Cherelle Parker is the mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since January 2024. She was a Philadelphia City Council member from 2015 to 2022, chosen as majority leader in her second term. Before that, Parker served 10 years in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the youngest black woman elected to the body in 2005. Prior to public office, she worked for then Philadelphia councilwoman Marian Tasco, rising from intern to senior staffer and overseeing implementation of economic and community development initiatives, among other things. Early in her career, Parker taught high school English in public school and ESL to immigrant children and adults. Born to a single teenage mother and raised by her grandparents, she attended Philadelphia public schools and was the first person in her family to go to college.