26 March 2025 1 minute read
Commander (CDR) La’Shanda Hawkins, Chief of Enlisted Evaluations, served in the U.S. Senate as Deputy Liaison, advocating for the Coast Guard budget and legislative priorities, educating Congress and staff on the critical role of the Coast Guard, and preparing senior leadership for hearings, congressional delegations, and local engagements.
Formerly an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter pilot in Miami, Florida, the Coast Guard's busiest Air Station, she was responsible for the safety of four crew members and a $9M aircraft while executing search and rescue missions, drug and migrant interdictions, and marine environmental protection.
Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, CDR Hawkins graduated from Spelman College in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. Enlisting in the United States Coast Guard through the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative and completing Officer Candidate School, her first assignment after Navy Flight School (Pensacola, Florida) was Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles, California.
She served as a Morale Officer, Training Officer, Flight Services Officer, and Flight Scheduling Officer leading eleven members and responsible for $25k in funds and property. Her subsequent tour was Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, New Jersey, where she earned the Rotary-Wing Air Intercept qualification and was charged with flying missions to protect the President of the United States and critical infrastructure in and around the nation’s capital.
Under the Obama Administration, CDR Hawkins was selected to serve as a prestigious White House Fellow. She spent 2015-2016 in Washington, DC, interfacing with the highest levels of government, studying policy issues worldwide, and serving as Special Assistant to NASA Administrator General Charles F. Bolden. A graduate of Cambridge College's School of Business and Finance, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Executive Education Program, and Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, she is a Term Member with the Council on Foreign Relations.
CDR Hawkins’ honors and awards include International Forest of Friendship inductee, a Grio Top 100 History Maker, NAACP award nominee (The Smithsonian’s “Black Wings” documentary), Blacks in Government award, Spelman College Top 30 under 30, National Alumnae Association of Spelman College’s 2013 Alumna of the Year, Partnership in Education Award, USAA’s Veteran Honoree, and numerous mission-driven military awards. She served as a board member for youth-serving organizations, Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum and Foster Club. CDR Hawkins resides in National Harbor, Maryland, with her husband, Maurice, and daughter, Nola.