Sylvia Anjel SantanaMichigan Committee Statement of Organization

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is administered by the Secretary of State, who is elected on a partisan ballot for a term of four years in gubernatorial elections. The Secretary of State is the third-highest official in the State of Michigan. A ...

, November 15, 2019. (born November 23, 1979) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Michigan Senate, representing the 2nd district. She previously represented the 3rd district from 2019 to 2022. She also served in the Michigan House of Representatives from the 9th district from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and education

Santana was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. She attended

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, where she was a member of the Finance Club, majored in

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

, and graduated with a

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...

in business in 2007. In 2022 she received her master’s degree in business administration from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

Early career

Before her tenure in the Michigan legislature, Santana spent over 15 years working in finance, for companies like ProsperUS Detroit/Southwest Economic Solutions, Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc., and

Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage, LLC (formerly known as Quicken Loans LLC) is a mortgage loan provider. It is headquartered in the One Campus Martius building in the financial district of Downtown Detroit, Michigan. In January 2018, the company became the la ...

State legislature

House of Representatives

Santana served one term in the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 9th district, which at the time included Detroit and Dearborn. In this role, she was a member of the CARES Task Force, which studies mental health issues in the state. She was also on State House committees for the Department of Health and Human Services, Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, and Corrections.

Senate

Santana is currently serving her second term in the Michigan Senate, after first being elected in 2018. She was named the MIRS News Democratic Legislator of the Year in 2020.

Personal life

Santana married fellow

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

legislator Harvey Santana in 2003, after meeting her freshman year of college at Eastern Michigan University. They live in Warrendale with their three children: Sofia, Olivia, and Samuel. She is Catholic. Santana has been involved in a number of community projects and groups, including the creation of the neighborhood block club and as the finance director and later president of the Warrendale Community Organization.

References

External links

Official Senate Profile

Campaign website
1979 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Democratic Party Michigan state senators Politicians from Cincinnati African-American women in politics African-American state legislators in Michigan Women state legislators in Michigan 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians {{Michigan-politician-stub