I have served in the Georgia General Assembly for four years now, and have seen, first hand, the great divide between urban and rural issues. I worked over a decade ago for the Secretary of State and gained a great deal of insight about my home state of Georgia, but as a downtown Atlanta resident and small business owner, I would enjoy being part of a program focused on the entire state. As a State Legislator, my focus is often on the issues of the constituency I serve, even though my decisions and votes affect the whole State.

I have served as the State Representative for House District 59 in the Georgia Legislature for the past four years. My responsibilities in this role include serving one of the State’s most diverse districts, including very affluent as well as devastatingly blighted communities. I was active in my own community – serving on the Founding Board of our start­up Charter school, operating a small business and serving on the Neighborhood Planning Unit Board – but was never, particularly interested in politics. It was after our school burned down that I began to realize the difference I could make for the larger community in political office. As I campaigned for the Legislature, I was able to begin to understand the challenges outside of my own neighborhood and how much the district was in need of a proactive, engaged representative. After unseating a 20+ year entrenched incumbent, I felt a strong urgency to prove myself in what is still considered a majority minority district. I lobbied hard for appointments to the committees I believe allow me to best serve my district’s needs – the Education, Banks and Banking and Health Committees.

Founding Board member, Personnel Chair, Neighborhood Charter School (NCS). As a founding Board member, I served as Personnel Chair and Board Chair Elect. In my position as Personnel Chair, I was responsible for conducting a nationwide search for someone qualified to serve not only as a Principal, but a Founding Director at this start up, community school. I was responsible for creating hiring, discharge, grievance, disciplinary and other Personnel–related procedures. When our building was destroyed in a fire, eight months after opening for K–3 grades, I was responsible for assisting in relocating students, documenting loss for insurance purposes, and helping relocate students to temporary units until the school was rebuilt. The students at NCS were relocated to a neighborhood Church, and, finally, into temporary units on the school grounds. These students did not miss a single day of instruction due to the loss of their school building, and they now attend school in one of the oldest buildings in the City, with a brand new interior. Most of the K–5 students at NCS now attend Atlanta Charter Middle School – one of the most diverse public schools in Atlanta.

Member of Kiwanis Civic Organization. As a member of this civic organization, I have assisted the immediate past president with membership development. I had the recent, distinct honor of hosting and introducing the new Mayor of Atlanta on his first full day in office.

As a member of the Carver YMCA, I serve in a role where I am able to directly help the youth in my district, especially in an area that has transitioned from a former housing project to a thriving community of lower to moderate income families. This YMCA serves not only as a recreational facility, but a community meeting facility, and an anchor that will, hopefully, attract more economic development to the area. I became very involved in the Summerhill baseball program and was asked to be further involved in helping expand the Y’s youth recreational activities.

Member, Dirty Truth Campaign, Working Families Coalition. In this role, I work with this community organization fighting foreclosure and overall blight in the neighborhoods within Neighborhood Planning Unit V.

Member, Friends of the Grant Park Pool, helping to create a more user–friendly City pool for the larger community.

Member, Grant Park Conservancy

As the elected State Representative for House District 59, I am responsible for representing my House district in the General Assembly. I serve on four committees: Education, Banks and Banking, Health and Human Services and Industrial Relations. I am a member of the Legislative Working Families Caucus, the Women’s Caucus, and serve as Vice–Chair of the Education Charter School Subcommittee. In this role, I work on legislative and constituent issues.

I serve one of the most diverse and active districts in the state, attending regular neighborhood, civic, business, church and tenant association meetings. HD 59 encompasses parts of Midtown Atlanta, Historic Old 4th Ward, Lakewood and Grant Park. It also includes some of Atlanta’s oldest as well as low and moderate income areas and some of Atlanta’s more affluent neighborhoods. It is incumbent upon me to represent everyone with equal zeal. I am active in each community of the district and work hard to represent this district in the legislature and on a daily basis handling constituent requests, working on legislation and other issues for my constituency. I send regular email updates to constituents and am very proactive about being accessible as the elected representative for Georgia’s 59th House district.

• 2010 Member, Leadership Georgia
• 1994 Present Kiwanis Club of Atlanta Member
• 2010 Present Carver YMCA Board Member
• 2006 Present Neighborhood Planning Unit W Elected member/Public Safety committee member
• 2005 – 2007 Atlanta Journal–Constitution
• Margaret Kaiser B.A., Emory University N/A
• Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Certificate in Health Policy graduate, 2009 – 2010
• University of Virginia Emerging Political Leadership Program graduate — one of two House members nominated and selected nationally as one of 50 participants, 2009
• University of Georgia Legislative Leadership Institute graduate — selected by House leadership as one of 25 House and Senate members to participate, 2008
• University of Georgia 25th Biennial Institute program, completed 2007
• Center for Dispute resolution/mediation training program graduate, 2004