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She totes two Blackberrys. Her schedule is hectic. Her day’s plan is always subject to change, as when the mayor suddenly calls her for a meeting. (It took a month for this interview to take place.) But when she sat down in her office for the 30-minute interview, she was gracious with her time, relaxed and clearly on top of the city’s bright future.

“The mayor has a vision of what the city should be,” she said. “He wants Washington, D.C. to have an attractive business climate, and he wants it to be a world class city. Meaning, a thriving neighborhood, a 24-7 city, where something interesting is always happening downtown, with an attractive waterfront that brings in tourists–so we’re building sidewalks, bike walks, and hotels on the Southwest Waterfront.”

Meet Valerie Santos. Valerie became the District of Columbia’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in June last year–making history as the first female, the first Asian American and the first Filipino American to do so.

At 36, she is probably the youngest, too. All of these in themselves are head-turning, but one thing stood out: She was obviously qualified for the job.

“I believe we have hired the best and the brightest, and she will do a fantastic job,” Mayor Adrian M. Fenty was quoted as saying during the news conference.

Councilman Kwame Brown, (D, at large), chair of the economic development committee, issued a press release saying Valerie “has the experience and the operational knowledge” to do the job, according to the Washington Business Journal.

The job is crafting the strategy and implementing the mayor’s economic development plan. Valerie manages a development pipeline worth over $13 billion, composed of public-private housing, retail, office and parks projects throughout D.C.

The projects under the economic portfolio include: the $2 billion Southwest Waterfront redevelopment; the $1 billion redevelopment of the 10-acre former Convention Center site; and over $70 million worth of waterfront parks and infrastructure projects.

Valerie served for two years as Chief Operating Officer under Neil Albert, who was leaving the post to become city administrator. She earned her MBA at Harvard Business School and a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Before joining the District government in 2007, Santos was a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, where she specialized in urban public-private development. Before that, she was a manager with Ernst & Young’s real estate group and an associate with Hamilton Rabinovitz & Alschuler.

Valerie has a staff of 65. “I’m fortunate to have an incredible team,” she said. The team includes newly-hired people with technical skills, “and also the passion for what we’re trying to do.”

Her office oversees several agencies dealing with planning, consumer and regulatory affairs, business attraction and retention, job creation, and housing and community development.

These agencies include the Department of Small and Local Business Development, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Planning, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, and the Commission of Arts and Humanities.

Anyone could find such responsibilities and challenges daunting. Not Valerie. She recalled the inspiration from her parents, who came to this country “with very little,” and overcame their difficulties.

She credits Albert, her predecessor, as a mentor or (career) coach. She recalled her first job in San Francisco, California, working with Jane Mirikitani, a Japanese American. “She was the wife of the civil rights leader who ran the nonprofit, and that was my first exposure to a powerful, dynamic woman,” she said. Mirikitani was a wife and mother. She also helped run the nonprofit and was an artist, too, performing poetry.

24-7 City

Valerie said downtown D.C. was traditionally residential. It is undergoing transformation, with new offices and retail business. “The goal is to create a dynamic and vibrant 24-7 environment,” she said.

“We are very aggressive about marketing the city to entice groceries and retailers, and also providing incentives and helping with permits,” she added.

She talked about the Anacostia Waterfront, with its infrastructure and parks projects. She got excited about “bringing jobs to the city, construction and permanent jobs, as well as achieving policy goals, such as removing blights,” or lands that have just been sitting there for years.

She said building “10,000 units of affordable housing,” which started in 2007, is on-going. “Over the past year, we have also built quite a few beautiful parks and recreation centers.”

There are plans to increase the workforce. The city has 600,000 residents, with 340,000 working in highly-skilled jobs or in the federal government. “There are not that many entry level jobs,” she explained. “So our focus is, how do we tackle the problem of jobs gap–by developing the public school system, having a viable vocational college, and promoting job training.”

She and the mayor communicate every day. In fact, a scheduled interview with her was reset when the mayor called her for a meeting. “It’s great to have the support of the mayor,” she said.

The economic development plan also includes several housing and mixed-use projects of all sizes, located in neighborhoods throughout D.C. Among these are the proposed O Street Market in Shaw, the redevelopment of the Minnesota-Benning Metrorail Station site and the multi-site New Communities Initiative.

Recently, Mayor Fenty and city officials launched the first phase of Waterfront Station, “a multi-phase, transit-oriented, mixed-use project in Southwest D.C., incorporating new street retail, two new office buildings, new public plazas, and the newly restored 4th Street.”

Located at the Waterfront/SEU MetroRail station, on 4th and M Streets SW, Waterfront Station will ultimately consist of 1.2 million square feet of new office space, about 1,000 new residential units, underground parking and up to 140,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving specialty shops and services, as well as restaurants.

“We were pleased to be able to keep Safeway and CVS open onsite throughout the construction phase, because they are so critical to the Southwest community,” said Deborah Ratner Salzberg, president of Forest City Washington. Several new retailers and places to eat will be locating at Waterfront Station. Subway, the popular national sub shop chain, will open this month.

Family

Valerie is the only child of Dante and Milagros Calub Santos of California. After graduating from Santa Clara University, she traveled to the Philippines to experience the culture of her parents.

She went to her mother’s province in southern Philippines. She taught English to college students in Ateneo de Zamboanga. She laughed as she recalled her parents’ reaction to her salary, a mere pittance at the equivalent of $120 a month.

“My parents are very supportive of me,” she said. Her parents never told her to become a doctor or a lawyer. Nor do they nag her about getting married and bringing them grandchildren.

“I look forward to someday having my own family,” she said, smiling. Just not right now. Not when you’re in charge of a $13-billion economic portfolio – and a once-in-a lifetime chance to help transform the world’s capital into a world-class city.