Talena Michels

Tazewell County Board District 1

Hi! I’m Talena Michels!

I grew up in North Pekin and am a ‘94 PCHS Graduate. I spent most of my 20’s in Chicago and I returned ‘home’ in 2008. We purchased our forever home in Pekin in 2018. It’s almost a mirror image of the home I grew up in!

I have been married to my husband, Justin (who is also a ’94 PCHS Grad) since 2010 and we have two boys, Silas and Sawyer who attend Wilson Intermediate. Our home is a zoo that includes 2 Boston Terriers (Quigley and Carrie), 3 cats (Frog, Toad and Princess Peach), a Russian Tortoise (Slow Poke Tomato), a leopard gecko (Candy Cane) and about a dozen small-ish snakes who are mostly unnamed.

My interests include zookeeping (see above), ancestry research, hiking/camping, scrapbooking, and (apparently) home improvement projects. My guilty pleasures are salty snacks, Doctor Who, and anything true crime.

I am a bookkeeper for a local commercial real estate company. Over the last 17 years or so I have been involved in just about every aspect of Real Estate from section 8 residential leasing to commercial development. Fun fact, JB and MK Pritzker were my tenants when I worked in Chicago! They rented a home in the Gold Coast from the company I worked for while doing construction on theirs.

I served on the Pekin Zoning Board of appeals from Feb 2019 until appointed to the Pekin Tourism and Beautification Committee in Nov 2019. I remain on this fun committee! I also founded a philanthropic group called 100+ People Who Care – Tazewell County in 2019. This group is currently on hiatus due to the continuing covid pandemic.

I have proudly served as a precinct committeeman, a voter registrar and an election judge all here in Tazewell Co over the last several years. I can’t say enough good things about our poll workers here in Tazewell County! They work really hard to ensure our elections are fair and accessible. My favorite part of being a voter registrar has been registering brand new US Citizens as voters immediately following a naturalization ceremony.

I would be honored to represent District 1 as a member of the Tazewell County Board.