Sheng Thao

Sheng Thao (born 1985) is an American politician and the 51st and current mayor of Oakland, California. She is the first Hmong American mayor of a major city in the United States. Early life and education Thao was born and raised in Stockton, California. Her parents were refugees from Laos who escaped Hmong genocide and eventually immigrated to the United States. Thao was the seventh of ten children and grew up in poverty, spending some of her childhood in public housing. At age 17, Thao moved out of her home and began working at a Walgreens in Richmond. After moving to Oakland in her 20s, she became a victim of domestic violence while in an abusive relationship. Thao left the relationship when she was six months pregnant, and then lived in her car and couch surfed before and after her son was born. When her son was ten months old, Thao began attending Merritt College in Oakland while raising her son as a single mother and working as a research assistant. After she completed an associate's degree in legal studies from Merritt, Thao transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor's degree in legal studies and a minor in city planning. While at UC Berkeley, Thao helped create the Bear Pantry, a program which provided food to food-insecure students.