News — black women

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing unrests and protests in many cities across the United States, there have been concerns expressed in corporate America about lack of diversity and low investment in Black talent.

Since then, several firms have implemented wide-ranging diversity reform policies and programs and also invested in Black talents. Another company that is also charting a new course is the brewery giant Anheuser-Busch, which has brands including Budweiser and Bud Light.

The company has been in existence for nearly 200 hundred years but had never appointed a senior Black female official until recently when it appointed Natalie Johnson as senior brewmaster, making her the first Black woman to be appointed a brewmaster for the beer brand.

Johnson is a native of St. Louis and according to her, Anheuser-Busch, which is said to be the world’s largest beer company, has strong ties with her community. Before college, she interned with the company through Inroads. She then became involved in the production activities of the company. Through the internship, she acquired lab experience which helped her in college as a science student.

After college, she was hired by Anheuser-Busch where she learned brewing processes and how to conduct her own analysis. She told POPSUGAR in October that as a brewmaster, the “goal is to make sure, regardless of where you have a beer, what brewery it’s produced at, that it smells the same, it tastes the same, and has the same mouthfeel and finish, regardless of which brewery. So the brewmaster’s role is all about process control.”

Johnson’s journey in a field that is white and male-dominated has not been smooth sailing. “This is certainly a male-dominated field—110 percent,” Johnson told St.Louis. “Not only are women in the minority, but Black people are in the minority, too. In a lot of cases, I was an unexpected rarity in the situation. At times, people were shocked by me, and in some situations, I had to showcase my knowledge and talent before they could fully recognize me for who I am.”

41-year-old Johnson is now hoping to help address the lack of diversity in the industry through her position in the company as well as the “Budweiser Natalie Johnson Scholarship”. The million-dollar scholarship fund named in her honor was created to provide opportunities for women of color to pursue STEM degrees. Anheuser-Busch partnered with Dwyane Wade and the United Negro College Fund to create the scholarship fund.

Johnson believes a career path in the brewery sector for women of color is possible and has advised other Black women who are interested in the brewing industry to pursue it. “Throughout my career, there haven’t been a lot of Black women,” Johnson said in an interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch this month. “We do want more diversity, not only at Anheuser-Busch but also in the brewing industry.”

The Serena Williams conglomerate just keeps on growing and growing. The mom, tennis superstar, fashion icon, and successful entrepreneur has just announced a new capsule offering in her jewelry collection called By My Side.

This latest collection is inspired by the tennis great and the close bond that she has with her daughter, Olympia, who is now 3 years old. The collection epitomizes that special bond between moms and daughters and celebrates a mothers’ courage and perseverance.

“My heroes are moms because women are superheroes,” said Williams in a written statement.

“Being a mom is super important, but also being a leader so my daughter can look at me and say, ‘This is what my mom did, I aspire to do that, and I want to be better…it’s really important to me to inspire the next generation because that’s what the future is.”

The collection features a pair of “Queen” necklaces, heart-shaped pendants and earrings, a diamond lock and key. It also includes Serena’s iconic “Unstoppable” toggle necklace paired with a mini version.

“We keep going, I am so proud and inspired by the women who do it day in and day out. I’m proud to be this baby’s mama.”

You can view and purchase these items from the By My Side collection which is available on serenawilliamsjewelry.com. Prices from the collection range from $85- $875.

That mother-daughter bond is so strong that earlier this year, Williams and her daughter joined Natalie Portman as investors in a majority woman-founded Los Angeles Soccer Team.

Back in February, she joined forces with The Mom Project serving as the company’s new strategic advisor. The Mom Project connects moms with world-class companies. The Mom Project, which launched in 2016, serves a growing community of over 200,000 professionals by connecting them to over $50 million in economic opportunity.

Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, Jasmine Twitty knew she wanted to serve her communities. While in elementary school, she was in girl scouts and church youth groups, where she learned the trailblazing work of influential figures including presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm.

