A trailblazer in Virginia politics, Winsome Earle-Sears was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and grew

up in New York. In 1983 she joined the United States Marine Corps and was the only woman in

her engineering class. Rising to the rank of corporal, Earle-Sears also became an American

citizen. She credits the Marine Corps with instilling the self-discipline and leadership that shapes

her today.

Earle-Sears settled in the Norfolk area and continued serving her community through her work

in directing a women's homeless shelter and leading a men’s prison ministry. She earned a

bachelor’s degree in English from Old Dominion University (1992) and a master's degree in

organizational leadership from Regent University (2003). In 2001 she won election to a single

two-year term representing a district comprising the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk and Virginia

Beach in the House of Delegates. Earle-Sears served on the Advisory Committee on Women

Veterans for the Department of Veterans Affairs. An advocate for the power of education to

improve lives, she was appointed to the State Board of Education in 2011, and was elected its

vice president in 2014.

Winning election in 2021, Earle-Sears became the first woman elected lieutenant governor and

the first Black woman and female veteran to hold statewide office in Virginia.

Earle-Sears is a mother, grandmother, and wife, and lives in Winchester, VA with her husband

Terry.