Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Soyini Pressley (born February 3, 1974) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019.

This district includes the northern three quarters of Boston, most of Cambridge, parts of Milton, as well as all of Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, and Somerville.

From 1992 to 1994, Pressley attended the College of General Studies at Boston University, before leaving school to take a full-time job at the Boston Marriott Copley Place to support her mother, who had lost her job.

She took further courses at Boston University Metropolitan College.

Pressley has publicly recounted having been a survivor of a "near decade of childhood sexual abuse".

She has also publicly recounted surviving a sexual assault on the campus of Boston University while a student there.

After leaving Boston University Metropolitan College, Pressley worked as a district representative for Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II (D−MA), for whom she had interned during college.

She became Kennedy's scheduler, then worked as constituency director, before becoming the political director and senior aide for Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) In 2009, Pressley served as Kerry's political director.

Pressley was first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2009.

Before serving in the United States House of Representatives, Pressley served as an at-large member of the Boston City Council from 2010 through 2019.

Upon being sworn in on January 4, 2010, she was the first woman of color to serve in the 100-year history of the Boston City Council.

Pressley placed a strong focus to women's and children's issues.

Pressley founded the Committee on Healthy Women, Families, and Communities, which addresses issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking.

She worked collaboratively with community members to develop a comprehensive sex education and health curriculum which was implemented in Boston Public Schools.

In June 2014, the Boston City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Pressley coauthored with Councilor Michelle Wu, which prohibits its city government "from contracting with any health insurer that denies coverage or 'discriminates in the amount of premium, policy fees, or rates charged...because of gender identity or expression".

This ordinance guaranteed healthcare (including gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy, and mental health services) to transgender city employees and their dependents.

Pressley declared, "We can't be a world-class city if anyone is made to feel like a second-class citizen."

Pressley worked on the issue of liquor licenses in the city.

The ultimate product of Pressley's push was the passage of state legislation in 2014 granting Boston the authority to distribute 75 additional liquor licenses over a three year period, with the aim of distributing them to less advantaged neighborhoods in order to increase economic activity in those neighborhoods.

However, The Boston Globe's Meghan Irons observed that an unintentional impact of this was that, "it created uneven competition. It left out certain neighborhoods. It allowed businesses that were already established to get the licenses."

In 2017, Pressley and Mayor Walsh unveiled a proposal to increase the number of liquor license in the city by 152 over a three year period, with the majority of licenses being granted to underserved communities.

In 2017, the Council passed the Equity in City of Boston Contracts Ordinance, which was sponsored by Pressley and Councilor Michelle Wu.

It required that the city create a supplier diversity program to conduct outreach to female and minority-owned businesses in regards to the city contracting process.

It also required the city to actively solicit bids from at least one female-owned business and one minority-owned business for contracts under $50,000.

It also created a quarterly reporting requirement for the city.

According to Erin O'Brien, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts Boston, Pressley did not have the reputation for being controversial or an outsider during her time on the City Council.

She was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2018 after she defeated the ten-term incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary election for Massachusetts' 7th congressional district and ran unopposed in the general election.

Pressley was the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council and the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

Pressley is a member of "The Squad", a group of progressive Congress members.

Pressley was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Chicago, Illinois.

Her father, Martin Terrell, struggled with addiction and was incarcerated throughout Pressley's childhood, but eventually earned multiple degrees and taught at the college level.

Her mother, Sandra Pressley (née Echols), worked multiple jobs to support the family and also worked as a community organizer for the Chicago Urban League advocating for tenants' rights.

The marriage ended in divorce.

Pressley grew up on the north side of Chicago and attended Francis W. Parker School, where she was a cheerleader, did modeling and voice-over work, appeared in Planned Parenthood bus advertisements, and was a competitive debater.

During her senior year of high school, she was voted the "most likely to be mayor of Chicago" and was the commencement speaker for her class.

Pressley's mother later moved to Brooklyn, where she worked as an executive assistant and remarried.

When Pressley was elected to the Boston City Council, her mother would often attend the public meetings, wearing a hat that said "Mama Pressley".

Nevertheless, in 2018, The New York Times called Pressley's work on the matter a "major accomplishment".

To remedy the shortfalls, Pressley worked with Mayor Walsh to further expand the number of new available liquor licenses.

O'Brien, in 2018, observed that the city's "old guard" viewed Pressley as a "showboat" but that, "in many communities of color, she is viewed as incredibly exciting and voicing issues the council has ignored."