Photography by Tony Lewis, Jr.
Maryland’s First Family is now beginning its second year in Annapolis as full-time residents of Government House. In this interview, First Lady Dawn Moore shares her early impressions of the town, her new home, and her top initiatives.
She Smiles at the Memory
It was Inauguration Day, January 18, 2023. The evening’s celebratory events in Baltimore were over. The family of four—brand new to Annapolis—came home past midnight, ready for bed.
She remembers seeing her young daughter, just 11, starting up the long staircase still in her party gown, when, suddenly, from deep within the halls of their 18th century residence, an ancient clock began to chime. Startled, the girl raced up the stairs, the train of her dress trailing behind her.
It was an auspicious beginning for Maryland’s First Lady whose aim of keeping her family safe drives her thinking every day. No day is typical.
But on any day, time spent with Dawn Moore is precious, indeed. Much in demand for her personal style and accomplished background, she is both sanguine and grounded about her current role and what she wants to accomplish. Neither the Governor, nor her children, are ever far from her thoughts. As she speaks, the word “safe” pops up repeatedly, as does her soft reference to “my husband.”
Poised, professional, and personable, Dawn Flythe Moore—like her husband—exudes a certain charm that makes her easy to like and eager to follow.
Born in Queens, New York City, she grew up the daughter of two working parents. From her father, a union member and crane operator and her mom, a music teacher in New York City public schools, she learned the importance of public service. Little did she know that acceptance to the University of Maryland at College Park would lead to a career in Maryland state government.
After graduating with a degree in government and politics, she worked for Secretary of State John Willis, for Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend as a senior policy officer, and for Lt. Governor Anthony Brown as his Chief of Staff. She also earned plenty of hands-on campaign experience, first as a field director for Townsend’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign and later as a deputy campaign manager for Martin O’Malley’s 2006 campaign.
A blind date—arranged by aunts and family friends—brought her together with a tall, handsome Johns Hopkins University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, a man destined for the exceptional. Their chemistry was immediate. The couple married just before Wes deployed to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. This July 6th, Governor and Mrs. Moore will celebrate 17 years of marriage.
Photography by Tony Lewis, Jr.
Government House
Moore’s interest in her new home and in public service—and her ever-watchful eye on her family—frame how she views her role as First Lady.
“I consider myself an extension of my husband’s work. Everything I do represents him,” Moore says. “And that’s not hard for me because I believe in him so much.” She also understands that the role of First Lady is changing. Moore feels empowered to pursue issues of importance—and Government House offers the place to do it.
“It’s such a privilege to live here. Every governor and his family have lived in this home. My husband and I truly see this as the people’s house. We are temporary residents, stewards of this place. It is incumbent upon us to share it.”
In her first year alone, she opened the house to a variety of groups, including cultural, religious, and educational organizations, many for the first time, such as PRIDE and the LGBQT community. A recent favorite was an evening dedicated to the cast of “The Wiz” on its return to Baltimore along with students from the Baltimore School for the Arts. She has invited rising, talented young people from Annapolis and Anne Arundel County so “they can see artists who look like them, who serve as a source of inspiration, so they know everything and anything is possible.”
“We’ve hosted so many people who say, ‘I’ve never been here.’ What I am hearing is, thank you for including us. We want them to know they are welcome here.”
Government House—and putting her family’s mark on it—is one of her primary initiatives.
“As the first African American family here, it is important to us that this house represents all Marylanders, and that all are welcome. Not only in the events we host, but in the arts we display.”
Toward that end she is working with the Government House Trust and the Maryland State Archives to modernize the home in “how people perceive Maryland’s history.” Partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Art as well as the Banneker Douglass Museum in Annapolis, she wants the public to “see this home as an extension of their institutions.” She envisions special exhibits and displays that highlight Maryland history heretofore unseen, such as the lives of black and indigenous people. Nearby, the portrait of abolitionist Frederick Douglass graces the entry hall.
But Government House is more than a show place. For Moore it is the backdrop for tackling one of society’s most serious issues.
Children’s Mental Health
“Government House is a place where we can connect, gather, elevate the issues,” Moore tells us. “This is very important to me and to my husband’s administration. It’s a place where people can be heard and seen.”
Nowhere does the First Lady feel more passionate than in the area of children’s mental health. For the past year she has been speaking to many different stakeholders, including the medical community, providers, advocates for young people, and parents about the state of children’s mental health. Raising two children, Mia, now age 12, and James, age 10, the topic is very personal: “As a mom I know the struggles we all face every day.”
One of her top concerns is the impact of social media.
“I am pretty strict about social media. It’s a bit hard to ban it totally, but I do not let my children have Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok.”
Do they balk at that?
“Of course they do, like every other kid in America. But I try to explain to my children the science. I tell them that they are too young and there’s a time I will let them.”
And when is that?
“My daughter asks me that every other day. I tell her, I cannot make a promise to you because if I make a promise and I change my mind, then you will say I didn’t keep my promise. But I explain to her that I will continue to follow the science.”
Moore admits she’s not the expert, but her status affords her access to those who are. This past year she heard the Surgeon General address the National Governor’s Association about the crisis in children’s mental health. He called out social media for giving young people a “false sense of community.”
“That really resonated with me. I want people to understand we have to create real community, especially with young people because they have grown up in social media, so they have a different perception of what community is.”
Still listening, still learning, Moore—like her husband— is still formulating the specifics of how to attack the problem. There are state funds to back her. For FY 2024 the Moore Administration has committed $1.3 billion in direct state support for various mental health and substance use services and initiatives.
