"Her husband, a boston reporter, and many of her friends kept saying 'Linda should run' and '[she] was like, what are you crazy? I can’t run! You have to ask a woman at least seven times before she will say yes to running for office, you only have to ask a man once.' "
Senator Dorcena Forry was elected into the Massachusetts senate in 2013 representing the 1st Suffolk district which includes Hyde Park, Dorchester, Mattapan, and the beloved Southie or South Boston. Born and raised in Dorchester by her Catholic Haitian immigrant parents, Senator Forry learned at an early age the “importance of family, community, and giving back.” She recalls the constant bustle in her house when her parents would invite their recently immigrated Haitian friends to stay with them until they got on their feet. She explains that her family's whole immigrant community would lean on each other for support and welcome new comers with open arms. Senator Forry’s face lights up saying, “it was in [her] DNA to help and spread this love [she] had experienced at such a young age.”
After graduating from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management in 1997, Senator Forry became a legislative assistant and then later Acting Chief of Staff for Charlotte Golar Richie, the then Fifth Suffolk District State Rep. In 1999 she left the statehouse to work as an executive assistant at the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development.
Senator
Linda Dorcena Forry
Forry with her family.