ABOUT ME

I've made the Lansing area my home for 29 years now and am honored to call so many in this community my friends, neighbors and found family.
 

I have the privilege to currently be serving my second term as State Representative in Michigan's 77th House District! As a legislator, I am passionate about advocating for progressive policy, particularly on farming equity, criminal justice reform, affordable and accessible housing, LGBTQIA equality, racial justice and equality, sexual and domestic violence, women’s rights, and HIV/AIDS.

In my first term I served on the House Committees on Agriculture, Criminal Justice, Judiciary, and the Economic Development and Small Business subcommittee on Housing (Majority Vice Chair). I currently serve on the House Committees on Agriculture and Regulatory Reform. I also Chair the Bicameral Legislative Poverty and Homelessness Caucus, serve as secretary for the Legislative Disability Caucus, and am a member of the Bicameral Farm and Food Caucus and the House Labor Caucus.

Before being elected to the House, I enjoyed a long career in public service and advocacy. I served as executive director for Equality Michigan, President of the Lansing Association of Human Rights (LAHR), Vice President of the board of the Firecracker Foundation, which advocates for survivors of childhood sexual trauma, and board member of the Lansing Area AIDS Network and the Ingham County Women’s Commission. I was federally appointed in 2015 to the Michigan Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and later served as co-chair.

I'm also a proud Spartan, graduating from James Madison College with a bachelor’s degree in social relations and a specialization in African Studies.