Meet Murri Briel!

My name is Amy "Murri" Briel.

I was born and raised in the Illinois Valley, to a hard working, open minded, caring family.
My Dad is a Korean War veteran, retired IBEW electrician who worked at Libbey Owens Ford
for 40 years. His championing of labor went back to his father’s close involvement in the merger
of the AFL-CIO. He would often boast I was his only child that wanted to walk a picket line
before I was 6. He is currently in the LaSalle County Veterans Home with Alzheimer's. My mom
is a farm girl who is the youngest of 4 raised by a single mom. Her family immigrated from
Ireland to the Valley almost 200 years ago to become farmers. They still farm that same land
today. She went to school in a one room schoolhouse, which I also attended years later. Her
family didn’t have running water until she was a sophomore in high school. Despite those
hardships, she was a dedicated volunteer in the community whether it was delivering meals on
wheels, working for the Farm Bureau, or fighting for environmental protection.

I start my history here because my family made me understand tireless work, community
involvement and passion for helping those in need. Not everyone is as fortunate to have grown
up with such amazing role models — and I've never taken that for granted.

I attended Wallace Grade School and Ottawa High School where I was involved in the Arts,
Music, Speech and Athletics. After Graduation I moved to Normal Il to attend Illinois State
University. There I competed on the Forensics team, and studied Philosophy and Psychology
with minors in Women’s Studies and Political Science.

After ISU, I moved to Lisle IL for a career and met my Husband of 22 years. From the moment
we knew that we would spend our lives together, we wanted to move back to the Valley and buy
my family home. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any economic opportunity for our fields so we built
careers away from here. Over the next 8 years, I worked in human resources, recruiting, and
human management software. I made a move into social service and non-profits, we had our
three sons, and have been in that arena ever since. When our boys were born, we wanted to
move back to the Valley but our sons are autistic and have severe asthma. There were no
programs in the area that supported their development needs nor was there specialized medical
care and we couldn’t move back.

I always knew we would move back to the Valley one day so I ran for Congress, in the 2018
primary for Illinois 16th Congressional district. Instead of disappearing after an unsuccessful
run, I stayed active in the party by becoming a PC, Illinois Democratic Women of Will, and
continued working on issues that matter. I was also Public Strategy consultant for Plainfield
Public Library Referendum, Plainfield District 202 Teachers, Citizens for Responsible
Transportation, and IFSWS - Islamic Foundation of Southwest Suburbs. I also worked on
political campaigns in management positions for the Will County Coordinated Campaign,
Micheal Crowner - State Senate, and Lance Yednock for State Representative.

I have wanted to serve this area, this community, for many years. When my family and I moved
back to the Valley, I went to work for Representative Lance Yednock as his Chief of Staff serving
the 76th district. I’ve seen the challenges and opportunities our district faces and believe that my
knowledge, skills, personality and compassion will elevate the issues the district faces so that
Springfield will take action.

By running for this seat, I aim to contribute my passion to make a
meaningful difference in the lives of the people I seek to represent.