Letitia Clark is a mother of three and has been part of Tustin’s local government since 2016, when she was elected to the city council. A year ago she went a step further when she was elected the first female mayor of suburban Orange County in nearly two decades.
Now she can add “author” to her list of successes with her book “Mama is the Mayoress”.
The book is designed with diversity in mind, and she brings this message to young children in hopes of dispelling stereotypes early on.
“My kids can see that,” said Clark. “You see the picture and say, hey, one of them is not the same.”
From a page in a book to the lobby at Tustin City Hall, Clark says the message may be subtle, but her intentions are bold.
“I think it’s a great message for our children,” she said. “You don’t have to look like everyone else to be a leader and a voice for others.”
Clark’s own children didn’t quite understand what a mayor does beyond cutting ribbons and council meetings. So Clark wrote the book for her.
“What does a mayor do?” reads the book. “She seemed a little surprised, but said, ‘Let me show you.'”
Clark also wrote the book because Orange County has an African American population of only 2% and there are only a handful of black faces in city government.
“Because not enough African Americans and African American women get elected, it feels like an anomaly,” said Sally Henderson, who heads the Women’s Leadership Council, an organization that teaches women of color how to be elected. “But the more it happens, the more normal it becomes.”
With her youngest son Zavier, who was born just two months ago, Clark is now the mother of another small child. She hopes that if he can read the news, it will resonate with him too.
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