“These are people in power, and they have the influence to shape society and the laws that govern our everyday lives. I want to do that!” she told herself. But she didn’t set her mind towards becoming a judge until after college.

Following years of work in bond court, she took measures towards pursuing judgeship. After a lot of hard work and determination, Twitty, in 2015, became the youngest judge to ever be appointed or elected in the United States when she was sworn in as an Associate Judge of the municipal court for the city of Easley, SC at the age of 25.

“The day I was sworn in felt surreal,” she said in an interview in 2016. “My job is to oversee the initial proceeding in a criminal case. As a judge, I must remain impartial, not get emotionally involved. I had to learn that early on, working in night court, seeing what things people are capable of.”

Indeed, being an African-American judge for the municipal court in Easley, South Carolina—a predominately white town— meant Twitty had a lot to deal with. But that was nothing new to a trailblazer like her, who had gained a wide range of experiences working long hours as a night clerk for a bond court.

Born on December 4, 1989, in Greenville, South Carolina, Twitty attended St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School and graduated from J. L. Mann High School in Easley in 2007. She described her childhood as “one of those super-smart little kids who might be called “mouthy.” Her parents, however, appreciated her vocabulary, she said, and with her mother being a dedicated social worker, she was raised to be of service to her communities.

After graduating from the College of Charleston in 2010, with her BA in Political Science, she knew she was ready to work in public service. Twitty then applied for a clerk position at the Greenville County Bond Court. “My job was to coordinate bond hearings and deal with paperwork. The hours were long, but I was excited. I was the youngest person there and asked 1001 questions a day,” she said.

Being a night court clerk for almost five years, Twitty learned more about judgeship, and soon, she realized she could go for it. Twitty wasn’t required to attend law school because, in South Carolina, summary court judges are appointed and don’t need a law degree. The city council is the governing body that appoints judges for the municipal court. Consulting her family and mentors, Twitty began steps towards pursuing this career. She completed a training program and passed a certification examination before entering the interviewing process.

In August 2015, she became America’s youngest judge. Four years later, she was appointed as a municipal judge and lead judicial officer for the City of Travelers Rest, SC.

Twitty, now 31, explained to Forbes this October how she improves her work-life balance. “My mental clarity comes from diet and exercise, and from truly unplugging when I’m off work. That can come from travel or food experiences, or even just silencing my phones when I’m at home. I’m also particular about the spaces I put myself in and the people I surround myself with.”

Twitty, as a Board Member of Upstate Network and co-founder of her local chapter of LeadHER, has been empowering women in career development. With several recognitions including being named South Carolina Top 20 Under 40, Honorary Georgia Citizen, and Talented Tenth Top 10 Young Professional, Twitty has advised women pursuing their dreams to be true to themselves. She urges them not to compromise anything for the sake of an opportunity, “because you’ll pay for it later.”

Racial disparities within the healthcare system due to to the lingering effects of systemic racism prevent thousands of Black and Latinx patients from receiving the adequate service they deserve. One Black woman is seeking to change that by establishing a new tool to help marginalized groups connect with doctors from their communities.

Kimberly Wilson is the founder of HUED, an app created to help Black and Latinx patients connect with doctors of colors for healthcare services. Wilson created the company after her own health scare exposed her to the disparities many like her face.

“As a 30-something, I was traumatized by this experience, and in that, I realized my story is the same as countless others, though many are unequipped to be their own self-advocate,” said Wilson. “That was when I developed a solution for improving the patient care experience.”

Wilson says the COVID-19 pandemic has only given more exposure to the disparities Black and Latinx patients face when seeking healthcare services leading more consumers to the app. “Where investors and other stakeholders were uninterested and unbothered by the work that HUED was doing, even just a year ago,” she explains, “there’s been a spotlight on healthcare that is helping us to validate a problem that we’ve sought to address well before this moment in time.”

