Norieliz DeJesus

Norieliz DeJesus, Director of Policy, La Colaborativa,& Chelsea City Council President–My daughter Naleyah has my teacher, Mr Gomez from Kelly School. He taught me in the first ever Camino’s biliteracy program that Chelsea created. It’s an amazing program. Naleyah is a straight A/B student and she and Mr. Gomez love each other. This year my dad came to help with my campaign and they would sit at the kitchen table in the morning and she would teach him English and he would teach her Spanish. Working at La Colaborativa was a job that I didn’t want.I went to the interview and tried to be the worst candidate possible. I told her I’m not sure if I’m going to make it on time, I don’t really like to do much, I like to listen to music. But she read me like a book. Gladys knew exactly why I needed to have this job, because when I got out of school I had all this free time and would get into trouble. When she said, ‘You’re hired!’ I was so upset.I’ve been with them ever since, for over 14 years

Darlene Devita, Norieliz DeJesus, 2022. Digital Photograph. ©Darlene Devita. All rights reserved.