The serious work continues in Ferguson, where, just a little more than eight months ago, Ella Jones was sworn in as the city’s first Black mayor.
Jones is one of two community leaders to be honored with the inaugural Champion for All Award by Webster University, in recognition of her leadership in working to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion in the community.
Jones and fellow recipient Valerie Patton, president of the Greater St. Louis Foundation, are being honored this week in the first-ever award ceremony as part of the university’s annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Conference.
Jones, who officially began her term as mayor on June 17, 2020, says she is excited and honored to be recognized as a “Champion for All.”
“Sometimes, you don’t think people are watching what you’re doing,” Jones said. “I was in college when I realized I was a leader, a trailblazer. I just looked at where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life – and that was to serve people and to empower people. That’s why I mentor a lot of young people to be what they want and be the best at it. I just volunteer every way I can. I love to volunteer, I love people.”
Jones and her late husband, Tim, moved to Ferguson more than 40 years ago with their daughter, Marletha.
“We wanted my daughter to be able to walk to school instead of being bussed. The Ferguson-Florissant School District is an excellent school district. Ferguson was also close to McDonnell Douglas, where my husband worked as an electrician,” she said.
Before being elected mayor, Jones was the first African American to serve on the Ferguson City Council. Prior to that, Jones, who graduated with a chemistry degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, worked for Washington University in the biochemistry department. She also was an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical company.
“It was so isolated in the lab – you’re just mixing stuff and you’re not around people much,” she recalled.
Jones said a girlfriend convinced her to try her hand as a Mary Kay sales consultant, eventually becoming a sales director for the company. She also became a pastor at a local African Methodist Episcopal church.
“Church helped me to develop my leadership skills and style,” she said. “All my self-confidence came from the church. With that type of training, you can be anything you want.”
Being a leader came naturally, according to Jones, who grew up in New Orleans in a family of five brothers and two sisters.
“When I was younger, they always called me ballsy. My brothers and sisters would tell me, ‘You’re too ballsy!’” she said. “When you find a young woman they call ballsy, she’s already a leader – she’s doing things, she’s making things happen.”
Her historic election is not lost on her, but Jones said the work ahead requires that she continue to be her best.
“Anything is possible. If you believe it, you do the work, you can have it,” she said. “You have to believe – that’s what you say to yourself every day. What do you say to yourself every day? Do you encourage yourself or do you think negatively of yourself? I encourage myself every day. I’m the one who has to encourage me.”
While Jones admits her to-do list of priorities is long, she believes progress is taking place in the work to improve the city for its residents.
“We continue to have courageous conversations,” Jones said, noting that she’s formed a task force to partner with key community leaders and residents. “We’re also having conversations with PROUD (People Reaching Out for Unity and Diversity), as well as teaming up with the Neighborhood Police Steering Committee and the police department to create policies that will enhance the police. We’re also working with senior citizens, with young people. And we’re looking at our physical infrastructure. There are some streets that need major repairs. We’re working (at City Hall) to continue to beautify the city. Our city is a reflection of us.”
In addition to Jones, Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and president of Greater St. Louis Foundation/Greater St. Louis Inc., is being recognized for her accomplishments. In her role at the Greater St. Louis Foundation, Patton is responsible for the strategic direction and management of diversity, equity, inclusion and workforce/talent for the business community in the St. Louis region.
Both are being presented with the 2021 Champion for All Award during Webster University’s sixth annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Conference.
This year’s virtual conference, Feb. 23 to 25, is free to attend. For more information and to register, click here.
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