Ms. Faulk, my name is Anuoluwapo. I will be interviewing you for Inglewood Today. What motivated you to be a District Woman of Inglewood?
Wow, wonderful question thank you so much for that. I was originally elected onto the IUSD school district board in 201, and so, it was a wonderful opportunity to make an impact on the educational level and with kids. And so, there were some challenges, but, overall, it was a wonderful opportunity, and I learned that my efforts in that district made a difference. And so, when there was an opportunity to run because the former council member was ready to retire. I learned in that opportunity I was excited to be more impactful with the entire city, I was given a way to make a difference, especially with the beautification of the city as well as new economic opportunities coming in, and the vision of the city. I’m like, Oh my God. I felt like it was such a blessing to have this opportunity. So, I went for it. I ran. I was nervous; it took me a minute to digest, do I really want to do this? So, I dived off into the deep end, and I’m so glad that I did. I’m excited to impose my vision in District 4 and work with the community residents and make sure they are on board and we’re working together to improve the city.
Okay, amazing. My second question for you today is going to be how important is it for other Black Women to see you as part of Inglewood City Officials?
It is so important because we don’t have a lot of African American women in politics at all. I was the first African American woman to be elected to the city council. Even now, till this day, when people learn that, they are shocked because we are a predominantly Black and Brown city. So, for us not to have elected a woman before me is really shocking. So I think it is very important that we are represented, we are at the table. And if they don’t give us a seat, we need to pull up our own chair and put ourselves at that table. Because you cannot be a part of the progress in the decision if you are not at the table. So not only am I thankful that I am at the table, but I’m trying to lift up other Black women to be at the table and then lock hands with other women that represent us at different levels so that we are all working together for a better community.
Okay and my third question to you is how do you feel hosting the 2nd annual Women’s Rock Empowerment Summit?
I feel excited not only did we have a very successful 1st annual, but to be able to come back a second year and do it and even do it better than we did it the first year. And then to be sold out and have so many women in Inglewood, who want to come and participate in this conference and learn about event planning, learn about floral arrangements, learn about mental health, learn about how they can do a better job with their social media, and their websites and how to market and brand themselves better. And then to have a powerful message by our newest assembly member Tina McKinnor for the 61st district was amazing. She shared a lot about her testimony and some of the challenges that she went through to be able to become an elected official for the 61stdistrict was a powerful story. She had some challenges and some issues, she actually shared that she was fired at one point.
Wow !!
And she did not know she would be able to recover, but not only did she recover from that with her career choice, she became our elected official. That was amazing, and now I’m looking forward to hearing Mignon Von’s story she is on the hit Tyler Perry showSistas
Mmm hmm
And she is going to talk a little bit about her journey in entertainment, and what she went through, and what her challenges were, so we’re looking forward to hearing from her as well this afternoon as one of the keynotes.
Okay, okay, love that. My next question for you is how important are women in the development of the city of champions?
Mmm, women are very important in the development; I will tell you that there are some challenges here in the city. Even the beautification projects of the city are very important because I think that sometimes men kind of look at the bolts and nuts of things but they are not looking at the overall health of the city, and the look and the feel of the city. I am very proud to say that I am looking at the overall look, beautification and health of the city. I have had an opportunity to work with my vision and we are gonna [sic] look at implementing larger capital projects. To rebuild certain aspects to make it as beautiful on the outside as our city is on the inside and to look and feel like the new Inglewood [sic].
And my last question is how do you feel about the younger generation that’s complaining about gentrification and the rising cost of living in the city and what we feel like is the closing of mom-and-pop shops/ small businesses?
Mmm hmm, wow that breaks my heart to even hear that question.
Yes,
I will tell you that the mayor and the council members, especially me have that concern at the forefront of how we operate on a daily basis. We want our Black and Brown young adults to feel like they do have a future here in Inglewood. And then we want to be able to provide all the opportunities that we can for them. We are creating affordable housing, we actually just opened up an affordable housing project right here on Beach, a few weeks ago. So, we were able to have some of our families who may have been underserved in the past, to be able to afford to live there. And we are looking forward to bringing much more affordable housing to Inglewood. We’re also looking at programs to allow young adults an opportunity to buy in our city.
YES !!!!
Because gentrification is a concern for everyone, especially us, we want people who are born and raised here and feel like this is their city to have an opportunity to grow here, thrive here and succeed here. Whether that’s buying a home, opening up a small business, or whatever successful venture they want to be a part of. We want to support them, so please know that we have that in mind as well and we wanna [sic] support their visions.
Thank you so much for this interview it was amazing.
Thank you for interviewing me I appreciate it.
