For the first time in Chicago Fire Department’s (CFD) 162-year history a woman of color will be in charge.
Annette Nance-Holt has been promoted to the position of Chicago Fire Department Commissioner after working for the CFD for 30 years.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the historic selection.
“It’s official,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted after the council’s vote. “Annette Nance-Holt has made Chicago history by becoming the first Black woman to serve as Chicago Fire Department commissioner.”
In 2018 Nance-Holt was appointed to become the first deputy commissioner, eventually advancing to acting commissioner earlier this year after the retirement of Richard C. Ford.
Nance-Holt said in May that Chicago’s fire department must have firefighters and leadership “that mirrors the communities it serves every day,” as per NBC Chicago News.
“As a child, I never laid eyes on either a female firefighter or a firefighter of color,” Nance-Holt said in a statement.
“There were no role models who looked like me, and so I never thought that becoming a firefighter, which was my dream, would be a possibility for me. As Fire Commissioner, I intend to show the next generation of young black women that they too can achieve any and everything they set their minds and hearts to.”
As well as her extensive experience working in various different roles within the CFD, Nance-Holt is also a co-founder of Purpose Over Pain, a nonprofit which supports parents who have lost children to gun violence.
In 2007, Nance-Holt lost her only child, her then 16-year-old son Blair who was fatally shot by a teenager while heading home from school on a bus. Blair saved his friend’s life that day by pushing her out of the way, according to the website.
“Commissioner Holt has more than three decades of proven leadership and a passion for public service that makes her the perfect fit for this role,” Mayor Lightfoot said.
“Furthermore, in a time where more work remains in order to eliminate discrimination, racism, and sexism from the firefighter profession, Commissioner Holt’s history-making appointment as the first woman and Black woman to lead as Fire Commissioner couldn’t have come at a better moment,” she added.
Such an incredible and inspirational women who deserves to hold this prestigious position.
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