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E. Denise Simmons has served on the City Council since 2002, and was the mayor of Cambridge—and the first openly lesbian black mayor in the country—from 2008 to 2009. Prior to her work with the City Council, Simmons served for nine years as an elected member of the Cambridge Public School's School Committee and for 20 years as the executive director of the city's Civic Unity Committee. A lifelong resident of Cambridge, she is also the owner of a local small business—Cambridgeport Insurance Agency—and is one of the seven incumbents that have grouped together under the Unity Slate.