Alexis Herman Quotes

The daughter of politician Alex Herman and schoolteacher Gloria Caponis, Alexis grew up in a Catholic home in Mobile and earned her high school diploma in 1965 from the Heart of Mary High School. She briefly attended Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, and Spring Hill College in Mobile, but transferred to Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, where she became an active member of the Gamma Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 1969.
Herman was Queen of Carnival for the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association in 1974. Her Carnival king, Douglas Wicks, would go on to become the first African-American elected to the Mobile County Commission since Reconstruction. After college, Herman worked for Catholic Charities and other agencies, advocating for minority women employment. Jimmy Carter met the young Herman while campaigning in Atlanta, Georgia and, after winning the White House in 1977, asked her to be Director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau. At age 29, she was the youngest person to ever serve in that position.
In 1981, Herman founded her own consulting firm - A.M. Herman & Associates. She served as president of the company while remaining active in Democratic politics. During her tenure as chief of staff and later vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, she was responsible for organizing the 1992 Democratic National Convention.