Inspirational Women Spotlight: The Honorable Tenisha Yancey

The Honorable Tenisha Yancey is serving her term representing the 1st House District, which includes the cities of Harper Woods, Grosse Pointe Woods, and parts of the Village of Grosse Pointe Shores and Detroit.

Yancey was born and raised in Detroit, the youngest of three children. Her mother worked at GM Poletown until early retirement, and her father was a bus driver for the City of Detroit Department of Transportation. Yancey became the caretaker for her mother at a young age, who had suffered two strokes. A few years later she lost her father in an accident caused by a drunk driver.

Yancey graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree from Eastern Michigan University. While working full-time for Wayne County, she attended law school and graduated, receiving her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2013. Yancey worked as a project manager for the Wayne County Land Bank and a government relations executive and community outreach program coordinator in the Wayne County Executive’s Office. She then transferred to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, where she worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Juvenile Division. In June 2016, she was appointed to the Harper Woods Board of Education and later elected. She was elected state representative in 2017 in a special election, now serving her final term, and is now running for Judge.

Yancey is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is an active member of her community, speaking at school career fairs, churches, and community meetings. Yancey has one son, and one grandson, and lives in Detroit, Michigan.