The health app recently partnered with Vaseline and award-winning actress Regina King to collaborate on a search tool to help people find dermatologists and other specialist doctors of color. “Through this partnership, we co-created a search tool with Vaseline specifically focused on helping people identify and connect with dermatologists of color and those experienced in treating skin of color,” said Wilson.

“The online platform will also offer educational resources that provide expert recommendations on how to treat and monitor skin at home, understanding when to seek a dermatologist for proper care, and how to best prepare for an appointment with the right questions and what to expect.”

Wilson went on to say that she hopes the services can help combat these disparities as a start to reform the system and help those within the community. “HUED’s solution not only reduces the economic toll of payers (resulting from racial disparities),” she says, “but also drastically improves health outcomes for people of color by allowing patients to search, review, and book culturally competent physicians that specifically understand their physical, mental, and cultural needs.”

Actress Kerry Washington has partnered with a direct-to-consumer jewelry brand for which she also helped design a collection that recently made its debut. According to People, Washington has invested in the company, Aurate, which was started in New York back in 2015 by Bouchra Ezzahraoui and Sophie Kahn.

“I’m so proud to share this Lioness Collection, and all that it represents, with you. In both aesthetic design and in cultural meaning, each piece is built to embody the values of this unique moment while also honoring timeless truths.

“Make no mistake, the lioness is a queen. Her beauty is incomparable. Her strength is undeniable. She is a warrior, built for the hunt, and a nurturer, devoted to her pride. She is magnificently regal, and yet in the world of the Lioness, democracy and collaboration rule. In the #LionessPride there are no egos, there is no pecking order, just fierce felines winning collectively.

“You are a fierce lioness—beautiful, powerful, communal, and winning. And in our shared community we are a #LionessPride. So this collection is for you. I hope that it adds beauty, joy and strength to your day. And I pray that these pieces remind you of the sisterhood of this pride. WITH LOVE, KERRY”

“When I met Sophie and Bouchra, I was so impressed with them as women and as badass entrepreneurs and founders,” Washington told People. “I was so impressed with the product. It really spoke to me, this idea of democratizing fine jewelry by cutting out the middleman and allowing more people to have access to beautiful jewelry. I wanted to be a part of this journey.”

Washington was so impressed by the women and the company that she helped to design the Lioness Collection. She and Aurate’s co-founders are donating 20% of all proceeds from the collection to Supermajority, a nonprofit women’s activism organization.

The effect of the pandemic on Black-owned businesses has been widely reported. According to the New York Fed, the pandemic has disproportionately affected Black businesses. In a report, the Fed said Black businesses were more than twice likely to close than businesses owned by Whites.

“Nationally representative data on small businesses indicate that the number of active business owners fell by 22% from February to April 2020—the largest drop on record,” the report said. “Black businesses experienced the most acute decline, with a 41% drop. Latinx business owners fell by 32% and Asian business owners dropped by 26%.”

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic which has resulted in the shutdown of many Black businesses, some have managed to stay afloat while others have expanded or new Black firms have emerged.  

Durham Transports Express, LLC, is one of the Black-owned companies that is opening despite the pandemic. The all-Black-owned female freight shipping trucking company is opening in Shreveport, Louisiana. The project is said to be the first trucking company owned and operated by an all-female staff.

The project, estimated at a quarter of a million-dollar, will be undertaken in two phases and is expected to be completed within six months, according to FOX 33 News.

A handful of supporters thronged the West Cedar Grove neighborhood on November 12 for the groundbreaking ceremony of the firm’s new transport facility. The CEO of the company, Latronia Durham, attributed the feat chalked so far to teamwork.

“I’m over the top excited because some companies are shutting down right now and we are being blessed to be in the position to open up,” Durham told Fox 33. “This was so hard for me from the beginning because of what I didn’t know. So we want to help people so it won’t be so hard or won’t be so discouraging to them.” 

