“When so many people are betting on you, you have no choice but to believe in yourself,” says Pierrerasha (pea-EAR-uh-shay) Goodwin, a self-ascribed foodie, hip hop head, and aromachologist.
Growing up on the West Side of Chicago, Pierrerasha learned from an early age the importance of leading with kindness. At 12 years old, her family lost their home after her mother was laid off from work. The family doubled up with a friend for a while, later staying at shelters so they would be eligible for housing assistance.
“You genuinely never know what someone is going home to or if they can even go home at all,” said Pierrerasha.
She recalls the time her family rode the CTA Pink line train overnight when they had nowhere else to go. The next morning, her mom went to Catholic Charities for support, but made sure that Pierrerasha still made it to school, dressed in her uniform.
Amid the frequent moves, Pierrerasha excelled academically. She graduated from Jones College Prep, a selective enrollment high school, and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and pre-law from Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Mississippi.
“I don’t think my mom and I had a plan for how to pay for college, but I knew I was going, and I knew I was going to finish,” Pierrerasha said.
Pierrerasha hugs a supporter at CCH’s 2018 Scholarship Awards Ceremony
Luckily, her high school’s homeless liaison encouraged her to apply for a college scholarship from the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness (CCH) in 2018, which she won.
“I do not know how I would have paid the gap in tuition without it,” said Pierrerasha. “Without CCH, I would have been unable to go to college, and college changed my life.”
While at Tougaloo, Pierrerasha was a member of Delta Sigma Theta—a service-focused sorority of Black women scholars—and active with both the NAACP and Reuben V. Anderson Pre-Law Society. She went on to earn a JD from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2025, later working as a civil law clerk at the Jefferson County Circuit Court in Birmingham.
Pierrerasha uplifts the many people that supported her throughout her journey, especially following the tragic losses of her mother while in college and her father during law school. She is grateful to her sorority, her law school administrators, Jefferson County judges Shera Grant and Tiffany Agee, CCH, and of course, her sister, Dominique.
“My sister is the root of my support network,” said Pierrerasha. “I look up to her and used to follow her around like a little shadow when I was younger.”
Today, Pierrerasha is back in Chicago, working as a senior analyst for the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety. She remains active with CCH, serving on a committee to select and mentor new college scholarship winners. And she aspires to one day become a federal judge and open a hair salon with her sister—in memory of their mother.
“I am proud of how the work I’m doing touches every part of life’s difficult moments,” shared Pierrerasha. “It’s been a full circle experience. It reminds me of how far I’ve come, and the importance of investing back in the community that helped me flourish.”
“Being unhoused is not a definer. You can still do great things even if you’ve experienced homelessness. There is a community to advocate for you and embrace you.”
Pierrerasha stands outside City Hall, where she works as a senior analyst