The First Lady hopes parents will find strength and a partner in her advocacy work. She wants young people to say, “she helped us to be seen and we know she is our partner.” She wants their parents to stand strong for their children—especially around social media—because “If Dawn can do it, maybe I can, too.”
But being heard is not just about mental health, as her own story reveals.
Health Equity
She is very public about it. In fact, it is one of her top initiatives. When Moore was 26, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a potentially disabling disease that attacks the nervous system. It causes many different symptoms, most common being fatigue, vision loss, and impaired coordination.
Moore had these plus others: double vision, her “gait was off” and she experienced loss of taste. Despite this, she was repeatedly misdiagnosed. Worse, reflecting on that time, she feels she was ignored.
A recent survey corroborates her experience. Conducted by the health research organization KFF (formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation), researchers polled a nationally representative sample of nearly 6,300 adults. Black Americans reported facing discrimination in the doctor’s office and needing to “change the way the way they dress and mentally brace themselves for potential mistreatment when they visit the doctor.” (as reported on NPR’s Morning Edition, December 5, 2023)
“What I went through to get my diagnosis is very typical of what women of color go through,” Moore explains. “Constant misdiagnoses, not being heard. Black women are constantly being ignored or misdiagnosed because MS was not seen as a black woman’s disease.”
At one point she was even told she was having a nervous breakdown. Like many times in her life, her mother became her greatest partner. She was unrelenting in trying to get her daughter to the right doctors.
But the hero of this story was Wes, “my boyfriend at the time,” she says, smiling. “He was extraordinarily helpful.”
She credits her then-future husband with introducing her to Dr. Carolyn Britton, a neurologist with Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, who ultimately confirmed her diagnosis and got her on the right regimen. There were many medications and therapies, but what she remembers most was “her way of speaking to me; she made me feel empowered. She made me feel safe.”
Moore knows she is fortunate. Her course with the illness was relatively benign. But there is no cure for MS and it requires vigilance. She has added holistic methods like nutrition, exercise, and methods to minimize stress, like Yoga. Always physically active, during COVID she took up tennis because it allowed for social distancing.
She also understands how important it is to find time just for herself. “You have to be intentional and carve it out. I have to schedule everything.”
Photography by Tony Lewis, Jr.
“The Local Lady”
Moore claims there is no “typical day.” But like any mother of young children, her life dictates a certain routine. Most mornings she rides with Mia and James to their school in Baltimore just as she did when they lived there. The family has dinner together often. Their lives focus on the children’s activities. Mia is a dancer, pursuing both ballet and jazz. James loves sports and plays flag football. Occasionally on a weekend he’ll toss a football with his dad in the front yard.
Keeping her family safe is a recurrent theme. It’s the reason she’s kept her children in their same school, a place where they know their teachers and friends, especially given the upheaval of this past year. They still maintain friends and activities in Baltimore, where the children were born and the Moores have spent so much of their lives. But already Annapolis, and all it has to offer, delights her.
“Annapolis is such a walkable town,” she says, “My daughter and I love looking in all the shops. We always find something we like.”
She isn’t shy about sharing her favorites. That includes ice cream. The owners of Annapolis Ice Cream know James’ favorite flavor—cookie dough. For Mia and her father, it’s anything with peanut butter. For giant milk shakes, it is Chic and Ruth’s. Dinner might be The Choptank, pizza from Fox’s Den, or a quiet evening at Harry Browne’s. Alone with her son, it’s sometimes Vida Taco Bar.
“They call me the ‘Local Lady’,” she says, “because I love to be local. I love to shop and walk the dog here.”
The dog, Tucker, is the family’s two-year-old Shih tzu-poodle mix often seen—and heard—greeting passers-by.
He was a promise to Mia and James after the election.
A favorite stop is the Welcome Home store across from the State House. Owner Jennifer Baker is always thrilled to see her. “Throughout Covid everything was so hard,” Baker says. “But from the day of Governor Moore’s inauguration, people were on the streets so proud and so excited. Part of it was having our first black family, but it was also having a young family in the Governor’s Mansion. Now we have children and a puppy. Governor Moore and his family have become a visible part of downtown. I regularly see them eating in our restaurants and shopping. And I love how the First Lady often stops in, sometimes in sweats wearing a cap, just like a regular person, out to do some shopping.”
Living in Annapolis affords the First Lady another family advantage.
“The beautiful thing about this is that the kids can walk across the street and go see Daddy. Wes tells them all the time, ‘you can come over here any time.’ They’ve been able to do that and that hasn’t changed.”
What has changed for her recently has been the national attention. Governor Moore, unquestionably charismatic with exceptional credentials in public service, has quickly drawn the attention of the national spotlight. It’s not every elected official who attracts a multi-page spread in Vogue magazine, complete with photographs by renowned portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz (July 18,2023).
“It is flattering,” says his wife. “But I hope it just means he is doing a good job. The most important thing is that he continues to focus on his work here. Service is in his blood. There’s nothing he’d rather be doing.”
Moore looks forward to her second year in Annapolis with her own focus, once again, on Government House, a symbol of all she hopes to accomplish.
“I’m excited for year two in this home to be even more inclusive than our first. When you come into this house, I want it to feel joyous and cheerful.”
As for what local people can do to support her.
“It’s already happening. Continue to invite us in. If you see me, say hello. I am your neighbor.”
