Full-time state legislator; born June 1 in Chicago; B.A., government, Monmouth College; M.A., sociology, Jackson State University; certified drug and alcohol counselor and prevention specialist; former vice president of Human Resources Development Institute Inc.; member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.; co-chair of Health Policy Task Force, Council of State Governments; vice chair of the Commission to Study the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Past and Present Effects on African-Americans; single.