Celebration of MO's African American Women Elected Officials

Martin Luther King, Jr. day is a great reminder of the hardships that the African American community went through in order to achieve equality in our society. They have made great strides, but as we all know, they are still fighting for equality every single day of their lives. We always celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life, and it was nice to see a great write-up in the St. Louis Core about his wife, Coretta Scott King. Please click here to read the article.

We are fortunate in Missouri to have a number of women who are elected and are African American. What follows is a brief bio of each of those ladies. Let's give them our support and encourage many other African American women to seek office here in this great state.

Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal - District 14

Senator Chappelle-Nadal represents part of St. Louis County in the Missouri Senate. She previously worked for Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell in 2000, as Director of Communications. Sen. Chapelle-Nadal later chose to serve as Missouri's Senior Advocate. There she successfully helped shepherd legislation such as the Senior Care and Protection Act of 2003 and the Missouri Senior Rx Generic Drug Rebate. She is an active member of many organizations and also serves as a director on the University City School Board.


Senator Shalonn "Kiki" Curls - District 9

Senator Curls represents part of Jackson County in the Missouri Senate. She won a special election to the Missouri Senate in Feb. 2011 after having served in the Missouri House since 2007. In addition to her legislative duties, Sen. Curls works in real estate development, and currently serves as the 14th Ward Democratic Committeewoman in Kansas City. She is also the mother of twins, James and Michaela.




Senator Robin Wright-Jones - District 5

Senator Wright-Jones represents St. Louis City in the Missouri Senate. With over 40 years of ardent volunteer and political activism, she brings experience to the Senate that many others don't have. Over the years she has received numerous awards in appreciation for her dedication to state government. In addition to her Senatorial position, she also works as a small business woman as a real estate broker. She has two sons, Damon and Adam, and four grandchildren.



Representative Tishaura Jones - District 63

Rep. Jones represents Downtown St. Louis City in the Missouri House of Representatives. She currently serves as the Assistant Minority Floor Leader in the House. She is also employed as Director of Public Policy and Sr. Human Resources Consultant at People's Health Centers. She has more than 10 years of experience as a healthcare administrator. Rep. Jones plans to leave the Missouri House and has put in her bid in the upcoming campaign for St. Louis City Treasurer. In addition to her work, she also has a young son, Aden.


Representative Karla May - District 57

Rep. May represents St. Louis City in the Missouri House of Representatives. She's a lifetime member of the city of St. Louis and her mother, Parrie May served as alderwoman there. Since a young age, Rep. May has been active in the political process, organizing local campaigns. She currently works for AT&T where she has been employed for the past eleven years. She serves as a union steward with CWA (Communication Workers of America 6300). She serves on the legislative committee and has lobbied the legislature for years on issues affecting the lives of working men and women.


Representative Gail McCann Beatty - District 43

Representative Beatty represents the Kansas City metro area in the Missouri House of Representatives. At the age of eighteen she was elected to her first seat as committeewoman for the then 27th Ward. Rep. Beatty was appointed to the Missouri Tourism Commission in 2000 by Gov. Mel Carnahan. She resigned from that commission to serve on the Missouri Real Estate Appraisers Commission (MREAC). She has worked as a commercial and residential real estate appraiser in the KC Metro area for 23 years. She lives there with her husband Bruce.


Representative Jamilah Nasheed - District 60

Representative Nasheed represents part of St. Louis City in the Missouri House of Representatives. She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Dropout Prevention Task Force and is the founding member of the "In It 2 Win" Coalition which finds and returns drop outs to the classroom. Rep. Nasheed serves as Vice-Chairperson of the Freshman Democratic Caucus. In addition to her legislative duties, she is a small business owner in St. Louis City. She currently has announced her campaign to run against Sen. Robin Wright-Jones in the newly formed Missouri Senate District 5 for the 2012 election year.

Representative Sharon Pace - District 70

Representative Pace represents part of St. Louis County in the Missouri House of Representatives. She has received various awards, including the "Child Advocate" award in 2007 from the Annie Malone's Children and Family Services Center and "25+ years of service achievement" award in that same year from her membership of the First Baptist Church. She sits on various community boards and was employed as the Director of Patient Accounts in the health care industry. She is the proud parent of three daughters.


Representative Rochelle Walton-Gray - District 81

Representative Walton-Gray represents parts of Bellefontaine Neighbors, Spanish Lake, Black Jack and unincorporated areas of North St. Louis County in the Missouri House of Representatives. She has worked as a legal administrator for the past 23 years and in 2009, she was elected to serve as State Director of Missouri for the National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL). She has received various awards over the years and is the stepdaughter of Juanita Walton, who served as state representative for the 81st district from 2000-2008. Rep. Gray resides in Black Jack with her husband, Alan Gray, and their two children, Alan Jr. and Alana.

Looking over these biographies as a whole, it's amazing to see the connections and hard work that each of these ladies have put in to become successful. Many of them have daughters or women in their lives who they are influencing positively with their service to this state and hopefully many of their future generations will continue to be involved politically.