Sanda Samuels OBE DL : A Life of Service to Wolverhampton and the Black Community
Early Life and Nursing Career
Born on Orange Street in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Sandra Samuels moved to Wolverhampton at the age of ten. She attended Northicote School in Bushbury and Wulfrun College (now City of Wolverhampton College) before training as a nurse. Over the four decades she served the NHS as a nurse, theatre sister and manager, including twenty years in heart, lung, and neurosurgical theatres.
Her long clinical career shaped a practical, people - first outlook that would later define her public life. Seeing inequalities and representation gaps first-hand, she stepped into local politics in the late 1990's to be, as she puts it, "part of the decision- making table."
Stepping into public office
Samuels was elected to Wolverhampton City Council in 2004 (Park Ward) and after a 2009 by - election, represented Ettingshall ward for Labour. Alongside casework and committee duties, she took on Cabinet responsibilities for Public Health and Welbeing, chaired the Health and Wellbeing Board, and remained a school governor - linking her health background to city wide prevention and community support.
In recognition of her service to local government and politics, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) IN 2016 New Year Honours list (announced 31st December 2015.
Making History as Mayor of Wolverhampton
On 18 May 2022 Sandra Samuels became the first person of African - Caribbean heritage to serve as Mayor of City of Wolverhampton - and the only eleventh woman to hold the office in two hundred years. She set the theme of her mayoral year as "Dare to Dream" explicitly aiming to inspire underrepresented communities to see themselves in civic leadership. Her chosen Charities reflected longstanding commitments: The Wolverhampton African - Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI), Compton Care, and the Wolverhampton Sickle Cell and Activity Centre.
Her Historic mayoralty drew internation notice, not only for glass the glass ceiling it broke but also how proudly she celebrated her Jamaican roots within Wolverhampton’s civic life, reinforcing a message of belonging and contribution from the Caribbean diaspora in the UK.
Community building and Civic Leadrership
Beyond Town Hall, Samuels has spent decades building and backing institutions that strengthen Black Community life and civic participation across the city:
- The Heritage Centre (Wolverhampton) Ltd (Whitmore Reans): Co-Founder and Director. The centre - an African community hub - operates in a building that symbolically reclaims history as a space for heritage, learning and gathering.
- Ettingshall & Biston Food Bank: Co - founder, reflection her practical focus on dignity and support during hardship.
- All Saints Action Network (ASAN): Board Trustee and Vice - Chair, supporting community regeneration and resident - led initiatives in one of Wolverhampton's most diverse neighbourhoods.
- Education Leadership: Longstanding school governance, including 14years of Chair of Governors at Colton Hills /Wolverhampton Girls High School and Chair of Governors at Windsor Children and Family Centre - bridging families, schools and service around children’s welfare and attainment.
In 2025 she was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, a Crown role that recognises sustained services and gives her a platform to champion voluntary action across the region.
Contributions to the Wolverhampton Black Community
Sandra Samuels impact is best understood at the intersections of health, heritage, and representation:
- Mental health and wellbeing advocacy
Through mayoral fundraising for ACCI and leadership roles focused on the public health; she has consistently backed culturally competent services - practically crucial for Black Communities who face higher barriers to mental health support and longstanding stigma. Her Cabinet portfolio work and charity choices aligned policy influence with grassroots capacity.
- Heritage, identity, and civic pride
By co -founding The Heritage Centre and using her mayoralty to celebrate Caribbean culture, Samuels has helped anchor a shared story of Black Wolverhampton - One that honours Windrush-era generations and inspires younger residents to see history as power that marginalia. Her visibility - Jamaican - born. proudly Wolverhampton modelled a confident dual identity that strengthens social cohesion.
- Anti-Poverty action and community resilience
The Ettingshall & Bilston Food Bank and her extensive ward work translate empathy into immediate help. This firsthand approach - characteristic of her nursing background - targets the everyday pinch that disproportionately affect Black and working - class families.
- Pathway into leadership
As the city's first Black mayor, she converted symbolic firsts into practical mentoring, repeatedly urging more Black candidates into public life and using the "Dare to Dream" platform to normalise representation at the "top of the table."
A grounded, people-first style
Colleagues and community partners often note Samuels ' blend of warmth and rigor; a clinician calm in crises; a campaigner's stamina on casework; and civic leader's instinct to convene. That mix has made her effective bridge - between the council and neighbourhood groups; between charities and donor; and between heritage and the present needs of families across Wolverhampton. Her record shows a preference for building instantiation (centres, food bank, school governance structures) that outlast any single term of office.
