Madame Mayor

Five girls of Pink House, a local girl empowerment organization, had the opportunity to interview LaToya Cantrell for Geaux Girl!. Ms. Cantrell will be inaugurated as the first female mayor in New Orleans’ 300-year history on May 7th. After chatting for an hour, the girls decided that our new mayor is “very chill, funny, and inspiring.”

Photo above: Jada Magee (16), Tracy Boykins (18), Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Paris Rayfield (14), Genesis Scott (13), and Mylah Tracy (14)

LATOYA CANTRELL is a mother, a daughter, a wife, a sister, but most of all, she’s a doer. at’s why she rolled up her sleeves after Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 and helped bring the entire Broadmoor neighborhood back to life. And that’s why she ran for mayor. She didn’t seek political office because of the position — and the status that comes with it – she said. For her, it’s about the people and doing the work.

Raised in Los Angeles, Ms. Cantrell was president of her middle school, secretary of her neighborhood Chamber of Commerce at age 13, and in student government at her high school. She doesn’t remember ever not being civically engaged. “that’s just how I was raised,” she said. “You have a responsibility of benefiting other people. at is your role in life. It’s not about you.”

Whether she was with her mom’s working-class family in California during the school year or spending the summer with her dad’s family in Alabama, where everyone had a college education, she was always surrounded by strong women who weren’t afraid to make themselves heard. But Ms. Cantrell never got to meet the woman in her family she resembles the most. “My mother tells me that I’m just like my great-grandmother. She was political and ruled everybody,” she said, laughing.

Strong and fierce by nature, Ms. Cantrell has been a go-getter all her life, but she also remembers feelings of insecurity when she enrolled at Xavier University in 1990. She had always wanted to attend an HBCU (HBCUs = historically black colleges and universities) and it felt good to suddenly be surrounded by people who looked like her, but the expectation to be bright and succeed among so many smart people intimidated her. Ms. Cantrell learned that when things get tough, she needed to tap into her spirit, which to her means being grounded in her faith and good in her own skin. “You have to know who you are,” she kept saying. “We all have a purpose in life. Part of knowing who you are is knowing your purpose.”

When Ms. Cantrell was running for mayor, she felt that it was her calling and that she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing. at’s what got her through the “bad and brutal” moments of the mayoral race. “Dealing with all the haters” has been difficult, she said, and she believes the hate and second-guessing she is facing has in part to do with her being a woman and being African American. She has enough self-esteem now though to brush o the negativity. It’s all about “being comfortable in your own skin and owning it.” “Don’t let other people define who you are,” she added.

As for her plans as New Orleans’ first female mayor, Ms. Cantrell wants to help the city strive to be the best it can be. Her goal is to make New Orleans better and safer for everyone. That means taking actions like getting the trash out of people’s eyes and fixing street lights, she explained, because the environment people are living in matters. She also believes that we need more after-school programming and fun activities for teens (more dance parties, y’all!) and better transportation options for young people in our community.

When asked about what she associates with New Orleans, Ms. Cantrell said she thinks about the city’s culture, Mardi Gras, food and music, the people, and diversity. It’s obvious that what she wants more than anything is for everyone to be able to see the beautiful spirit and soul of New Orleans.

Top 5 Goals as Mayor:

1. Clean up the city
2. Promote equality (e.g., improve quality and affordability of housing, raise wages)
3. Help people be well and plan for the future — financially and beyond
4. Create department for youth and families
5. Grow the city’s population and economy (New Orleans has yet to reach its pre-Katrina population)