Odessa Kelly was born and raised in Nashville. She grew up on the East Side – back when it was better known as “OutEast” and was a predominantly Black community. Odessa is the youngest of three siblings and the product of a strong, stable, and loving family. She leaned into being a standout student-athlete at Stratford High. Odessa played basketball for and graduated from Tennessee State University, earned her Masters degree in Public Service at Cumberland University, and followed in the footsteps of her father as a civil servant for this city. Her professional career began in Nashville’s Parks and Rec department working on the frontlines of poverty everyday in an effort to bring joy, resources, and a sense of worth to underserved Black communities. Odessa is the proud parent of two “almost grown” people and an oversized mastiff/dane mix who thinks he’s a yorkie! Even though Odessa curses like a sailor and has attended “Bedside Baptist Missionary” more than she should…she is also a proud member of Mount Zion Baptist Church. (Don’t worry the good Bishop is still working on her!)

While working in Parks Odessa saw the ways in which the system had failed her community and failed her as a Black woman, a resident of Nashville, and as a member of the working class after nearly 14 years in civil service. Odessa had seen on a daily basis how Black people (especially those living in poverty) were racially profiled by the police, how gentrification hurt residents with the deepest ties to the community, and how current leadership failed to deliver support for the people who needed it most. Knowing she could do more for her community, she co-founded Stand Up Nashville in 2016 and left Parks & Rec in 2019 to become Executive Director of Stand Up Nashville.

Odessa recently ran for the U.S. Congress and garnered nationwide praise and support as she captured the hearts of millions who wanted her to be their voice in Congress. Her campaign platform was centered around passing legislation that would lessen the stress, debt, and hopelessness that so many endure and pass legislation that would heal traumas and assist in making people whole again! Due to the intentional cracking & racial gerrymandering of Nashville’s once (1) congressional democratic stronghold into (3) heavy republican favored congressional districts – Odessa was unsuccessful in winning the seat even though she won 78% of Nashville’s vote.

Odessa was recently named as one of the Tennessean’s of the Year along with the entire staff of SUN and Black Girls Rock 2023 Political Advocate Honoree. In 2019, Odessa received the National Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Award for her work fighting for justice for working people, housing justice, and racial equity. She was also a National Courage Award recipient, Nashville Scene’s 2018 Activist of the Year, and was awarded the Human Rights Rising Advocate award in 2018.