MEET NIKA
PIONEERING ADVOCATE FOR OPPORTUNITY, PROSPERITY, AND JUSTICE
Nika has over 30 years of experience in community and economic development with public, private, and nonprofit leaders, especially in BIPOC communities.
Her college and graduate studies centered on urban planning, leadership studies, tax law, human rights, and corporate social responsibility and have bolstered her professional career helping nonprofit and business leaders work together to break injustice and open doors to opportunity. Centering grassroots and indigenous leaders as experts and guides, Nika has partnered to develop breakthrough models and collaboration in education, youth development and violence prevention, gender justice, and anti-trafficking in Boston and internationally.
Nika’s work experience, training as a lawyer and policy leader, progressive values, and passion position her as a bold, effective leader on Beacon Hill, where she now represents the 15th Suffolk District, which includes Metro Boston communities of Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, and Roslindale. As a State Rep she continues her mission to expand the power and voice of people historically marginalized from incarcerated activists, to public housing residents, to immigrant and BIPOC leaders.
Nika is running for the open Second Suffolk Senate seat, a majority Black senate district, where she would continue to represent Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale as well as parts of Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, and Roxbury. The work she has accomplished as a representative, combined with her years of experience working with organizations and businesses in the new Second Suffolk district, enable her to build up leaders to push for what the district needs.
Read Nika’s Full Bio. | Read Nika’s update, “Dear Neighbor, My Name is Nika Elugardo.”