Meet Ella M. Jones, who has been elected as the first African American mayor of the city of Ferguson, Missouri. She is also the city’s first female mayor. Ferguson was thrown into the national spotlight back in 2014 following the fatal police shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown and has been credited for sparking the national Black Lives Matter movement.
She is a member of the Boards of the Emerson Family YMCA and of the St. Louis MetroMarket, a decommissioned bus that was retrofitted as a mobile farmers market to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to underserved communities.
Jones is also the founder and Chairperson of Community Forward, Inc., a nonprofit community development organization. As a Council Member, she served as a council representative on the following commissions and boards: Human Rights, Traffic, Landmarks, Senior Citizens, Parks, and West Florissant Business Association.
She reportedly enjoys traveling, trout fishing, preparing New Orleans style cuisine, dancing, and power-shopping with her girlfriends.