Meet JasmineJasmine was elected to Buncombe County Commission in 2016 and selected as Vice Chair in 2018. She currently chairs the Early Childhood Education and Development Committee and serves on the Justice Resource Advisory Council. She focuses on policy issues that create a community where every child can thrive, and where people feel a sense of belonging and can live up to their full potential. These include responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, early childhood education, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, racial justice issues, and responding to the opioid epidemic. Jasmine was re-elected to serve District 2 in 2020.
Jasmine and her wife, Meghann Burke, live in Asheville with their three kids and dog. They love hiking, swimming, exploring every playground in the county, and cooking (i.e. eating). Jasmine is a fan of the UNC Tarheels, Carolina Courage, and Carolina Panthers. Jasmine is a minister in the United Church of Christ and is the founding Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE), an Asheville-based non-profit that promotes full equality for LGBTQ people across the South. Service and faith are the driving forces in her work - from teaching in prisons to becoming an ordained minister. CSE helped to win marriage equality in North Carolina and Mississippi and works across the region - especially in small towns - to promote LGBTQ equality. Jasmine also works as a part-time chaplain for the Echoing Green Foundation, which supports global leaders in developing innovative solutions to social problems. Raised in Chapel Hill, NC, Jasmine would visit Buncombe County with her mom on trips to the mountains throughout her childhood. While attending the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson, she fell in love with Asheville and later taught writing at the college. During this time, Jasmine was active in politics in local, state and national races. Jasmine attended public schools through high school and received her undergraduate degree from Brown University. She holds a Master of Fine Arts and completed her Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School. She served on the Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Advancing LGBTQ Equality. |
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