La Ronda "Sug" Smith

La Ronda "Sug" Smith was born and raised in San Francisco’s Fillmore Western Addition. She was the youngest of seven children to Clayton and Loretta Smith. Having six siblings, she was always considered the baby of the family, was often spoiled and loved by all. During her adolescence, she attended John Muir School for three years and later transferred to Sacred Heart Grammar School. Once she graduated from Grammar School in 1975, she was accepted to attend the Star of the Sea Academy College Preparatory. La Ronda was an exceptional student that finished high school six months early and graduated with honors. 

With her leadership attributes, she was the first black student to graduate from that school with honors and was featured in the San Francisco Sun Reporter newspaper by Clarence Gatson. While at Star of the Sea Academy, La Ronda started the first Black Student Union. The purpose of the Black Student Union was to promote cultural and political awareness. The African American students noticed the impact of the group and, she was able to recruit her two nieces, Donna & Kimberly, to follow in her footsteps. 

Once she finished high school, she was offered a job by Sister Catheryn to work at her grammar school as the 8th-grade teacher's aide. This was an incredible experience to be able to work with teenagers who were about younger than her. She later received a job working at Joseph Magnin in the Fox Plaza where she was a sales associate for over 7+ years. She later pursued a career in real estate where she worked for a prominent Real Estate Broker, Vincent Friia at Friia & Co. on Sacramento Street. 

As her Real Estate career blossomed, she was hired at REMAX Realty as a receptionist. With her charm and intelligence, is was able to network with real estate professionals who coached and mentored her and, was promoted to a Sr. Listing Coordinator. La Ronda enjoyed the real estate field so much, that she worked part-time for over 3-years at Noble Field School of Real Estate. While working in the real estate field, she also had dreams of owning her own company.  As an entrepreneur, she built a Commercial Cleaning company, The Cleaning Angels. The Cleaning Angels specialized in providing exceptional house cleaning services and was often hired to clean homes before they went on the market. 

Fast forwarding to 2011, as an entrepreneur, she opened Sug's Event Center. Sug's was an establishment that served as a event space where customers often had weddings, receptions, birthday parties, retirement celebrations, funerals, repasses, and even church service on Sundays. She retired on December 30th, 2019 right in time for the COVID-19 Epidemic. 

As a community leader, she is currently working along with Rafiki Wellness and Dr. Monique LeSarre. In addition, she is also working to provide food services in the Bayview community while also assisting with the COVID-19 vaccination at South East College San Francisco. Through her work, she also continues to work with the San Francisco Juneteenth Committee for over 24-years, as the booth coordinator and Executive Director. She was crowned Grand Marshall in 2012.

Ms. Smith is currently on the following committees:

• American Business Women's Association
• OCCAR - Our Community as a Resource
• Fillmore Heritage Center Board Member 
• MegaBlack SF
• SF Rebels Board 
• San Francisco Juneteeth Committee (Entertainment)

The community is requesting that Ms. Smith open a venue and restaurant in San Francisco and this is her goal for 2022.