Linda Dorcena Forry

Linda Dorcena Forry (born 1973) is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate, who represented the 1st Suffolk district from June 2013 - January 2018. She previously represented the 12th Suffolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives after winning a special election in April 2005. Haitian-American, Dorcena Forry, is the former House Chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.

Early life and education
Dorcena Forry was born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. She attended St. Kevin Grammar School and Monsignor Ryan Memorial High School in Dorchester and then Boston College. In 1997, she graduated from Boston College's Carroll School of Management in 1997. In 2014, she received a master's degree in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University.

Career
After graduating from Boston College, Dorcena Forry was a legislative assistant, working for then-State Representative Charlotte Golar Richie (Fifth Suffolk District serving Roxbury and Dorchester). When she left the State House in 1999 to work for the executive staff at the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, she had risen to the position of Acting Chief of Staff.

From 2005 to 2013, Dorcena Forry represented the Commonwealth's 12th Suffolk House district, a cross-section that includes parts of the town of Milton and the city of Boston, including Dorchester, Hyde Park and Mattapan. In 2009, Forry served as Chair of the Black and Latino Caucus. That same year, she was appointed Chairman of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses.

Dorcena Forry won the Democratic nomination in the April 2013 special primary election to succeed state Senator Jack Hart in the First Suffolk Senate district, defeating Rep. Nick Collins. She defeated Republican Joseph A. Ureneck in the final election on May 28 and was sworn in on June 14, 2013. She stepped down on January 25, 2018, to become a vice president at Suffolk Construction.

Personal
Dorcena Forry is married to Bill Forry, editor and publisher of the Dorchester Reporter. The couple live in Lower Mills, Dorchester and have four children: John, Conor, Madeline and Norah. Three of her children were born during her tenure in the House of Representatives.

Awards

 * 2011 MPAH Haiti Movie Awards Humanitarian Award Recipient