Early life and career
Coleman attended Mercer County High School in Harrodsburg,Kentucky,where she played basketball. [1] She enrolled at Centre College in 2001 to study history,earned a bachelor's degree in 2004,and played college basketball for the Centre Colonels as a 5-foot-6-inch (168 cm) shooting guard. [2] [3] [4] [5] As a senior at Centre in 2003–04,Coleman averaged 26.4 minutes,7.4 points,2.7 rebounds,and 1.3 assists,with 14 starts in 25 games. [4] [6] She earned a master's degree in political science at the University of Louisville in 2008,and was a graduate assistant on the Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team in 2005–06 under head coach Tom Collen. [3] [1] [7]
After graduating,Coleman became a social studies teacher at Burgin High School in Burgin,Kentucky,and coached the girls' basketball team. [8] From 2008 through 2015,she coached and taught advanced government at East Jessamine High School in Nicholasville,Kentucky. [1]
Coleman ran in a 2014 election to represent the 55th district in the Kentucky House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. She lost the election to incumbent Republican Kimberly King by over 30% in a Republican-dominated district. [3] [9] [10]
In 2013,Coleman founded Lead Kentucky,a nonprofit organization focused on education policy reform. Inspired by Emerge Kentucky,the mission statement reads:"Lead Kentucky is a non-profit organization that recruits the best and brightest college women in the Bluegrass and empowers them to become the Commonwealth's next generation of leaders." [11] By focusing on leadership development of college aged women through emphasis on networking,finding a work/life balance,and overcoming obstacles (specifically in Kentucky),Coleman hopes that this program will empower women to take on roles that they may otherwise avoid. [12]
She became assistant principal at Nelson County High School in Bardstown,Kentucky in 2017, [3] a position she held until her resignation in November 2019,following her election as lieutenant governor. [13] Coleman is a doctoral student at the University of Kentucky,where she is studying educational leadership. [14]
Personal life
Coleman's grandfather,Jack Coleman,played in the National Basketball Association. [2] Her father,also named Jack,served in the Kentucky House,representing the 55th district from 1991 through 2004. [3]
Coleman and her husband,Christopher O'Bryan,announced her pregnancy during the 2019 campaign. Their daughter was born on February 8,2020,making Coleman the highest-ranking elected executive official and first lieutenant governor in Kentucky history to give birth while in office. [23] Coleman also has another daughter,a former student she coached,whom she and O'Bryan adopted in December 2019,and is the stepmother to O'Bryan's two sons from a previous relationship. [2] [24] [25] [26] On December 18,2023,Coleman had a double mastectomy due to her family's history of cancer. [27]
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