Steven Lamar Mays

Born and raised in Gastonia, I navigated childhood in a household content with being dependent on government assistance and barely getting by. I decided at a very early age that I wanted to create a better life for myself, one that left behind the stigmas of poverty, ignorance, and bigotry that were ever present in our home.

Highlights

• Born June 24, 1984, at Gaston Memorial Hospital

• Attended Hancock Elementary until it closed and then Brookside Elementary School in Gastonia

• Attended the legendary Highland Junior High in its final year of existence and spent one year at Holbrook Middle School

• Attended North Gaston High School, where I lettered in basketball and graduated with honors in 2002.

I spent my freshman year of college at Mars Hill University before transferring to Gardner-Webb University in pursuit of a basketball dream that never quite worked out. I graduated from GWU in December of 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology.

After graduating, I worked as a plumber's helper in Shelby, NC and eventually went to work for a commercial door company in Charlotte, NC, all the while pursuing a college basketball coaching career. Eventually, I landed an assistant coaching position at Winston-Salem State University that ended prematurely.

Walking away from coaching, I landed in social work (long story). I was a child protective services social worker at Cleveland County DSS for a stint and eventually left there to pursue a career in occupational safety.

Since 2010, I have dedicated my professional life to protecting workers in North Carolina's supply chain general industry and construction industry as a full time Environmental, Health, and Safety professional and consultant.

I am the oldest of my sibling group. I had two younger brothers until 2023, when my youngest brother passed away unexpectedly at 35. My mother, an anti-vaxxer, died from COVID-19 complications in 2022. While I have never met my biological father, I am deeply involved in researching my ancestry and learning about how my ancestors came to the United States and what experiences shaped their political beliefs.

I'm married to my college sweetheart, Megan, and we have a 13-year-old daughter that has me wrapped around her finger. We currently live in Gastonia, near the Crowders Mountain State Park.

Politics have long been exhausting to me, but I have decided that not being in the arena at all is more exhausting - especially considering how far our government has fallen in the last decade. It's time for me to leave the sidelines and at least try to change what I can.