Her name is Amarachukwu C. Enyia, She was born in Baltimore, Maryland by Nigerian Igbo parents who migrated to the US in the 70’s. Currently she’s running for mayor of Chicago and has been endorsed by Chicago born rappers Chance the rapper and Kanye West who paid the debt of $73000 which she accrued during her last campaign.
Meet Amarachukwu Enyia
Amarachukwu C. Enyia was born in Baltimore, Maryland by Nigerian Igbo parents who migrated to the US in the 70’s. Currently she’s running for mayor of Chicago and has been endorsed by Chicago born rappers Chance the rapper and Kanye West who paid the debt of $73000 which she accrued during her last campaign.
Her twitter bio describes her as a Policy wonk. Systems thinker. Problemsolver. Nerd. Globetrotter. Athlete. Risk taker. Ideator. Organizer. Writer. Dreamer. Do-er.
She has a law degree and a PhD Educational Policy Studies where she specialized in evaluation methodology. She is fluent in Igbo, Spanish, French, and Portuguese and maintains reading and writing proficiency in Italian.
Amara got her start as a journalist. She earned a Masters degree in Education, law degree where she focused on international and environmental law, and a PhD in Educational Policy Studies. Amara knew she wanted to understand how policies are made at the top level of city government so that she could use her knowledge to serve Chicago’s most challenged communities.
She worked in City Hall and, after gaining experience across several policy areas, went straight to the West Side of Chicago where she served as Executive Director of a non-profit organization and simultaneously worked full time in the manufacturing sector. Amara later launched a municipal consulting firm to help municipalities in the Chicago metropolitan area address some of their most pressing challenges, particularly around economic development and workforce development.
Currently she’s running for mayor of Chicago and has been endorsed by Chicago born rappers Chance the rapper and Kanye West who paid the debt of $73000 which she accrued during her last campaign.
When Chance the Rapper endorsed little-known candidate Amara Enyia for Chicago mayor last week, she had just $67.54 in her campaign bank account and faced tens of thousands of dollars in fines from the Illinois State Board of Elections.
https://mobile.twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/1055933581737017345?p=v
Chance’s backing has appeared to pay off with at least one donor for Enyia — Kanye West, who has contributed $73,540 to her campaign, records show.
The donation is the exact amount in fines Enyia faced from state election officials in connection with her brief 2015 campaign for mayor, and the West Side activist’s campaign confirmed she used West’s money to pay the penalties.
Enyia dropped her bid for mayor four years ago after the petition signatures she collected to appear on the ballot were challenged, but she never closed her campaign account and was fined by state election officials for not filing quarterly campaign finance reports as required by law. Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich told the Chicago Tribune last week that in order for Enyia to run for mayor she would have to have the fines paid by Dec. 20, the day the Chicago mayoral ballot is certified. Dietrich confirmed that Enyia had been in contact with state officials and was expected to present a settlement offer to resolve the fines at the board’s November meeting.
West’s contribution eased the situation. Enyia’s campaign released a statement saying “the $73,540 debt to the Illinois State Board of Elections has been paid in full.”
“The Amara Enyia campaign thanks Chicago native, Kanye West, for his generous action,” the statement read. “Amara’s campaign is energizing people around the city with bold ideas and solutions that move Chicago forward. We are excited to engage people of all walks of life as we focus our efforts on getting on the ballot.”
West’s contribution could present some political land mines for Enyia to navigate in a race where many candidates, her included, are jockeying for the progressive mantle.
How exactly West came to agree to pay Enyia’s election board fines is unclear. Enyia could not be reached for comment and her campaign said she was unavailable Monday for an interview.
The donation from West comes after Enyia received the Chance endorsement last week. Chance and West are friends and collaborators, two Chicago natives who have enjoyed a meteoric rise in the music industry and beyond.
Last week the 25-year-old star rapper, who was born Chancelor Bennett, said he was backing Enyia, a policy consultant and director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, because they shared a vision on how to better Chicago and lift up its most economically challenged areas.
“I want to work with somebody who is about change, somebody who is about our community, somebody who is about equity, somebody who is about fairness,” Chance said at the City Hall news conference. “And the one person in my research of this wide-open race that’s views align with me would obviously be candidate Amara Enyia.”
Enyia promised Chance’s backing would have staying power.
“This is not your typical flash-in-the-pan endorsement,” Enyia said. “Today represents a commitment, the commitment that Chance and I and the hundreds of people that we’ve organized with, advocated with and worked alongside. Today is the beginning of Chicago’s next level.”
Sources: Seriouslybadasswomen.com | Chicagotribune
