In our March “Tips From the Trail” episode, Women’s Public Leadership Network interviewed Roxy Ndebumadu, Vice Mayor of Bowie, Maryland.

When Roxy ran for Vice Mayor in 2019, it was her first time running for anything. She decided to run because a mentor at Microsoft, her former employer, encouraged her to run. We’ve found that is often the case for women–they decide to run after someone suggests or urges them to. 

Mentorship can make or break a woman’s political journey. In Vice Mayor Ndebumadu’s case, her mentor inspired, encouraged, and supported her to run.

As Vice Mayor Ndebumadu said: “So I went to RunForOffice.org. I typed in my address, and I saw what I was eligible for. City council popped up and it was available. I will admit to you, I was a little nervous because at that point, it was around like 50 something days before the election, so it was super short. I ended up filing anyways. I ran for 45 days. I ran against four other individuals that were all twice my age, and I won by 16 votes. 

Absentee ballots matter. And so essentially the reason why I ran was because my mentor suggested it to me. Then also, considering my background, the way that I grew up, my lifestyle, I was very much so passionate about education, children's issues, and also women's issues. And so when he suggested it, I was like, you know, what's there to lose? I'm either going to win or I'm going to lose. And if I lose, I'll still have a job and I'll still continue to go on with my life. So I did it.”

Watch Vice Mayor Ndebumadu’s story here:

Vice Mayor Ndebumadu overcame tremendous trauma and adversity in a short period of time, during pivotal times in her life, and she believes she survived all this to be a testimony to someone else, so they don’t have to suffer. It is her life’s purpose.

She believes those experiences helped her become more relatable, and drove her to getting involved in politics, as she didn’t see a lot of elected leaders who could relate to so many people. So she came into public service as an advocate.

Vice Mayor Ndebumadu imparted some wisdom: “I think we have to reframe what actually makes us qualified to lead. And I think because we live in a society that has told you that you have to have X accolades and X qualifications and have X type of persona, and that equates to the best type of leader. I'm here to tell you that that's not true. Your life experiences are your qualifier. That's what makes you qualified to lead, because you bring a unique perspective and unique values to the table that does have a seat, whether you believe it or not. 

So I'm here to tell you, as somebody who is the youngest member of our city council right now, the only woman and literally the first African American woman to represent this district, the perspective that I bring to the table is so unique and so different from my other colleagues because we have different lived experiences. So when we look at legislation, we look at legislation very differently. But what's beautiful about what we're able to do is when we come together, in the end, we're able to understand the unique needs of the individual districts in the community that we represent and apply that lived experience to be able to make the best decision for our community. So your lived experience is your qualifier.”

Learn more about Vice Mayor Ndebumadu’s inspiring story by watching our March Tips From the Trail.