FSoS Alumna named to "40 under 40" Award list

Cheniqua Johnson '17, St. Paul City Council member, will be among the honorees April 9 at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal's 2025 40 under 40 Award ceremony. She was honored in 2022 as a CEHD Rising Alumni.

Johnson made history in 2023 when she was among a slate of female candidates to win St. Paul City Council elections - a first for the city. They are also the most diverse, with six of the seven council members women of color. Johnson represents the east side of Ward 7.

As a first-generation college student in the College of Education and Human Development, she found her academic home in Family Social Science. In an interview last year, she said the major helped her discover her passion for public service. 

“I really appreciated the dialogue in the classrooms and what I was reading,” she says. “It helped me make a lot of sense of my upbringing and my experience. I really felt seen. And so, I stayed with it because I really enjoyed digging deeper into not only my family story, but also the story of so many families worldwide.”

Before running for city council, Johnson was a program officer at the Saint Paul and Minneapolis Foundation, where her work supported non-profits statewide. She also served as a legislative assistant to the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, a district outreach coordinator for Hennepin County Commissioner Angela Conley, and also served as a legislative correspondent and community representative for Congressman Keith Ellison (DFL-MN05). She is also active in state politics.