Thirty years of calling Dale home taught me that this community is worth showing up for.
I went to the old Bensley Elementary, the old Beulah, and then the old Falling Creek Middle. My parents, both U.S. Army veterans, put down roots here and raised me in a community they believed in, and their example is a big part of why I’m running today.
My father spent nearly 20 years working in Chesterfield County Public Schools. Most people knew him as the “Snack Man,'“ but I knew him as the dad…the man who showed up every single day with care and excellence, even when nobody was watching. For 30 years, my mother poured herself into early childhood education, public schools, and helping veterans find stable housing. She is back in the classroom now at Falling Creek Middle School, the same school that once poured into me, doing the same thing for a whole new group of kids.
Both of my parents still live in Dale, and I’m raising my two daughters here so when I talk about this community, I’m not speaking in abstractions. I’m talking about home, in every sense of the word.
a life of service, from the ground up
I started working at 16, waitressing and doing overnight auditing at a hotel. Even back then, the work that felt most meaningful was making sure people had what they needed. That instinct has never left me.
At 21, I became a 911 dispatcher for Chesterfield County, and that job gave me my first real window into how government touches people's lives: what it looks like when the systems work well, and what it costs people when they don't. It shaped how I think about public service to this day.
From there, I built a career at the intersection of public health, organizational leadership, and community service. I served as Health Equity Officer for Virginia Medicaid, working to make sure people across the Commonwealth could actually access the services meant for them. Then I made Virginia history as the first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the Virginia Department of Health, helping reshape how state government reaches communities that have too often been overlooked. If elected, I’ll be the first Black woman to serve on the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors.
Along the way, I earned an MBA and a masters degree in Human Relations, with a focus on how organizations function and how change actually happens. I hold certifications in change management and industrial/organizational psychology; and I’ve spent years teaching at Virginia State University, here I help students think critically about health, systems, and the world around them.
In 2024, I started my own small business, where I work with local governments and nonprofits on organizational effectiveness and transformation. I also own a tea company right here in Dale. I’ve spent years coaching young people on the volleyball and basketball court, where I’m known as Coach Kay. And for several years, I’ve served as a licensed and ordained minister, not in a political way, but in a people way: walking with folks through the hard moments, the uncertain ones, and the ones where they just need someone to stand with them.
The common thread in all of it: I lead with both head and heart, I see how the pieces of a system connect, and I know how to make things work better for the people they’re supposed to serve. That’s not just a professional skill. It’s how I move through the world.
Why This Seat, Why Now
Dale is entering its next chapter, and a lot is being decided right now that will shape what this community looks like for years to come. Growth. Infrastructure. School funding. Development along major corridors. These aren’t distant policy debates. They’re decisions happening right now, and the people who call Dale home deserve a real voice in how they turn out.
They also deserve to choose who speaks for them.
The current supervisor was appointed to fill the seat, which means Dale voters haven’t had the chance to choose their own representative. Most people I talk to are ready for that to change. Ready for someone who was actually chosen by the community, who brings fresh perspective to the work, and who is accountable first and foremost to the people of Dale.
I’m running because I believe Dale is more than ready for its next chapter, and because I’ve spent my entire career preparing for exactly this kind of work, even when I didn’t know this was where I was headed.
I know how to look honestly at what isn’t working. I know how to ask the right questions and bring the right people into the conversation. I know how to hold institutions accountable to the people they’re supposed to serve. That’s how I’ve always operated, and that’s exactly how I’ll serve Dale.
My daughters are growing up here. Every role I‘ve ever held, every community I’ve had the privilege of serving, it has all been building toward being the kind of person who is ready when her community needs her.
Dale is ready for what comes next. So am I.
Because this is my home, it is both my responsibility and my privilege to serve Dale.