Who am I and why am I running for House of Representatives District 177?

I am not a career politician, nor have I served on City Council for many years like my esteemed opponents. However, my entire adult life has been devoted to one mission: serving Georgia’s families.

I began my career in Public Health after graduating from Valdosta State College with a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing. I later earned my Family Nurse Practitioner certification from Georgia Southern College and a Master’s degree in Adult Health and Administration from Valdosta State University.

For 42 years, I proudly served as a career employee of the Georgia Department of Public Health. During that time, I had the exceptional and humbling opportunity to serve families not only in Lowndes County and Valdosta, but across nine surrounding counties. As a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner and later as a District Program Manager, I provided direct healthcare services while also overseeing numerous health programs that impacted the well-being of our communities.

My work required ongoing collaboration with city, county, and state officials, as well as private organizations. I have presented before legislative committees at our State Capitol on critical health-related issues and participated in biannual legislative events throughout our district. For more than four decades, I witnessed firsthand the realities families in this district face every single day and I gave them a voice.

For the past 25 years, I have also served as Pastor and Visionary of TEACH Outreach Ministries in Valdosta, Georgia. I hold an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity and Humane Letters from Agapa Bible College. As a pastor and community advocate, I remain deeply connected to the heartbeat of our community, not just talking about problems, but actively working to solve them.

From 2004 to 2019, with the help of dedicated volunteers and small donations from local churches, we launched our own Meals on Wheels program to address food deserts affecting the most vulnerable in our community, children, the elderly, and the sick and shut-in. Each month, we provided 300 to 400 individuals with hot, home-cooked meals.

In 2020, after learning the extent of homelessness among women and children in our local school system, we renovated our feeding center into a Transitional Home. Today, mothers and their children find refuge, mentorship, and guidance there, empowering them to overcome homelessness and return to our community ready to thrive as productive partners.

But my greatest blessing and contribution to this beautiful community we call home is my family. I have been blessed with the love of my life, my husband Sam. We have been married nearly 48 years and we still say “I do.” Together, we raised two amazing children: Samantha Napier, Social Work Services Coordinator for Valdosta City Schools, and Samuel C. Napier, a Certified Law Enforcement Officer in Metro Atlanta’s Marshal’s Division. And yes, my favorite title of all is “MiMi” to our two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Sam Sam, our daily sunshine.

Because of these blessings and life experiences, I know I am prepared to represent District 177.

To me, the word “Representative” means this: I see you. I hear you. I understand you. I have the capacity to feel what you feel because I genuinely want your family to thrive just as I want mine to thrive. That is what “Love thy neighbor” truly means, caring deeply about one another’s well-being.

As your representative, we become family. And in my family, we fight for each other. We do not quit on each other. We may not always agree, but we have learned to stop the bickering, focus on what truly matters, talk things through, educate ourselves, strategize, make a plan, implement it, evaluate it, and if we fall short, we get back up and try again.

Why? Because family is worth it.

District 177, you are worth fighting for. And when we grow tired, and we will, we will rise and fight again.

That is the leadership, transparency, and accountability I bring as your next State Representative for District 177. Together, we will educate, inform, and empower one another so that we become thrivers, not just survivors.

I believe I am divinely called to this assignment, and I humbly accept the challenge. But I cannot do it alone, I need you to do your part.

The time is now. If not now, when? If not you, then let it be me.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for your vote on May 19, 2026.