As the first black female mayor of Toledo, state Senator Paula Hicks-Hudson has always exhibited a commitment to empowering and helping people improve their quality of life. She currently represents Ohio’s 11th Senate District.

Raised in the city of Hamilton, Ohio, Sen. Hicks-Hudson often cites education as a pathway to success. She graduated from Spelman College, a historically black higher education institution for women, with her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Journalism. Sen. Hicks-Hudson then went on to graduate with her Master’s Degree in Communications Development from Colorado State University.

In 2011, while working for her own private law practice and teaching criminal justice at the University of Toledo’s College of Law, Paula was selected by the Lucas County Democratic Party to fill the vacancy on the Toledo City Council District 4 seat.

From 2011 to 2015, Sen. Hicks-Hudson served on Toledo City Council, serving as President of Council from 2013 to 2015. With the sudden death of Mayor Michael Collins in 2015, Sen. Hicks-Hudson became the first African American female mayor of Toledo, serving from 2015 to 2018.

Sen. Hicks-Hudson’s commitment to community empowerment and revitalization has also led her to serve on the following boards and organizations: the NAACP, the YWCA, the Frederick Douglass Community Center, Toledo Youth Hostel, the African American Law Enforcement Agents, Lucas County Land Reutilization Corporation, and the state and national Federations of Business and Professional Women, Inc. She is also the past president of the Thurgood Marshall law Association and the Toledo Women’s Bar Association.

Outside of her dedicated, successful professional career, she enjoys many rich connections and activities with family and friends. She was married to her husband, Freeman W. Hudson, from 1973 until his passing in 2018, and is the proud mother of two adult daughters, Patricia Hope and Leah Free Star, and grandmother of seven grandchildren. An accomplished musician, Hicks-Hudson serves as the minister of music at Redeemer Lutheran Church.