Sylvia Anjel SantanaMichigan Committee Statement of Organization

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is a principal executive department of the government of Michigan. It is responsible for administering Election, elections, regulating Notary public, notaries public, and maintaining records of statutes and the S ...

, November 15, 2019. (born November 23, 1979) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the

Michigan Senate The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, ado ...

, representing the 2nd district. She previously represented the 3rd district from 2019 to 2022. She also served in the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2020 ...

from the 9th district from 2017 to 2019.

Early life and education

Santana was born in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. She attended

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

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

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

, and graduated with a

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

in business in 2007. In 2022 she received her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in business administration from

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

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 Quicken Loans, LLC, is an American mortgage lender, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Rocket Mortgage uses wholesale funding for loans and online applications as opposed to a branch system. History Early histor ...

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 peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santana, Sylvia 1979 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives Democratic Party Michigan state senators Politicians from Cincinnati 21st-century African-American women politicians African-American state legislators in Michigan Women state legislators in Michigan 20th-century African-American women 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American politicians African-American Catholics 21st-century members of the Michigan Legislature