The company is operated by Durham together with her sister Rokisha Durham alongside their mother and Latronia’s daughter. “We want to be able to create opportunities for families for younger people who want to have a career in transportation. It’s a lot of money to be made and we’re trying to make it easier for them to get in,” Rokisha Durham said.

Brittney Dunn from the African-American Chamber of Commerce said the opening of Durham Transports Express in Shreveport will provide jobs for commercial license drivers (CDL) and training for CDL drivers.

“She’s providing jobs for CDL drivers and providing training for CDL drivers. It just gives people another opportunity and another door to grow and expand in their occupation,” Dunn shared.

The company is looking forward to hiring more than a dozen employers. “I want them to come along and be a part of our team, and we will show them that it will work,” Latronia said.

The historic fourth UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in 1995 was chaired by Ms. Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania who to this day is called “Mama Beijing” in her home country for being instrumental during deliberations at the conference.

Mongella was born in September 1945, a month before the United Nations was incorporated that same year. She was born in Ukerewe, an island in Lake Victoria, and then went on to school at age 12 in the Tanzanian mainland. She is married with four children: one daughter and three sons.

The 75-year-old diplomat said she is a proud citizen of the world, an educationist who taught at Changombe Teachers College, Tanzania, from 1970 to 1975. She was also a curriculum developer at the Institute of Adult Education from 1975 to 1978. Mongella is a defender of women’s rights and a politician who has served in several capacities in her country and on the international front.

The diplomat told Africa Renewal last month that she is happy to be alive because she survived at birth as a baby girl at a time most babies did not. A parliamentarian in Tanzania, Mongella served in the Prime Minister’s office from 1982 to 1985 responsible for Women’s Affairs.

In 1985, she was vice-chair of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievement of the United Nations Decade for Women and chair to the African delegation to that conference.

The highlight of her career was when, as a diplomat to the UN, she chaired the Fourth World Conference on Women as the General Secretary. According to her, the status and dignity of women in the global arena were elevated by the UN through this conference. She said the conference remains one of the largest conferences ever to be held in the UN as it brought together about 15,000 people from 185 nations who met in Beijing. They discussed issues affecting women such as HIV and AIDS infection, literacy and education, violence and abuse, and poverty.

The conference brought to the forefront issues relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment. “It brought a kind of ‘revolution’ where we have to look at women and men as equal citizens of this world. Women should not be considered like ‘invitees’ on this planet.  They belong to the planet just like the men,” she recalled.

The Platform of Action, which Mongella refers to as “the most important document” she has ever come across, was produced and adopted in Beijing by the General Secretary and all other participants. The Platform of Action remains the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights.

According to The Courier magazine, Mongella’s “tremendous personal energy” greatly contributed to the Beijing conference’s success.”

Her “commitment and maternal warmth (which conceals a steely determination), helped in the conference’s trickier moments. She had to reconcile the irreconcilable: trying to bring countries at opposite ends of the moral spectrum together to agree on a final text.”

The level of diplomacy exhibited by Mongella was exceptional. According to reports, she exhibited patience, tenacity, respect for one another’s opinions and simplicity. It was also the first time in history that “important decisions at this level” were deliberated and put into action by a women-only forum.

Mongella is still championing women’s rights 25 years after chairing the UN World Conference on Women. She told Maryknoll reporter that year that “women will change the world when they lead it.”

The educator and activist is highly committed to the political integration of Africa and advocates for the strong participation of women in political leadership. She nonetheless believes men should not be marginalized as the world makes strides in educating women and financially empowering them.

Monique Mendes, a Jamaican-born scientist, followed her passion for the sciences to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. Now, she is the first Black woman to receive a doctorate in that field from the University of Rochester.

The Neuroscience program at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Del Monte Institute was established in 1925 and Mendes, being the first Black woman Ph.D. graduate from the program, is worth celebrating. The only other Black was a man, Dr. Nathan Anthony Smith, in 2013.

