Crain's Women To Watch: Rashida Tlaib

posted on: Sep 7, 2009

Rashida Tlaib isn’t put off by a challenge.

Even the threat of a recall campaign, linked in part to her opposition to a second span of the Ambassador Bridge, potentially endangering her position as the first Muslim woman to serve in the Legislature, leaves her unfazed.

“I am a person that has a very strong work ethic, and I know that we’ll succeed,” Tlaib said.

The oldest of 14 children born to Palestinian immigrants, Tlaib, 33, was the first in her family to earn a college degree — a bachelor’s in political science from Wayne State University, followed by a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

She then worked for nonprofits and social advocacy groups, including the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, where she became interested in public policy, which led to meeting then-State Rep. Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit.

Tobocman, who is Jewish, hired Tlaib to be his senior policy analyst when he became House majority floor leader and urged her to run for a seat he had to vacate because of term limits.

Tlaib said she walked every street twice in the heavily black and Latino southwest Detroit district, heeding Tobocman’s advice that personal contact would help win the election.

She also was tapped by the Obama campaign as its Arab-American and Muslim-American vote director for Michigan.

In the Legislature, Tlaib is a co-chair of the new bipartisan Michigan Nonprofit Legislative Caucus, a forum for lawmakers to collaborate on legislative and regulatory issues affecting Michigan charities and foundations.

Detroit political consultant Adolph Mongo, who consults for the Ambassador Bridge’s owners, is pursuing on his own a recall of Tlaib. Mongo said reasons include her support of a competing Detroit River International Crossing bridge project that he said would damage the Delray neighborhood.

Tlaib said she supports DRIC with the caveat of an agreement in which money would flow back into Delray for development. Tlaib has asked the Michigan Department of State to investigate the recall.

Biggest lesson learned in the past year: “Sometimes you cannot get someone to a ‘yes’ (position), but that should not prevent you from talking to people who you will not find common ground with.”

If you could take a class in anything, what would it be? Environmental law.

Crain’s Detroit Business