Inside the Office of Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.): Kemi Jemilohun

Title: Legislative director

Age: 28

{mosads}Hometown: Jackson, Miss.

Education: University of Virginia, B.A. in foreign affairs and psychology

Last job: Legislative assistant, Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.)

Legislative specialty: Elementary and secondary education

Favorite bill or law: Affordable Care Act

If you could create a new committee or subcommittee, what would it be?: Income Inequality

Most embarrassing moment on Capitol Hill: Meeting Steny Hoyer (then the majority leader) and forgetting my name.

Interests outside of work:  Cooking, traveling

Kemi Jemilohun grew up in a political household. Her father, a college microbiology professor, and her mother, a nurse, both emigrated from Nigeria and encouraged their daughter to read the news and discuss current events.

“In my household, it was like a culture,” Jemilohun says.

Once at the University of Virginia, Jemilohun thought she would follow her parents’ paths in the sciences, initially enrolling in the pre-med track, but politics called her back.

“Along the way I realized that [pre-med] wasn’t for me — my talents were better served in public service,” she says.

Jemilohun landed an internship with then-Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.) and continued working for that district when former Rep. Phil Hare (D) took over its representation. She worked her way up the legislative ladder, reaching a goal to staff Hare on the Education and Labor Committee.

“My experience growing up in Mississippi — we have the lowest literacy rate in the country, so that definitely influenced my passion and interest for promoting quality education,” she says.

Jemilohun was out of work when Hare lost his seat in the 2010 election cycle, but she found a new home in Rep. Karen Bass’s (D-Calif.) office, where she serves as the legislative director.

Growing up, Jemilohun spent a lot of time on the campuses of various historically black colleges and universities, where her father taught. It remains a professional goal of hers to give back to HBCUs.

“I was always on campus, and I knew a lot about … the importance of HBCUs, making sure that African-Americans have the opportunity for a quality education,” Jemilohun says. HBCUs were “kind of my playground, so to speak,” she says.

Jemilohun envisions herself attending an HBCU for graduate school, possibly studying for a master’s degree in public policy and a Ph.D. in education administration. 

One day she might work in the administration for an HBCU, she says.

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