Sisterhood Spotlight
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
The First Lady is honored to feature Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears in the inaugural Sisterhood Spotlight. In the Sisterhood Spotlight series, the First Lady interviews women across the Commonwealth in areas of government, business and entrepreneurship, education, workforce development, nonprofits and more. On the eve of Mother’s Day, Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears shares mothering advice, lessons from her own mother and how she views her calling to service and her legacy.
On the eve of Mother’s Day, what’s a piece of encouragement you could give mothers in the Commonwealth?
The children will grow up one day, and they are going to pick your nursing home, so be kind to them.
What’s a mothering rule you always follow?
Bring to me at least three solutions to your problem, and we will work through it together. In this way our children have been able to become problem solvers.
What are one or two important lessons you learned from your own mother?
I have learned that one should never give up on oneself so much that they lose their own sense of worth. I have also learned to love the Lord, my God, with all of my heart.
When did you first feel called to serve?
Service was first modeled for me when I saw my grandmother, among other things, bring home a homeless man who was drug addicted to marijuana. She cleaned him up, found a job for him and helped him get into adult education classes. He lived with us. I was 7 or 8 years old when I saw her do this. I didn’t understand it then, but I understand it now, that you are not simply to be a taker in this life. One cannot see that help is needed and simply turn away and hope that someone else brings the help. Or, because it is too painful, you cannot involve yourself.
What do you want to be remembered for?
That most of all, I sought to help in spite of all of the obstacles that I faced. That recognizing in the end, all of your titles, all of your accomplishments, all of the educational achievements mean nothing – and that the only thing that survives is the love and care that you showed.
What is one thing (food, sweets) you can’t resist?
Plantains!
About the Lieutenant Governor
Winsome Earle-Sears, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, immigrated to the United States at the age of six. She is proud to have served in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to her various appointments, she has served as the Vice President of the Virginia State Board of Education; and as a presidential appointee to the US Census Bureau, as co-chair of the African American Committee; and the Advisory Committee on Women Veterans to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Winsome was first elected in 2002 to a majority Black House of Delegates district, a first for a Republican in Virginia since 1865. She is the first female Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the first Black female elected to statewide office.
A former program manager for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and VISTA volunteer, Winsome is a trained electrician and successful businesswoman. However, Winsome is most proud of her community work leading a men’s prison ministry and as director of a women’s homeless shelter. She holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Economics, and an M.A. in Organizational Leadership, with a concentration in Government. Winsome and her husband, Terence, have two daughters Katia and Janel, in addition to DeJon, and granddaughters Victoria and Faith, who are now looking into the face of God.