Donna S. Edwards

President, Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO

In 2022, The Daily Record named Donna Edwards among its Top 100 Women of Maryland honorees for her more than 40 years of union work and helping to move women forward in the labor movement.

As president of the Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO, Edwards is one of the strongest voices for workers’ rights throughout the region.

“President Edwards is the voice of labor in Maryland and the District of Columbia,” wrote Patrick Moran, who nominated Edwards for The Daily Record’s Influential Marylander award. “She represents over 300.000 hardworking people across Maryland and D.C. in her role as the elected leader of all of the AFL-CIO affiliated unions.”

Earning her bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of West Virginia and her master’s degree in social work from the University of Maryland, Edwards previously told the newspaper, “I have been a social worker and a labor leader my entire career. At the end of every day, I know I have made life better for someone. It is wonderful and a blessing to get to live and work my values all day every day. I am truly joyful.”

Throughout her career, Edwards has been the first woman to be elected as President of the Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO and the first woman to be elected the Secretary-Treasurer of the Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO.

Prior to that, she was the first woman to be elected president of AFSCME Council 92 (now known as AFSCME Council 3). She has also worked at the Baltimore City Department of Social Services for 23 years as a social worker and Chief of Policy, Planning and Research.