about getting back to what the title is and that’s a public servant, it’s the House of Representatives. They’re supposed to be representatives for their constituents, representatives for our community and I think that once that’s lost, it’s so hard to gain that back. You need fresh perspective, you need some turnover in that, you can’t have people who have been serving there 10, 20, 30 years and yet, you’re getting the same result or worse. There has to be an opportunity for some fresh faces, for some fresh perspective and luckily, that has been the feedback through my candidacy,” Sutton said.

Unfortunately, the events that have occured over the past Month regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) have afected the campaign events and many other events as well.

“With the campaign, we’re obviously having to pivot. Just this month, we were supposed to be starting our really, very integrative and aggressive door-knocking program, activating volunteers and staf. Obviously, COVID-19 has changed that dramatically, so we’re going to be heading in the direction of voter outreach virtually,” Sutton said. “It’s not going to be the same being out and knocking on doors, being in person, but we’re going to be able to get our message out, reach voters in a diferent kind of way and that’s what we have to do. We’re very lucky to at least live in a modern time where we do have modern technology, so we’re going to use that to our fullest advantage.”

The digital era is aiding heavily in times like this as well as being a true voice for and of the people, which is something that Sutton feels she is based on her own values: the community.

“2020 is the year for people such as myself to step up and really serve in an elected ofcial capacity. I’m the only candidate that has a ten year track record of giving back to this community through job creation as an employer, community and philanthropy work, serving on boards, and doing all that without any sort of political lean or political agenda,” Sutton said. “This is home. Nevada is my home. Las Vegas is my home and I’m really excited to step up and be part of this opportunity to stand up for our community and encourage others like myself to come of the sidelines and get involved too. We have to have real people in government, we can’t have just these career politicians who are out of touch with the community.”

Having been Miss Nevada 2014, Sutton has had a number of experiences in the nonproft community and volunteering

world, especially here in Las Vegas. With her experience lending a hand in many different branches of the community, Sutton presents a great amount of competition with her competitors who don’t have nearly the same amount of philanthropy.

“Over the years, I’ve served on several boards, Mondays Dark, the Asian Community Development Council. Even during my time as Miss Nevada, United States, I was able to do early 500 community appearances and that entailed volunteering at schools, reading in hospitals, working with nonprofts. Through that experience, I’ve been able to continue my work with the nonproft community and it’s simply because of the strength of our local leadership,” Sutton said.

According to Sutton, the primary is on June 9 and the method of how people can vote will be addressed once the pandemic surrounding COVID-19 is reassessed as the date gets closer.

“We want everyone to turn out and vote. We’ll see where we’re at with COVID-19 as far as if they’re going to be having open polling stations or if we’re doing mail-in ballots,” Sutton said. “But, all of that information will be disseminated out certainly through our campaign updates and social media as well. June 9 is the day, but here in Nevada we have early voting as well, so people are going to start to receive their early voting, mail-in ballots in May.” Despite the situation, many online content creators are releasing guide information and books for free during this time spent indoors. Take this time to refresh your perspective and mindset to refocus on your goals.

“There’s so many resources online and incredible coaches out there and people who have resources that prior to all this, you had to pay for and the sum was large. It was expensive to gain access to some of these really fantastic courses and resources,” Sutton said. “Everybody is ofering their online stuf for free right now, so I would absolutely take advantage of that. We are lucky enough to live in a digital age with modern technology, so jump online and access all of these free resources, courses, even coaching. You can just download the information and get to work.”

Since this economic situation didn’t have a bad start, the United States, especially Las Vegas, has the chance to quickly bounce back from this temporary crisis.

“I think we’re going to see a huge bounce back. The rebound is going to be amazing and astronomical for everyone. Even in our business of Sin City Cupcakes, the reality is that the majority of our orders were completely cancelled because March is usually a very busy month for us, you have spring break, St. Patrick’s Day, March Madness,” Sutton said. “But what we’re hearing from our customers who have had to cancel or postpone their orders for now through March and April, ecmention ‘we can’t wait to get to Vegas, we’re going to be rebooking our fights for the summer.’

