Tai Sims: The American Dream

Story by Nailah Edwards, The Cincinnati Herald

Tai Sims learned to value leadership and service before he was old enough to go to preschool, when he saw first-hand how his grandmother, a former police officer, worked her way onto Flint, Michigan’s City Council. Now almost 22 and a student at the University of Cincinnati, the Flint native leads his college’s chapter of the Association of Black Journalists and is a varsity swimmer and diver. He’s worked at Cincinnati’s City Hall and is now working for Kentucky Senate candidate Amy McGrath’s campaign. Sims also spends part of his summer break as an intern at the Cincinnati Herald, southern Ohio’s longest publishing black newspaper. His photo shows how his leadership skills took root when he was still a toddler—a toddler proudly sitting on his nana’s lap just after she’s been sworn in to help lead her city.