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American African, Cherokee and Blackfoot,  Cultural de Bear Root Resource Center

I was born in upstate New York where I lived with my mother and my siblings.  I am blessed to have parents who both had Master Social Worker degrees.  My mother was a psychiatric social worker for New York State, and my father was a sociology professor now Emeritus and is retired.  My mother’s parents were college educated, and we were fortunate that both sets of grandparents worked full time. On my mother’s side, both of her parents worked for NY State, my grandmother was a transcriptionist and my grandfather worked in the legislature. We lived on a historical block two blocks from the capital of New York State, where Blacks had not lived or owned property to this day. On my father's side, my grandmother was an entrepreneur, who worked for the wealthy as a domestic worker, and my grandfather was a steel worker. As a child in upstate New York I spent a lot of time with my dad’s parents when my mother was organizing the Tricity area to go to the March on Washington, in 1963.  My mother graduated high school at the age of 15,  and quickly began organizing for Civil Rights, eventually became a High School teacher and later attended graduate school. 

I am an American African, Cherokee and Blackfoot, as well as lineage from Ghana and Nigeria.  I earned my Business Economics degree from Mills College, where I received an academic award, Omicron Delta Epsilon, an international honor society in economics. I also earned my Associate Degree from Nassau Community College in Afro-American Studies.  Since 1981, Berkeley (Ohlone Land) has been my home and where my roots expanded.  I have been married for almost 38 years and we raised two amazingly wonderful adult children.  My husband is Guatemalan, and we raised our kids with a rich blend from our combined cultural traditions.  Besides raising children, I had a successful career as a Bookkeeper, where I provided accounting and management services.  I offered all phases of accounting and was also the lead in multiple software conversions. I provided training, as well as wrote policy and procedures for both For-Profit and Not-For-Profit organizations in a variety of business types throughout my career. 

I am proud to be a Former Council member who represented our District 2 for the City of Berkeley.  I was elected to the Berkeley City Council in 2016, an unexpected victory over the twelve year incumbent who was on the council.  During my term I remained a bastion of progressive agendas. I worked tirelessly to find solutions to homelessness by convening a regional RV/Tiny Home Solution to Homelessness Task Force, helped to end the Berkeley Police Department’s participation in the Urban Shield war-games training program, and banned Berkeley PD’s use of tear gas. You may be interested to know that I authored the Climate Emergency Declaration and Fossil Fuel Free Resolution,  as well as changed the city limit signs to “Welcome to the City of Berkeley Ohlone Territory” signs in 2018. As the only Black woman on the City Council, I took a strong stance for equity, building community through unity and respect and I continue to advocate for our community today.

Prior to my City Council term, I gained National and international attention while serving on the City of Berkeley’s Human Welfare Community Action Commission when I called for the protection of Palestinian human rights, authoring a resolution to divest from Israel Apartheid.  

I am the Founder of and Steering Committee Chair of the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force (CEMTF), which addresses inequities, causes and educates the community and beyond of the climate emergency. 

I am also a board member of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County (ICAC), Consider the Homeless (CTH), the Network of Elected Officials and Staff (NEOS) advisory boards, Co Founder of the Berkeley Equity Summit Alliance (BESA) and Mobilize Berkeley. I am a member of Friends of Adeline (FOA) and on the KPFA Local Station Board, and continues the work I started to advocate for while I was a Council member, and I am committed to maintaining equity, unity, diversity, affordability, safety and warmth for all as a volunteer looking out for our communities. As well as continuing to speak up for a Free Palestine, Free Haiti, the Congo, Sudan and free all oppressed, marginalized people to live in peace; freedom to honor the earth, our planet, the Ancestors, each human and non human beings.    

I am in a new chapter of life now that I am retired, although still volunteering for all the same organizations, speaking at rallies, going to marches and protests. You may also hear me on the radio in Lake County (KPFZ.org), California where I have a ten minute plus bi-weekly broadcasting where I cover Bay Area and Palestine news to the listening audience. 

I am honored to serve as a Cultural Advisor for the Bear Root Resource Center to further see how we can collaborate, joining expertise, experiences, commonalities, working through differences, and displaying love for humanity, culture, the earth and our Indigenous roots. Now is the time to unify, to be in solidarity as we step out of silos, join forces to stand up for the rights of humans, plants, animals, insects and nature.