By Jacqui Morton        

Kristen L. Pope is the first Black Woman to serve on the Natick Select Board. 

Winning across 10 precincts in the March 28 Town election, Pope received more votes than any other candidate, in any of the races, including uncontested races. 

 Well-known as a trailblazer, founder, speaker, award-winning television journalist, and multi-media strategist, Pope has been honored by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of “9 Women Who Impacted the World of Business” and named among the “Top 50 Most Influential Business Person of Color’’ in the Boston suburbs. 

 Leading the social media content team at Harvard University in the Division of Continuing Education, she also runs her own multi-media company focused on culture-shaping digital social content for clients. Pope created and produced two seasons of the variety talk show, “The Positive Controversy with Kristen Pope,” to amplify voices not often heard in the media. 

 She is also a busy mom and serves on the United Way Tri-County Board of Directors, but is eager to serve the Natick community where she has come to know as home. 

 Pope is called to service in Natick and inspiring when she discusses what brings her to this work. 

“I love that Natick is a place where people can get to know their neighbors, and I love that the town is growing. It’s wonderful how groups and pockets of community come together in a way that is very organic. We have groups like SPARK Kindness and Natick is United – I love how Natick residents come together around shared goals and in support of the greater good.” 

Over her three-year term, Pope hopes to help increase voter participation as well as racial and economic diversity among residents. 

A new voice on the Select Board, Pope represents a landslide of voters in her vision for Natick, “I would love to see more diversity represented in places of leadership, and more children, teachers and administrators of color in our schools.” 

 Pope has 15 years of expertise as a television news broadcaster in places including NBC10 Boston and ABC9 News, and has developed a transformational master class that has helped dozens of aspiring journalists secure jobs in television media. She is a graduate of Hampton University, where she was named Class of 2020 top “Forty Under 40” alumna and an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. 

 She is also a member of the Natick Runners group and looks forward to connecting with more residents in town. Community involvement is a big part of what excites Pope in Natick, and she hopes to inspire others to join her in town government here. 

Reflecting on her path to serving, Pope shared, “I hope that this means fresh perspectives start popping up all over town. You don’t have to look or be or talk or think like everybody else. You don’t have to have a resume or a certain pedigree that looks like anybody else’s. We need the people who have been here for a long time, who have been serving the town and giving for a long time. But we also need people like me who are newer to the demographic – people who may have an outsider’s point of view but want to contribute to their community, who love this place, who have planted roots. We need all that to make a healthy balance within our town.”