Today we’d like to introduce you to June Cutter.
June, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Orange County, California as the only child of South Korean immigrants. My parents believed in the correlation between effort and reward, worked tirelessly to achieve their American Dream, and truly saw this nation as the land of opportunity. By their example, this value system is also deeply ingrained in me and drives almost everything that I do as an attorney, as an entrepreneur, and most recently, as a political candidate.
I went to an all-girls Catholic high school. As soon as I could drive, my mom enrolled me in summer classes at U.C. Irvine. I took college-level political science classes every summer, participated in Junior Statesmen of America, competed on the debate team, and served as the Treasurer in student government. I suppose all early signs pointed to a career in politics, but I took the long road to actually get here.
Thanks in part to all those summer credits, I was able to accelerate my college education and had my bachelor’s degree, law degree, and master’s degree in Business Taxation completed at the age of 23. I immediately began my career in civil litigation, working for small and medium-sized law firms in Orange County and Los Angeles for the better part of a decade.
My husband and I met during my last semester of law school, shortly after the tragic events of 9/11 rocked our great nation. Compelled by a sense of duty to serve his country, my husband joined the United States Navy and became a Naval Flight Officer. We married in 2006, just as he was finishing flight school, and spent 20 of the first 36 months of our marriage apart as he completed two overseas deployments. The Navy moved our family to San Diego in 2009, and we have been here ever since.
In 2011, my husband returned to civilian life and I left my traditional law firm job to be my own boss and help my friend Justin Reden grow his boutique law practice in Rancho Bernardo. We have come a long way since then – we have physically expanded our office twice and we continue hiring more associates and paralegals to accommodate our growing civil litigation practice. My own practice is focused on employment law – defending employers in a wide variety of labor lawsuits.
After 15 years of working as a civil litigator, I decided to take my law practice part-time and pursue a passion project in 2017. I’m pretty sure my husband thought I was crazy when I told him that I had taken the afternoon off from lawyering to start a professional organizing business, but he supported me nonetheless.
Simply Cutter is a design-based organizing service that helps families stay tidy and increase productivity through functional systems for every room in every home. I built the business from scratch and grew it through social media and good old-fashioned word of mouth. I have organized homes throughout Southern California, from San Diego to Los Angeles. Taking an overcrowded pantry and turning it into a magazine-worthy spread is one of my all-time favorite things to do.
In January of 2019, Netflix aired “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” and my business, along with many other professional organizers throughout the country, started to take off. Families were lining up to declutter their homes and I became really excited about growing Simply Cutter as part of this new, booming industry.
It’s funny where life takes you in moments like these.
On January 24, 2019, after narrowly winning his bid for re-election as the State Assemblyman in District 77, long-time Republican Brian Maienschein announced that he had re-registered as a Democrat. As a mom raising two kids in this District, and as a long-time constituent who, like many others, had grown tired of his palpable absence from the District, I was not pleased with the Assemblyman’s party switch.
I vowed to whole-heartedly support the strongest, most viable, fiscally conservative, business-minded candidate who stepped up to run against Brian Maienschein. Of course, I did not initially think that candidate would be me. Despite my youthful interest in politics and government, I had never in my adult life considered running for public office. I was genuinely surprised to find myself being presented with the option of running for this seat, but then it was like lightning struck and I was immediately convinced that I could do it. Because my District needs someone like me. Someone with real-life, real-world experience who believes in opportunities: providing them, seizing them, and seeing them through the finish line by hard work and sheer determination.
I am proud to be an attorney, a business owner, a wife and mom, and President of the PTA at our local elementary school. I am also proud to be the California Republican Party’s endorsed candidate for State Assembly in District 77. My campaign is all about putting the interests of our families, our communities and our businesses before special interests; about making sure that the government works for the people, not the other way around. I am committed to fighting for San Diego’s middle-class families and ensuring that our state’s economy remains sustainable for our children and future generations.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely been a road with plenty of twists and turns. The times that stick out most in my mind are the times I have taken blind leaps of faith and somehow, things have always worked out because I trusted my gut and made each of my choices for the right reasons.
First, I took the leap from a traditional law firm job to be a self-employed attorney. Next, I took the leap from a full-time law practice to be a part-time business owner. Most recently, I took the biggest but most fulfilling leap of faith to put a pin in my business and serve my community as a candidate for State Assembly.
Alright – so let’s talk business. What else should we know about your work?
Simply Cutter is my passion project, but my roots are in the legal profession. Reden & Reden, APC is a full-service civil litigation and business law firm located in Rancho Bernardo. Over the past eight years, we have assembled a team of attorneys and paralegals who are all extremely bright, hard-working, ethical and trustworthy.
I am most proud of the fact that I was able to assist Justin Reden in building this firm with the utmost integrity, and that we have developed a client base that values us for our honesty as well as our advocacy.
What were you like growing up?
I remember being a confident and outgoing kid, even though I really had no reason to be any more confident or outgoing than anyone else. I think this had a lot to do with my parents telling me that I could be and do anything I wanted as long as I was willing to work hard for it. Even as a teenager, I was driven and principled, always seeking out leadership roles and placing myself in a position where I could be a part of the decision-making process.
But I had a creative side too – I loved to draw and create designs. I would sketch out dresses and dream homes for hours on end. My kids do the same thing now, and I know they get that from me.
I distinctly recall my 6th-grade teacher reprimanding me for “playing with my stuff.” She simply could not understand why I needed to rearrange all the items inside my desk. Looking back, I have been organizing spaces my whole entire life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.simplycutter.com, www.redenandreden.com, www.junecutter.com
- Email: info@junecutter.com
- Instagram: @junecutter
- Facebook: @junecutterAD77
- Twitter: @junecutter
Image Credit:
Sweet Child of Mine Photography, Simply Cutter
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