“I feel empowered, I feel excited,” said Mendes. I’m just happy that I was able to get a Ph.D. and to show other Black women that it is possible, and they can succeed.”

The 27-year-old successfully defended her thesis in July and she started her post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University in September, according to Democrat & Chronicle. For a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, Mendes conducts research using novel imaging techniques to better understand how learning and memory are impacted by specific cells called glia.

The journey in the laboratory began in her native country, Jamaica. Her sixth-grade teacher at St. Andrew Preparatory School in Kingston was the only Black woman teaching science at the time. She taught science with passion and always made the lessons fun and interesting. Little Mendes knew then that she wanted to know more.

Interestingly, Mendes realized that none of her professors or teachers as a child were women aside from her sixth-grade teacher. “One of the big things I wish I had had over the years was faculty that looked like me,” said Mendes. She however acknowledges that Rochester University has put measures in place since she has been there to retain Black women in the sciences.

Mendes earned her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Florida where she was named a McNair Scholar. The award was named after Black physicist Dr. Ronald E. McNair, who died in the Challenger Space shuttle accident in 1986. It is conferred on students from underrepresented backgrounds to increase the number of graduate degrees awarded to people from such backgrounds. It also provides funding for two years of graduate school and four years of postdoctoral training.

“The thing that stands out most about Monique is her energy and enthusiasm,” said Ania Majewska, Ph.D., a neuroscience professor at the University of Rochester in whose lab Mendes worked for five years conducting research on brain development.

“She’s a dynamo. She’s very creative, independent and has incredible ideas. As a mentor, a lot of how you’re measured is how well you train your students and I’m super excited to see Monique go out in the world.”

There is no stopping Mendes. While at the University of Rochester, she became the first URMC graduate student to receive the coveted F99/K00 NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders in Stroke.

Mendes is a decorated scientist and admired for her contributions to the sciences, however, she wanted to be a musician at a point in time. Her love for science tramped her music ambitions but she never left them behind entirely.

According to Mendes, during her studies, she played the violin and was part of the Florida Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Also, while at School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD), she played in the Brighton Symphony Orchestra and even performed in two side-by-side concerts with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mendes hopes to become a mentor for young Black girls and people of color in and outside her field. While on campus at Rochester, she created a diverse and inclusive community to mentor new students from diverse backgrounds and occasionally held events to help them have much-needed discussions pertaining to them.

During her Ph.D. program, Mendes was awarded the Edward Curtis Peck Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student and the Outstanding Student Mentor award.

Her advice to her mentees is that they should “be fearless, be inquisitive” and follow their dreams. “Advocate for yourself; advocate for others,” she advised.

Racial disparities within the healthcare system due to to the lingering effects of systemic racism prevent thousands of Black and Latinx patients from receiving the adequate service they deserve. One Black woman is seeking to change that by establishing a new tool to help marginalized groups connect with doctors from their communities.

Kimberly Wilson is the founder of HUED, an app created to help Black and Latinx patients connect with doctors of colors for healthcare services. Wilson created the company after her own health scare exposed her to the disparities many like her face.

“As a 30-something, I was traumatized by this experience, and in that, I realized my story is the same as countless others, though many are unequipped to be their own self-advocate,” said Wilson. “That was when I developed a solution for improving the patient care experience.”

Wilson says the COVID-19 pandemic has only given more exposure to the disparities Black and Latinx patients face when seeking healthcare services leading more consumers to the app. “Where investors and other stakeholders were uninterested and unbothered by the work that HUED was doing, even just a year ago,” she explains, “there’s been a spotlight on healthcare that is helping us to validate a problem that we’ve sought to address well before this moment in time.”

The health app recently partnered with Vaseline and award-winning actress Regina King to collaborate on a search tool to help people find dermatologists and other specialist doctors of color. “Through this partnership, we co-created a search tool with Vaseline specifically focused on helping people identify and connect with dermatologists of color and those experienced in treating skin of color,” said Wilson.

