Bilal Ali Productions Highlight Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Feb 21st, 2012 by Bilal Ali
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (born March 17, 1970) is an American politician and 57th Mayor of the City of Baltimore. She is Baltimore’s second female mayor. Rawlings-Blake succeeded Sheila Dixon as mayor of Baltimore when Dixon resigned due to a conviction for embezzlement.
2011 mayoral campaign
In the summer of 2011, several democratic candidates filed to run against Blake for mayor (see list below). The democratic primary was held on September 13, 2011 and Blake won with 52% of the vote. She faces token opposition in the November general election
Rawlings-Blake was born in Baltimore, and is the daughter of Nina Rawlings M.D. (pediatrician) and Howard “Pete” Rawlings. Her father was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Education
Rawlings-Blake graduated from Western High School in 1988. She graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1992 with a B.A. in Political Science. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland Law School in 1995. She was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1996 and to the Federal Bar in 1997. She is also an alumna of the Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound Center.
Career
In 1995, Rawlings-Blake became the youngest person ever elected to the Baltimore City Council. She became President of the Council on January 17, 2007, when then-City Council President Sheila Dixon became mayor (after then-Mayor Martin O’Malley became Governor of Maryland). Rawlings-Blake was an attorney with the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender from 1998 to 2006.
Rawlings-Blake served on the Baltimore City Democratic State Central Committee from 1990 to 1998. In 1993, Rawlings-Blake served as the Annapolis lobbyist for the Young Democrats of Maryland. She currently serves on the board of directors for Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, the Greater Northwest Community Coalition, the Living Classrooms Foundation, the Maryland Science Center, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Park Heights Health Association, and the Parks and People Foundation. From 1998 to 2006, Rawlings-Blake was an attorney with the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender from 1998 to 2006. She is a member of the Federal Bar Association and the Maryland State Bar Association. Rawlings-Blake is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Epsilon Omega chapter and a former at-large member of the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys.