Nicole Tasha Smith

Nicole Tasha Smith (born April 29th, 1980) is an American politician, and the current Representative for the 7th District of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a Democrat known to champion progressive and liberal causes, and is known for her focus on the African-American community.
== Early Life & Education ==
Nicole Tasha Smith was born on April 29th, 1980 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Reverend Jerome Smith, was the pastor of a politically active predominantly black Baptist church on Chicago's South Side, and her mother Sandra Jefferson Smith was an English teacher at a nearby high school. Nicole has one sister, Casondra (born in 1984)
On January 18th, 1992, Reverend Smith was shot by members of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation street gang in his home in front of his daughters. The members were never identified, and the police determined that the gang members shot Smith believing he was another man who was presumably a member of the rival Black P. Stone Nation gang. Nicole Smith claims that she suffers from minor PTSD from the incident.
Nicole attended Walter Payton College Prep High School in Chicago, and graduated as salutatorian of her class. She then attended University of Chicago, and was active in speech and drama, Model UN, and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. Notably, she competed in Model UN with current Vermont Senator and fellow University of Chicago alum Zachary Fowler. She double majored, earning her BA in Sociology and BA in Criminology.
== Early career ==
Upon her graduation from University of Chicago in 2002, Smith went to work for the City of Chicago's crime lab, as a criminal behavioral analyst. She was let go due to budget cuts in 2006.
Smith worked on the 2007 Chicago mayoral campaign of progressive Democrat Sean McCormick, who lost to the sitting incumbent. She then was hired by Albert Winston's presidential campaign to assist in the management of the campaign in the greater Chicago region.
After Winston's election, Smith was hired by VoteForwardChicago, a liberal-leaning group that emphasized "get out the vote" efforts in that area. She was hired to manage the campaign of Democratic mayor John Manuel, who won the election. She was then, in 2012, made the Midwest Regional Director of the Albert Winston campaign.
In early 2013, she spent several months in Ethopia working for a nonprofit that brought electricity to isolated communities. She returned to the US and soon after announced her campaign for US House of Representatives in the Illinois 7th district.
== House of Representatives (2014-present) ==
Nicole Smith won the Democratic primary for the 7th district, as the vote was split between two more moderate Democrats and herself. In the heavily Democratic district, she won with 81% of the popular vote.Category:Democrats
Category:African-American Politicians
Category:Female Politicians
Category:Representative