“The online platform will also offer educational resources that provide expert recommendations on how to treat and monitor skin at home, understanding when to seek a dermatologist for proper care, and how to best prepare for an appointment with the right questions and what to expect.”

Wilson went on to say that she hopes the services can help combat these disparities as a start to reform the system and help those within the community. “HUED’s solution not only reduces the economic toll of payers (resulting from racial disparities),” she says, “but also drastically improves health outcomes for people of color by allowing patients to search, review, and book culturally competent physicians that specifically understand their physical, mental, and cultural needs.”

Kamala Harris has paid tribute to the women who “paved the way” for her to become the first woman vice president-elect in United States history and the first woman of color to make it to the second-highest office.

On Saturday, several media outlets projected that former vice president Joe Biden and his running mate, Harris, won the state of Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, thus earning more than 270 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.

For two decades in public life, Harris has achieved a lot of firsts: the first Black woman to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney, the first woman to be California’s attorney general, first Indian American senator, and now she will be working by Biden’s side as the highest-ranking woman ever elected in the American government.

Ahead of Biden’s victory speech Saturday night at an event in Wilmington, Delaware, Harris, wearing an all-white pantsuit, took to the podium to show her gratitude to voters and poll workers in her first speech as vice president-elect.

She also remembered her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, an Indian American Indian biomedical scientist who left a legacy in breast cancer research that helped save lives. “When she came here from India at the age of 19 she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment,” she said. “But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.

“So I am thinking about her and the generations of women – Black women, Asian, white, Latina, natives American women – who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all, including the Black women who are too often overlooked but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”

“All the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote for over a century – 100 years ago with the 19th amendment, 55 years ago with the voting rights act and now in 2020 with a new generation of women in our country who cast their ballots and continued the fight for their fundamental right to vote and be heard.”

The 56-year-old California senator also commended Biden for having the “audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists” in America and choose a woman running mate. “But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris said. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.

“To the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message – dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they’ve never seen it before, but know that we will applaud you every step of the way.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to stay indoors to combat the viral spread. While inside, people have been getting into different hobbies to promote self-care during anxious times. For one woman, her love of floral arrangements in her pastime led to a business opportunity.

Talia Boone is the founder of Postal Petals, a farm-direct delivery service that allows consumers to order flowers in bulk for DIY activities. What motivated Boone to start her business was when she wanted to make her own floral arrangements at home while in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic and couldn’t find any options to buy flowers in bulk for her DIY projects since she wasn’t buying as a business.

“I recognized a hole in the marketplace and decided it was a business opportunity,” says Boone in an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE via email.”There was no farm-to-table model for fresh flowers in the same way for fresh produce boxes. Like many industries, I also saw that the flower industry was realizing that they’d need to pivot in some way to survive while in this pandemic, especially in the wake of events and weddings (some of their biggest moneymakers) being halted due to lockdowns. This was an opportunity to engage with flower farms in a way they likely would not have been open to pre-pandemic.

Boone works with local farms across the country to source her fresh flowers who were open to the opportunity after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupt their industry. “The pandemic’s impact on the flower industry led to some farm’s openness to entertaining unconventional fulfillment and getting their flowers to consumers efficiently,” she says.

“I took about a week to brainstorm the framework that is now Postal Petals, circled back to him with a more refined concept, and just 3 months later, Postal Petals beta launched with nearly 20 domestic flower farms shipping for us. Interestingly enough, now that more farms are understanding the model, we’ve had others recently reach out to us about partnering. ”

Boone says the pandemic is what provided an opportunity for her business to blossom as a way to help people connect virtually to arrange flowers during the quarantine. “The flower industry is not easy to infiltrate, so the pandemic really opened the door for Postal Petals even to be able to exist,” she states.

