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Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Senator, 28th District

Raised by a single mother, California State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas grew up watching her mother choose between a livelihood and motherhood. As a daughter of a veteran and registered nurse, she experienced working families' challenges and the harsh economic conditions driving compounded poverty and social inequities.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas attended Cal State Hayward, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications. She began her career as a journalist for the Oakland Tribune, reporting stories on working families. She soon held her first union membership role for the Newspaper Guild, where she got involved in worker organizing as she fought to stop the pink-slipping of several workers and successfully won their fight to keep their jobs. She later became a staff writer for other leading newspaper outlets, including the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Chicago Tribune. After experiencing the mass corporatization of local media and documenting working conditions, she entered the labor movement.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas’ began her work in the labor movement by serving as a political and community coordinator for SEIU Local 1877 (now SEIU USWW). She was a lead organizer throughout the Justice for Janitors Campaign, organizing more than 4,000 security officers to a landslide victory that resulted in them receiving a 40% pay increase, health benefits, and job security. Her success with the campaign cemented her as a labor leader in Los Angeles, and she moved on to work for the UCLA Labor Center, where she founded the Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work. Her role in labor education and labor policy at UCLA led her to cofound the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, which became a national model recognized by President Barack Obama and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas was instrumental in expanding the presence of Black Worker Centers nationwide. She held a leadership position with the Southern California Black Worker Hub for Regional Organizing to help increase the capacity of community-based organizations and labor unions that support the growth of worker centers throughout the Southern California region. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas also served as Treasurer for the Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board. She held various advocacy positions with the U.S. Department of Labor and the Los Angeles County Worker Center Network.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas’ work in the labor movement and community organizing is centered on achieving racial equity in the workplace to address societal issues at large. She has an innate and personal understanding of the jobs crisis that keeps far too many Californians unhoused, unemployed, and lacking a social safety net. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas’ legislative goals include enhancing the role of Cal/OSHA and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to enforce worker rights, expanding the right to bargain collectively, increasing social safety net programs that support working families, and funding public employment benefit programs that create good union jobs. Senator Smallwood-Cuevas is committed to achieving a just transition by building a new green economy, fighting for progressive justice reforms, and securing universal healthcare for all Californians. A progressive leader, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas identifies as a Working Families Democrat.

Senator Smallwood-Cuevas and her husband José are raising their school-aged children in the View Park community of Los Angeles, where they have resided for more than 20 years.