Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte, representing Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood and Ditmas Park, was born and raised in Brooklyn. She is the first Haitian-American woman elected in New York City, and the first engineer elected to the New York State Legislature.
Currently in the Assembly, Ms. Bichotte serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) and has been appointed by Governor Cuomo to sit on his Domestic Violence Advisory Council. During her time in office, Assemblymember Bichotte has introduced over 60 pieces of Legislation, of which 4 became law, and she co-sponsored nearly 200 others. A crowning achievement of her first term and a dream come true has been the establishment of the Haitian Studies Institute, at Brooklyn College, making it a historical win for the state of New York. Notable legislation includes Resolution K376, which denounced the denationalization of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic, which made New York the first to adopt this resolution on a state level. She has also introduced voting rights bills that would make it mandatory for New York State to include Haitian-Creole translators in poll sites where there is a high percentage of Haitian-Creole speaking residents, as well as mandate that voting materials be available in Haitian-Creole.
Furthermore, she has championed a sign-on letter to the United States Department of Homeland Security demanding for an extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians.
Additionally, Assemblymember Bichotte introduced legislation on STEM, criminal justice, housing rights and a comprehensive package of economic development legislation to support the participation of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises. Lastly, Assemblymember Bichotte, as part of the Haitian American Caucus in the New York State Assembly, co-hosts an annual Haitian Unity Day, and co-sponsors a resolution every year to pay tribute to those lost in the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Public service is a lifelong commitment for Assemblymember Bichotte. One of the many ways she has served in the community was as a board member for Habitat for Humanity, where she joined hands with President Jimmy Carter in building over 300 homes in Leogane Haiti in 2011 after the devastating earthquake.
Professionally, Assemblymember Bichotte has worked in a variety of fields such as a math teacher in the public school education system; an engineer in the telecommunications industry where she travelled to Japan and China on assignments; and an investment banker in the financial services industry structuring corporate finance deals.
She earned and holds an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, a BS in Electrical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo, a BS in Mathematics in Secondary Education and a BT in Electrical Engineering both from Buffalo State College.
She is currently a member of the MIT Fellows of Urban Studies and Planning Mel King Fellowship, Class of 2017.