Ms. Strickland first attended the South End Club in Tacoma at the age of 10. The Club was still known at that time as the South End Boys Club. There, just for a ten-cent fee, she would swim on Wednesday nights. She has been a strong advocate for the Clubs ever since.
Ms. Strickland has been a great voice and champion for the Boys & Girls Clubs and other youth programs in the City of Tacoma during her service as Tacoma’s second-ever African-American and female mayor, fostering many partnerships to better serve the community. Ms. Strickland has served in several regional and national board leadership positions, including: Sound Transit, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Democratic Mayors Association, and she is a trustee with Urban Land Institute. She was recognized by the National League of Cities, Women in Municipal Government for outstanding local leadership, and as the 2015 Washington Trade Hero by the Washington Council on International Trade. Ms. Strickland was inducted into the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound Alumni Hall of Fame in 2016. In the past she was Chief Executive and President of Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.