Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat who represents the 5th Senatorial District in the Missouri State Senate was born on October 17, 1972 in St. Louis, Missouri, where she currently resides with her husband, Fahim Nasheed, and acts as caretaker of her 13-year old cousin Najawah Williams. Senator Nasheed was elected to the Senate after winning her primary in August 2012.

Senator Nasheed was elected to the House of Representatives in 2005; she was sworn in for the first time in 2006 and served until 2012. While in the House of Representatives, she served as the Chairperson of the Urban Issues Committee and is also a member of the Budget Committee, Economic Development Committee and Financial Institutions Committee. In her efforts to assist in the urban community, Sen. Nasheed sponsored legislation to expunge non-violent criminal records, sponsored a Math and Science Tutoring Act, and sponsored legislation regarding a Personal Plan of Study to assist students in preparing for a better education. Senator Nasheed served as the Chairwoman of the Interim Committee on Drop-Out Prevention and served on the Interim Committee on Corrections for the State of Missouri. Senator Nasheed served as a Chairperson for Women’s Freshman Committee and Vice-Chairperson of the Freshman Democratic Caucus.

In addition to her legislative duties, Sen. Nasheed is a member of the A+ Schools Program. She also crafted legislation regarding the A+ Program, which will allow students to go to college at no cost to the parents for students who were in unaccredited school districts; in addition, she is a member of the Urban League Anti-crime Initiative. She is also a member of the Order of the Eastern Star fraternal organization.

Furthermore, Sen. Nasheed is a former board member of Inspire STL, which supports middle school students through the high school application process, to empower the community to create better options for parents, and to sustain their momentum through their academic journey.

She is a founder of the “In It 2 Win” Coalition which finds and returns students who have dropped out and assist in returning them back to the classroom. She is also involved with the Fresh Start Program, a non-traditional program that assists in returning youth between the ages of 17-21 back to the classroom to receive their high school diploma.

In 2001, Sen. Nasheed founded Urban Academy for Political Development (UAPD), a non-for-profit organization, whose mission was to empower African American youth through educating them in the electoral and political process.

Selected as a delegate, Sen. Nasheed has traveled abroad to study politics in India through the American Council for Young Political Leaders. She was an award recipient of the following programs: St. Louis Public Schools Role Model Program; the African American Heritage Society; and the Lexington Mentor Program. She is also an award recipient for the St. Louis Association of Colored Women’s Club.

In 2002, she received a Drug Enforcement Administration community award.

For over a decade, Sen. Nasheed was the owner and operator of the Sankofa Books and Gifts, an inner-city bookstore. The bookstore mission was to promote the importance of reading. Senator Nasheed attended Roosevelt High School in St. Louis. However, years later, received her high school General Equivalency Diploma. She is currently working on a degree in communications.