Shanny Herrera likens her childhood to John Travolta’s character in “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble” due to her grocery list of allergies and illnesses.
“I was very sickly and they said to my parents [that] if I lived to see the age of 17, it would be a miracle,” she said. “So I have to say that God is still a miracle business, because I have since surpassed, of course, that age timeframe that they gave us. And I have done a lot of stuff in that timeframe.”
Her story starts in Harlem. The daughter of Honduran immigrants, Herrera lost her mother before graduating high school. She remembers her mother as a community organizer whom she credits as an inspiration for her own current role as director of constituent services for Council District 9 in Harlem.
“She helped our community in many ways. I remember feeling like our home was like a group home,” said Herrera. “I remember Sundays when my mother cooked this enormous meal and I did not understand at the time why she was cooking so much. The whole thing was if she cooked, she would feed people…I remember sitting at the table and sharing meals with these people who were unfortunate people [who] needed space [and] mentorship. My mother did all that.”
Her mother was also quite the seamstress, making every piece of clothing for Herrera and her siblings “except for the underwear that we wore.” And she probably could have made those, too, if she had wanted to. As a result of that example, Herrera got into fashion retail after high school with aspirations of working as a buyer one day.
But a clothing career didn’t work out and Herrera ended up moving out of New York City for a spell. After losing her home, working, and struggling with a Section 8 application, she faced homelessness and took her sons to Texas, where she got back on her feet, applying her Spanish skills to working with youth. Yet she was determined to make it back in the Big Apple.
Herrera moved back to New York City more than a decade ago. She was initially unhoused, but a connection floated her for a program director role with an after-school program.
“I thought this was so exciting and each time that I got these opportunities, I just reflected on my mother because she was so community-orientated—always helped the community—definitely was about the youth,” she said. “[To] make a long story short, I landed that position and I not only landed that position, but I excelled.”
She moved around school programs for a while until Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network enlisted her to kick off a Bronx Chapter, which started her career in “real activism.”
Meanwhile, her jerk chicken business took off in Harlem, connecting Herrera with local vendors and the constant advocacy they needed. The work caught the eye of Council District 9, but she initially turned down recruitment offers so she could care for her mother-in-law, who died this past April. A month later, Herrera finally joined Councilmember Kristen Richardson Jordan’s office to work outreach.
“It was a no-brainer for me to do more at that office because I can,” she said. “I had the skill sets already. It wasn’t challenging for me to do the work that needed to get done. And then once I got to do constituent services, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s like the best job I’ve ever had.’ Not only am I helping people resolve their issues, I have a little bit of authority, [I’m] getting some results.”
Herrera said she’s helped a grand assortment of Harlemites with everything from getting an 81-year-old’s air-conditioning fixed to removing “cat-sized rats” for a parent of a disabled child. She credits Richardson Jordan as the vehicle for such community engagement. With the councilmember leaving office and an election for the seat this week, Herrera’s future is uncertain. But no matter where she ends up, she knows her place is in helping her community.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
She is my coworker and friend. She does good work in the community.