Photo courtesy of Anne Brensley's campaign

Anne Brensley came to America from Honduras when she was 3 years old.

To that point, her life had been hard.

“I literally didn’t have food,” Brensley told NewBostonPost. “I didn’t have milk. I didn’t have toys. I was ill from just lack of nutrition.”

Then it improved – a lot.

“I came from a lot of darkness and a lot of gray and a lot of poverty and a lot of filth, and everything about this country was about light,” she said.

Today, the Republican and former member of the Wayland Board of Selectmen is running for lieutenant governor in Massachusetts as a write-in candidate.

A single mother adopted Brensley and raised her in New York.

Her mother taught in the South Bronx. The two lived in a small studio apartment in Manhattan before later moving to Riverdale in the Bronx and then New Paltz, New York.

“Every year of my life got better,” Brensley said.

Her mother became sick when Brensley was about 9 years old. Brensley said watching her mother keep going shaped how she sees life.

Brensley is Jewish and said Judaism taught her the value of education because no one can take knowledge away from her.

“My relationship with God has been strong all my life,” Brensley said.

Brensley later came to Massachusetts to attend Suffolk University Law School.

She said law school challenged her because lawyers often think differently than she does. Still, she said it made her stronger.

After law school, Brensley built a career in real estate development.

She founded and leads DevCo North America and has worked on more than 100 real estate deals.

Brensley said she bought her first property in her early 20s and found she had a natural feel for the business.

“I specialize in properties that are really struggling,” she said. “I just have a good vision.”

Brensley met her husband, David Eyerman, a scientist, while she was in law school. He was working toward his Ph.D. at the time.

The couple has been together for more than 20 years and raised their daughter in Wayland.

“My daughter is in college now, so we are officially empty nesters,” Brensley said. “It’s why I can run.”

Brensley first got involved in politics at the local level because she believed her legal, business, and real estate background could help her town.

She said serving in local government taught her how much cities and towns depend on decisions made on Beacon Hill.

“The state’s purpose is to assist towns and make sure that they are best positioned for growth, for development, for education, for community engagement, for family support,” she said.

Earlier this year, Brensley's lieutenant governor campaign won the endorsement of the Massachusetts Republican Party at its state convention. More than half of the delegates backed her campaign.

But her campaign later ran into a ballot-access fight.

Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Brensley’s campaign says Republican operative Joe Bronske failed to deliver thousands of signatures he promised to collect. The campaign also says some of these signatures weren't real.

Brensley said she faced a hard choice when her campaign discovered the problems.

“I chose not to submit fraudulent signatures,” she said.

Brensley has continued running a write-in campaign for the Republican nomination.

Her top priorities include economic growth, parental rights, cutting utility bills, and women’s safety.

She said voters have brought up those issues again and again during the campaign.

“I see us as kind of this vast boat that needs to literally change directions,” Brensley said.

Whether she wins statewide office or not, Brensley said she hopes to make a positive impact.

“If I help make Massachusetts a better state, I will have won,” she said.