FERGUSON, MO – With a degree in chemistry and a background both in medicine and cosmetics, Ella Jones’s resume doesn’t quite read like a typical city leader.
Her analytical mind belies an approachability that affirms her southern Louisiana roots. It serves her well in her role as mayor.
While she spends much of her time in city hall, she frequently racks up mileage in her pickup—seizing any opportunity to meet with constituents in parking lots, birthday parties, and planned and chance run-ins on and off the clock.
Jones’s career path took an unexpected turn toward politics in 2014, after the controversial fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a Black teen whose death sparked national unrest.
When asked whether Brown’s death played a part in her decision to run for office, she responded simply and succinctly: “It was the only reason.”
In 2015, she ran for and successfully won a seat on the city council. Five years later, she triumphed in a contested election as Ferguson’s first Black and first female mayor with a campaign to “Move Ferguson Forward.”
Jones uses a pressure cooker to illustrate the tension surrounding the ongoing work of healing the deep racial divide.
“If you put
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