“Because of the pandemic, the flower farms were a lot more receptive to this new business model and participating in our farm-to-table flower box model. Also, taking into account our virtual flower arranging experiences providing a way for people to gather virtually, Postal Petals is really fit for a time.”

California Sen. Kamala Harris is now the first woman vice president-elect in United States history and the first person of color to make it to the second-highest office as Joe Biden wins the presidency.

On Saturday, several media outlets projected that former vice president Biden and his running mate, Harris, won the state of Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, thus earning more than 270 electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.

“This election is about so much more than @JoeBiden or me,” 56-year-old Harris, the daughter of immigrants, said on Twitter shortly after Biden was projected as the winner. “It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.”

For two decades in public life, Harris has achieved a lot of firsts: the first Black woman to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney, the first woman to be California’s attorney general, first Indian American senator, and now she will be working by Biden’s side after he named her for the nomination to the number two spot in August amid cheers from supporters including women activists.

Here’s what you should know about the prosecutor-turned-senator whose motto comes from her mom: “You may be the first, but make sure you’re not the last.”

She worked as a deputy district attorney from 1990–98 in Oakland, prosecuting cases of drug trafficking, gang violence, and sexual abuse. Despite her parents not being too comfortable with her career choice, Kamala said she wanted to change the system from the inside, and with that determination, she moved up the ladder, becoming a district attorney in 2004.

At the time, she had made a name for herself in San Francisco, not only through her work as a prosecutor but also through her friendships with the city’s elite and her relationship with former mayor Willie B. They would support her with funding when she campaigned for office to become district attorney in 2004. That same year, she made what has been described as one of her most controversial decisions; Kamala refused to pursue the death penalty against the man who killed San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza.

She was heavily criticized for that. And when she ran for California attorney general, many thought she would lose to Steve Cooley, a popular white Republican who served as Los Angeles’ DA. Why? Kamala was a woman of color from liberal San Francisco who opposed the death penalty, but she made it, winning by a margin of less than 1 percent, thus becoming the first woman to hold the post in 2010.

Even though she was criticized during her time as attorney general for not doing enough to cater to police brutality, especially when she refused to investigate the police shootings of two Black men in 2014 and 2015, she did demonstrate political independence while in office.

She clashed with the Obama administration when California was offered $4 billion in a national mortgage settlement over the foreclosure crisis. Fighting for a larger amount, Harris did not sign the deal, and at the end of the day, she was able to secure $20 billion for California homeowners, according to reports.

Getting elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 also raised her national profile as she went viral for her sharp interrogations of officials and nominees of the Trump administration, including then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the Russia investigation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and Brett M. Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

But her most viral moment occurred during her 2020 presidential campaign. During the first Democratic debate, Harris criticized Biden for his position on a federal busing program in the 1970s that benefited minorities, including herself.

Biden looked shocked when Harris told him on the debate stage last July: “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools. And she was bused to school every day,” she said. “And that little girl was me.”

Though Harris’s support increased after that moment, by September 2019 she began falling behind in polling. Her campaign struggled due to internal staff rows and in December, she dropped out of the race.

She, however, continued to have a well-publicized presence, particularly becoming a leading advocate for social justice reform in response to the killing of George Floyd. Her stance silenced critics who had slammed her while she was attorney general over claims she refused to investigate charges of police misconduct though she explained that she was only committed to a fairer criminal justice system.

And amid the protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the United States, it was not surprising that many prominent Black male leaders called on Biden to select a Black woman as his vice presidential running mate to increase his election chances.

In August, Biden picked Harris, and they will be now working toward an equitable and prosperous future for all Americans. “Black women have always been the backbone of this Democratic Party, and oftentimes not valued for our ability to lead,” said Barbara Lee, the congresswoman from Oakland, Calif., who was a co-chair of Harris’ own presidential bid.

“But I tell you now, Black women are showing that Black women lead, and we’ll never go back to the days where candidates only knew our value in terms of helping them get elected. Now they will see how we govern from the White House.”