Gwendolyn Henderson, District 5

Biography

A Tampa native, Gwendolyn Henderson was born on October 5, 1964, and grew up in the working-class Carver City neighborhood. She attended Roland Park Elementary, Morgan Woods Elementary, West Tampa Junior High School, and Pierce Junior High School. After graduating from Jefferson High School, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and received a Master of Education and Education Specialist degree in educational leadership and higher education administration from Saint Leo University. She is an accomplished and highly effective educator with Hillsborough County Public Schools and owner of Black English Bookstore located in Historic Tampa Heights.

Henderson is the daughter of the late Asbury Henderson, a Korean War veteran, and the late Gladys Austin Henderson. Henderson has a favorite daughter, Ariel Amirah, a graduate of Jefferson High School and Howard University. For more than thirty years, Tampa Heights has been her home, which she purchased with the assistance of Tampa Preservation, Inc., and Mayor Sandy Freedman's City of Tampa Challenge Fund.

She has been a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated since 1994, an international sorority dedicated to public service. For the school district, she serves as secretary on the Entrepreneurship in Education Advisory Board. She is a life member of the Florida A&M University Alumni Association, Saint Leo University Alumni Association, American Booksellers Association and Southern Indie Booksellers Alliance.

Additionally, she serves as chair of the Community Redevelopment Agency's board, as well as the Public Safety Coordinating Council and chairs the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Committee. She was appointed to serve as a board director on Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) by Mayor Castor.