Oscar Gutierrez: From Newsroom to City Council

Councilmember Credits His Success to the Support He Received at Santa Barbara City College

Branded Content Presented by Santa Barbara City College Office of Communications

While most kids grow up watching cartoons, District 3 City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez watched the news — an idiosyncrasy his mom found quite amusing. When she asked why this was his preferred pastime, he replied, “I just wanna know what’s going on.”

It’s fitting that someone who has always been fascinated with the news became a Santa Barbara City Councilmember. After all, part of his duties is to possess knowledge of the community’s happenings. Of course, this was nothing new for someone who had previously spent almost two decades working in the media industry — a career he had fallen in love with during his time at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC).

Gutierrez, a first-generation Mexican-American, always wanted to pursue higher education. Witnessing his sisters’ positive experiences at SBCC further solidified his intention. He naturally followed in their footsteps after graduating with honors from San Marcos High School.

Gutierrez encountered many inspiring professors at SBCC, but his first media instructor, Guy Smith, played a pivotal role in helping him recognize his full potential. “He really made me feel like I had potential by how enthusiastic he was with me,” Gutierrez reflected. Smith encouraged Gutierrez to pursue journalism and media classes at SBCC and volunteer at TVSB, a public access radio station, where Gutierrez continued to work for 17 years.

Gutierrez entered the School of Media Arts at SBCC and became passionate about this newfound career. He started working for The Channels, the school’s newspaper, as the first multimedia editor. Through his journalism and media classes, he had access to various media equipment and software he used to create video projects. “I wouldn’t be able to access it if it weren’t for SBCC,” he said. He submitted his work to competitions, which led him to win three national awards while at City College.

Gutierrez wanted to continue film and media studies and transfer to a four-year university, but he was worried he might be unable to, given his poor math grades. “I felt like I was gonna have to quit because of the requirements for math,” he said. Teachers at SBCC noticed his struggles and suggested that he get tested for a learning disability at the college’s disabled student center. So, he did. And that’s when Gutierrez found out that he had dyslexia and attention deficit disorder (ADD). “If it wasn’t for that, then I wouldn’t have been able to transfer,” he shared.

From then on, Gutierrez sought guidance from SBCC’s disability program, Disability Services and Programs for Students (DSPS), where he received testing tools he still utilizes today. He passed math and transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), earning a bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies. In his senior year, he won UCLA’s best documentary award. Over his 19-year media career, he received over 30 national and regional nominations and awards.

His career as a reporter and videographer brought him to many important county meetings where he was face-to-face with various county officials. Being in this atmosphere helped him become attuned to the mechanics of local government.“And that gave me even more insight on how local government works, because I was the one making sure it was being aired to the people,” he reflected.

So when, in 2018, Councilmember Cathy Murillo was running for mayor, Gutierrez toyed with the idea of taking over her council seat. He enlisted the advice of elected officials who recommended he approach his friends and family to see if they would support him running. Most of his peers backed him, which solidified his decision to run. “And I went and knocked on doors and spoke at forums and raised money and got elected,” he recalled. He was the first millennial elected to the Santa Barbara City Council.

His first experience on the City Council was only a year and a half, as he stepped in to finish Murillo’s term. When the next election came up, he was running unopposed, and the current councilmembers decided to appoint him instead of printing his name on the ballot. In 2024, Gutierrez was up against one opponent, and he came out triumphant.

Gutierrez picked up many learning techniques from SBCC’s disability program that he uses daily on the City Council. Each week, he’s handed a thick binder of information that he must memorize before the next week’s council meeting. He has a computer read it rapidly as he follows along on the paper. “If it wasn’t for what I learned at SBCC’s disabled services program, there’s no way I would’ve been able to read that,” he said.

Gutierrez feels that public schools often get a bad rap, but he values Santa Barbara’s public school education and credits Santa Barbara City College for his successful career. “I wouldn’t have the quality education or the quality of life that I have now if it wasn’t for public education.”

“My parents and some of my aunts and uncles, they never got to go to school, but my siblings and I got to,” he reflected.“It makes me very grateful that my parents decided to immigrate here and raise their families here.”

This article was paid for by Santa Barbara City College. For more information on Santa Barbara City College and the hundreds of programs they offer, visit sbcc.edu or (805) 965-0581. If you are an SBCC alumni please join SBCC Alumni Connect at sbccfoundation.org/alumni.