I, Shenika C. Sharpe, am a 40 year old single mother of 2, a son Chance whom is 13 y.o. and a daughter Chasity whom is 9 y.o. My Kids are my pride and joy and the motivating force behind everything I do and am. I am pleased to come from humble beginnings being the last of 3 children from Trinidadian immigrants. Due to some unfortunate chain of event I spent the early part of my life in the New York City foster care system, until I was adopted by the late Mary K. Sharpe of Brooklyn, NY at age 9. It was then that I became the youngest of 13, 5 of whom were adopted like myself. With Mrs. Sharpe although I was raised in the hood of Brooklyn I was raised in a strict religious driven household, which I accredit laid the foundation to be the woman I am today. My mom drilled in my head that she wasn’t raising me to be a product of my environment and that education, respect, honesty, loyalty and authenticity are the key principles that would carry me to success. At the age of 16 myself, my mom and 1 of my adopted brothers moved from Brooklyn, NY due to the rise in crime in our neighbor. We relocated to the rural Edenton, NC, which was where my adopted mother was from. The south was so unlike anything I had ever seen, from the accents, quietness, even the food it was so slow. Growing up in the city, due what I saw and experienced in the streets of Bedford Stuyvesant made me wise beyond my years. Due to that I always wanted to working in law enforcement be it a lawyer, probation or police officer, etc. After graduating H.S. I attended a small local community college, but I felt my thirst for knowledge was not being fed and felt like if I didn’t strive for more I would be stuck working in a factory assembly line. That thought prompted me to begin apply to 4 year colleges, the 1st acceptance letter I received was from Saint Augustine’s College. So I transferred from the College of Albemarle to St. Aug and was introduce to a new world.

HBCU life was everything I needed and wanted, there was people there whom looked like me, acted like me and accept me for me. I had never felt such a sense of belonging and worth. I graduated from Saint Augustine’s College with a B.S. in Criminal Justice on May 8, 2004. During my time at SAU I was in the gospel choir, Outer Limits Modeling Troupe, Criminal Justice Club, Academic Achieve and a RA in Weston Hall. Upon my completion of under grad I moved back to Brooklyn New York with hopes of starting my career and attending grad school. Being in the real world and being an adult was hard. At one time I knew exactly what I wanted to do with myself, but now that the time was here I had no idea. No one would hire me because I had no experience, so I served in the AmeriCorps program for 2 years, then I landed an entry level position with Lifesprie Inc. an agency that services adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. I also worked part-time with NYC Administration for Service the same agency that separated me from my biological family, all the while moving up in the ranks of Lifespire. I stayed employed with Lifespire for 15 years and when I ended my career there I was Assistant Facility Director. I used my time at Lifespire to grow and advance both professionally and educationally and on June 13, 2020 I received my Master of Public Administration / Public Affairs from Metropolitan College of New York. Since the for the last 2 years I’ve served as Manager for Residential Services for Sanctuary Families an agency that services women, children and victims of Domestic Violence, Sex trafficking and other gender base crimes. In my current role I supervise a staff of 5 and run the daily operational procedures of 4 crisis shelter that provide housing, case management and counseling services to our client. As a survivor of childhood abuse and Domestic Violence the work I do provides me great satisfaction. As of February 2021 I recently started my own nonprofit outreach organization “ Queens On Board”. My organization does consulting and referral services for various community and educational events. We organized and sponsor block party, clothing and food giveaways and back to school drives just to name a few. During this nationwide pandemic I’ve come to find out I and the work is do is ESSENTIAL. Shenika C. Sharpe, MPA

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