| Lifelong resident of the 7th Illinois Senate District; BA in political science from Amherst College; Founder and CEO of Blue Sky Strategies & Co., a firm that develops anti-racist public policy; Former Deputy Commissioner and Policy Director of the Dept. of Planning and Development for Chicago Mayor's Office; Deputy Director of My Brother's Keeper Alliance, an Obama Foundation initiative; Legislative aide for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin in Washington; Son of a Black-American mother and an Ethiopian-American father, both owners of small businesses in the 7th District; the first openly gay senator to serve in the Illinois Senate; Resides in Uptown; Avid reader, cyclist and lover of the great outdoors. |