After graduating from California State University at Hayward, Lola started her career as a journalist, reporting on the lives of working families—an experience that introduced her to the labor movement and her first union role with the Newspaper Guild. In later years, she grew into a political and community organizer with SEIU Local 1877. In this role, and as the working mother of two children, Lola committed herself to improving the lives of fellow union members and her South Los Angeles community. Organizing taught her a simple truth: when workers do well, communities do well. 

Lola recognized the disparities for the Black community—in higher homelessness and incarceration, preventable chronic disease and reduced life expectancy, lower wages, and fewer job opportunities—and decided to take action. She co-founded the LA Black Worker Center (LABWC), where she fought to increase access to quality jobs with employer-provided healthcare, reduce employment discrimination, and improve industries that employ Black workers through collective action and unionization. The LABWC went on to be a model for the emerging National Black Worker Center Network. Lola also served as a Project Director at the UCLA Labor Center, where she directed the Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work project. For her work in the labor movement, she received national recognition from President Barack Obama and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. 

Since 2022, Lola has served as a State Senator, fighting back against the abuses of the Trump Administration, prioritizing legislation to protect workers, demanding environmental justice for communities forced to live, work, and play closest to sources of pollution, and reinforcing the cultural power of Black Los Angeles. She’s running for re-election to keep fighting for economic stability for all Californians and the change we need now.