Niki Cid

Serving in the Placer County District Attorney’s Office is a homecoming for Niki Cid: She grew up in the county, which borders Lake Tahoe, where her father was in law enforcement and her mother was a social worker. “I wanted to have the kind of job that my parents had,” she says, “where I knew at the end of the day, they felt like they have done something for someone.” 

Her background extends beyond Northern California: Her parents were Cuban émigrés who fled Fidel Castro’s regime. Cid says her family and faith are her two most important pillars.

In college, she considered a career in business but ultimately settled on law; she did stints in the DA offices in Los Angeles County, Sacramento County and the state of California. After graduating from law school in 2015, Cid knew she wanted to return home. “This is where I had a really safe and great childhood,” she says. “It’s nice to be a part of creating that for other people.” 

As an energetic recent grad, Cid says she has to fight the temptation to take every case to trial. But she says she’s already learned to take a step back and treat each case holistically, considering what’s in the best interest for her overall community.

Read about the Women in Government program and the rest of the honorees.