“I am very private, very concerned about my career,” Whitis said. “Here I was a new physician just starting out. Hospitals are strict about how you represent yourself. I didn’t know how to strike a balance between public life and job that requires you to be private.”
It was on-the-job learning.
“I learned I could strike that balance,” Whitis said. “In a way, my career prepared me for it. In my job, you deal with a lot of high-pressure situations. You develop a strong sense of who you are, and what you are trying to do, not being distracted by anything. My job is high stakes, it requires a lot of you.”
'We hold each other to high standards'
Pureval lost that race. But he had a lot to be happy about.
He married Whitis in 2018 in a wedding ceremony officiated by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black, which was written up in the Akron Beacon Journal. They bought a house in Clifton.
Of her marriage, Whitis said: "We’re so different, but what makes us work is that we are so laser-focused on what we do. I am focused on work, but am not a public speaker. He showed me there are other things I can use my talents for. When Aftab is busy, I pick up the slack at home. And when I'm busy he does the same for me."
"We hold each other to high standards," she added.
Pureval said their marriage is a true partnership.
"We both have demanding jobs, but our shared priority is our son and our family," he said. "And we make it work by supporting each other."
On the campaign trail, he would joke his parents wanted him to be a doctor, but he married one instead. It always elicited the laugh it was intended to.
But Pureval says it's not campaign rhetoric when he says: "I'm a lucky guy to have such a great doctor, wife, and mom by my side."
Their son Bodhi, who just turned 2, was born in 2019.
Pureval won re-election to clerk of courts in 2020, but Democrats urged him to think bigger. What could be next?
When popular mayoral front-runner city councilman P.G. Sittenfeld was arrested on federal corruption charges and suspended from council, Pureval stepped into what would become a six-person primary race. He placed first, setting up a two-person runoff for mayor in last Tuesday's general election.
The decision thrust Pureval back into the spotlight because there’s no higher profile race in Cincinnati than the one for mayor.
Quiet community activism
In 2016, Pureval and Whitis were among what's known as "The 50" , the group that made the Contemporary Arts Center free. The group pledged $150,000 to subsidize visits to the Downtown museum.
"My dad was into art," Whitis said. "I really enjoy the Contemporary Arts Center and its mission to be free with access to everyone. Their model is very inclusive."
She also helped bring attention to one of the biggest issues facing Cincinnati: pedestrian safety.
After moving to Clifton, Whitis created a Facebook page called Slow Down Clifton Avenue, which gathers input from residents on the traffic issues the street has. And she joined the Clifton Town Meeting public safety and transportation committee.
In her day job, Whitis is focused on others. On March 26, 2020, when the coronavirus was first spreading across the country, The Enquirer reported on how the healthcare system was on the verge of being overwhelmed. There were just 131 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Cincinnati region at that point.
Whitis is quoted, not as asking people to support the doctors, but instead to remember "to support nursing aides, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, case managers, unit clerks, pharmacy technicians, pharmacists, dietitians, nutrition service workers and environmental service/housekeeping workers."
“There are so many people that are integral in our day-to-day operations that we don’t give a lot of recognition to, and I think it’s important that we support them as well," she said.
'Built-in best friends'
Whitis is the youngest of the four Whitis daughters, younger than her twin by eight minutes.
"We’re kind of like built-in best friends, and it’s been that way our entire lives," Erin Whitis, said of her twin.
Erin Whitis described her sister as a "passionate woman who knows what she wants. Anytime she tells me she wants to do something, there's always a good reason behind it."
It was that way when she moved to Cincinnati to be closer to Pureval.
"Being a doctor was her destiny," Erin Whitis said. "As for being a wife and mom to Bodhi, it came naturally. She is the kind of person who can roll with life with an ease I am jealous of and few people possess."
Erin watched as her sister was able to juggle the pandemic, home life, and her husband's political career.
"She can handle a tremendous amount of work, the details, the logistics. She takes her time and takes a breath, and figures things out," Erin Whitis said.
She expects that's how Whitis will step into the role as Cincinnati's first lady.
"She'll step right into the wider role of being involved in the community," Whitis said.
Married to the mayor-elect, but a doctor and mom first
Pureval takes office Jan. 3.
Whitis hasn’t defined how she’ll treat the ceremonial role of first lady. She sees herself and Pureval growing their family in the coming years. But when it comes to the role of being married to the mayor, she said, “Voters chose him, they didn’t vote for me. I want to be there to support him. I will do whatever is asked of me. I don’t see myself as having a defined role. So initially I won't be so much in the spotlight, but we’ll develop it over the term.”
Whitis said one thing she knows about herself is that she doesn’t like to rush into things.
“I only want to do things well,” she said.
