Former California Environment Secretary Linda S. Adams

In Her Next Life, She’s Going to Rock Out

Linda S. Adams is a senior advisor at Sacramento-based consulting firm Clean Tech Advocates. She served in cabinet-level positions with three California governors, including as California Environment Secretary from 2006 to 2011. Before participating in a panel on the future of the 710 freeway in Southern California, she talked chai tea lattes (her guilty pleasure), the profession she’s going to practice in her next life (rock star), and what she doesn’t miss about working for governors (the pressure).

Q:

How do you like your eggs?


A:

Scrambled. With lots of stuff in them.


Q:

What keeps you up at night?


A:

Work. I’m a night owl, so I do my best work on the computer at midnight.


Q:

What profession would you like to practice in your next life?


A:

You mean when I’m reincarnated? [When you get the do-over.] I would like to play the fiddle in a female rock band. I should say the violin; the fiddle’s more country-western. Or any rock band!


Q:

Do you have a good luck charm?


A:

Yeah, I have a couple of them. I’m wearing two of them now—my yin and yang [points to a necklace and a bracelet].


Q:

What don’t you leave home without?


A:

My glasses?


Q:

What animal would you want to be?


A:

Probably a bird. They’re beautiful, and they’re free … as long as I wasn’t in a cage.


Q:

What’s your guilty pleasure?


A:

Chai tea lattes.


Q:

Where would we find you at 9 p.m. on a typical Friday?


A:

At home, watching TV.


Q:

What’s hanging on your living room walls?


A:

My artwork from China.


Q:

What don’t you miss about working for a governor?


A:

Just the hours and the stress. The pressure.