Meet the Irish Mayors making an impact in the Sunshine State
People of Irish heritage can be found far and wide across the United States of America. From business owners to musicians or sportspeople to designers, their impact is felt through their strong leadership values and innovation in their roles.
In South Florida , two women of Irish heritage have been elected as Mayors of their respective constituencies. Mayor Eileen Higgins and Mayor Karyn Cunningham are two of the first women of Irish heritage to be elected as Mayor of Miami and Mayor of Palmetto Bay.
Both Irish citizens, Mayor Higgins through her maternal grandfather and Mayor Cunningham through her Irish-born mother, they each remember growing up that their homes were filled with Irish traditions and culture.
We had the opportunity to sit down with both women to discuss their work, inspirations, and Irish heritage.
Meet Mayor Eileen Higgins
Mayor Higgins’ mother grew up in The Bronx, where she was a champion Irish dancer. This tradition followed into Higgins’ childhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where her mother would teach Irish dancing.
The start of a journey to Mayor
After qualifying as an engineer and working in the private sector in the US and Mexico, a career coach challenged Higgins with writing her own obituary. This led her away from the private sector and into public service.
She worked for the Peace Corps in Belize, and in the State Department, before moving to Miami. Beginning at a grassroots level, she ran for a seat on the Miami Dade County Commission and served there for six years, before being elected the first woman mayor of Miami.
…know that they really can achieve anything… And when I'm coaching and mentoring young people, I often tell them, learn new things, because if you learn, things will get able to do things.
Working in the oil industry, Higgins learned a lot about responsibility and accountability. Dealing with risks to workers’ lives and very real consequences of failure, fostered an ethos of hard work and delivery.
This was evident in her tenure as a Miami Dade County Commissioner where housing projects she championed helped alleviate a chronic housing shortage in a fast growing city.
Leading as Mayor of Miami
As Mayor, Higgins is targeting reform of the sclerotic permitting system in City Hall, housing, workforce development to address economic deprivation, and environmental resilience in a city that is acutely vulnerable to sea level rises.
A mayor that leads by example, with integrity, with not a whiff of corruption that goes to work every day, that makes sure that the city of Miami serves its residents. And not just some of its residents, but all of its residents.
Higgins has described work in public office as “the best job you ever get because you get to make a difference in people's lives - should you choose to be that kind of leader - which means you to show up to work every day, listening to what people need, and you have to solve their problems amidst all kinds of noise that you just, you know, block it out.”
Meet Mayor Karyn Cunningham
Similar to Mayor Higgins, Mayor Cunningham’s Irish heritage comes from her mother. Born in the Sligo/Roscommon area, as a child Cunningham’s mother moved with her parents and siblings to New York City.
Cunningham grew up among the palm trees and ocean breezes in Miami, where her mother worked as a Chief Nurse Anaesthetist at Baptist Hospital. Her family continued to visit Ireland regularly throughout the decades and felt a deep connection to Ireland through the lasting traditions and familial links.
The beginning of a life-long public servant
Having grown up in Miami, Cunningham’s first career was as a first grade teacher in Palmetto Bay, where she would later be involved in a teacher union.
Cunningham ran for election because she observed that the ordinary quality of life issues that affected residents like “potholes, tree trimming, sidewalks, streets that needed some repairs” were not getting air space at the town hall.
Leading as Mayor of Palmetto Bay
Now in her third term as Mayor, Cunningham found that election success required voters to know more about a person than their credentials. The very Irish thing of having a sense of who a person is and what they are like before trusting them. Knocking on doors and being out and about, engaging with residents all the time helped to create that trust.
Mayor Cunningham cites the new friends she has made as one of the best things about being an elected official. Accompanying her to the Consulate General of Ireland, Miami’s St Brigid’s Day event were Betty from Ennis and Margaret from Galway. Cunningham met both women on the campaign trail and the three have grown very close.
For both Mayors, they were wistful when reflecting on how much it would mean to their own mothers to see their achievements in public office and how it is celebrated not only in their home of the US, but also in their mother’s homes in Ireland. This was made possible by the Consulate General of Ireland through their St Brigid’s Day celebrations.