Lisa Song Sutton poses this past summer at one of her companies, Ship Las Vegas, on July 26, 2019 via the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Elizabeth Page Brumley

I think we’ll have a really strong summer and fall once the lockdowns and quarantines are lifted.”

Alongside this though, there are things to be hopeful about for the future of Las Vegas and the city’s rebound once we get over this temporary pandemic with COVID-19. “It’s important for us to keep an eye on the light at the end of the tunnel which is, this is a temporary situation and it’s hard right now and it’s unpredictable. But the constant denominator that we’re seeing from this having happened in other places in the world prior to it kind of ramping up here in the United States, and certainly here in Nevada, is that we are seeing the results of the backend - people heading back to work, businesses reopening, and people going back to living their normal lives,” Sutton said.

The Strip isn’t the only large attraction that draws business owners and tourists to Las Vegas. The city’s structure for businesses and companies is also a factor that draws people to want to operate a business out of this city specifcally.

People want to operate their businesses in this city for it’s fast-paced and constant environment, culture and community, and all the incentives that come with not only just being a Las Vegas local, but a Las Vegas business owner as well.

“Not only does it have those tax incentives that people enjoy, but importantly, because we’re such an international destination, you are able to tap into the best of both worlds, you could have a great local clientele, but have a strong tourist market and out of state clientele. We’re one of the very few cities that literally has year round tourism. There’s always a convention going on, some sort of event, a concert, I mean there’s always something going on here that’s bringing people here,” Sutton said. “So as a business, it’s not even that you have to attract people to Las Vegas, people are already coming here. Your challenge is cutting through the noise and getting your product or service in front of people who are already coming.”

While the hustle and bustle and lights of Las Vegas is what intrigues people about the city, Vegas also ofers more naturalistic views and other outdoor-type activities that locals and tourists both love. And, they aren’t even that far to get to, making these naturesque destinations feasible and attainable for people who want to get connected with our surrounding environment. “We’re so well situated. What people don’t realize is we have the rest of Nevada to explore and we have really cool places that make really easy day trips, right outside of Las Vegas,” Sutton said. “You could go to Pahrump, which is 45 minutes away and head to their winery out there, they have a really good golf course too. Or, obviously you know the Grand Canyon is only two hours away. Just north of us is Lincoln County, so it’s 90 miles north and you have fve state parks only 90 miles away from here. I think Red Rock is really accessible for us and it’s the frst one we think of, but we have fve state parks that are just 90 miles north of us, a really easy day trip, and it has lakes, Bald Eagles, all kinds of stuf up there. It’s pretty amazing and we have all that right there very easily accessible for us.”

Alongside the scenic and city views, Las Vegas also has a strong-tied, local community that is helpful and resourceful towards each other which locals have seen time and time again. Just like in other tourist cities, for the most part, locals have their own suburbs (Henderson, Summerlin, etc.) where they live which is separate from the tourist hot spots (The Strip). It’s in these little suburbs and neighborhoods where the Las Vegas community lives.

“We have such an excellent quality of life here. Not only is Las Vegas so business-friendly because we have no state income tax, low corporate tax, that kind of thing, but the community here. People are always surprised to hear how closely-knit our local community is; and we are, we’re Vegas Strong. You see it time and time again and it’s even occurring now during this emergency,” Sutton said. “The local community here, we care about our homes and our community, we care about each other and that’s really what I love about living in Las Vegas. We have access to all the big city amenities and the fun and excitement of The Strip, but then we also have a tight-knit, local community and we have so many resources around us.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Lisa Song Sutton, visit her campaign website at lisa4nevada.com and any of her social media platforms on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn @/LisaSongSutton. LV This is my home. Nevada is my home. Las Vegas is my home. We have to have real people in government, we can’t just have these career politicians who are out of touch with the community. “

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