User:JKizzieHumanities/Catherine O'Reilly Collette

Catherine O'Reilly Collette is a women's rights advocate, civil rights activist and civil servant. She was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2018.

Cathy Collette was born in North Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in Harmony, Rhode Island. She graduated from Rhode Island College She worked for the Department of Elderly Affairs for the state of Rhode Island and joined the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Collette would go on to become the director of the Women's Rights Department of AFSCME. During her time at AFSCME she served on the Women's Health Initiative of the National Women's Law Center, and the National Council on Violence against Women. Collette was elected president of the World Women's Committee of Public Services International, part of the International Labor Organization in the United Nations. Collette also served as president of the Rhode Island Labor History Society.

Collette retired in 2002.

Collette was part of the greeting party for Nelson Mandela's first visit to the White House after his election as president of South Africa, and a protestor of apartheid in South Africa.