In the small, segregated East Texas town where Velma Korbel grew up, blacks and whites worshipped and socialized separately. Korbel remembers going to the theater and having to watch movies upstairs while the whites stayed downstairs. At the local burger joint, “Whites ate up front with the shiny red leather and chrome stools. My family and I ate our burgers in the back where the dishes were washed,” says Korbel.

Those early experiences, countered by a strong, supportive family, shaped Korbel’s world view, and reinforced her determination to work for racial equality. “When I was old enough to understand the difference,” says Korbel, “I committed myself to never accept the indignity of being treated as a second-class citizen.”

Each day, Korbel works to eliminate systemic barriers and racist policies so that nobody has to experience what she did. As the director of civil rights for the City of Minneapolis, Korbel’s duties include managing discrimination complaints and handling allegations of police harassment.

Prior to her position in Minneapolis, Korbel served seven years as commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. By supporting the rights of all Minnesotans, Korbel has earned a reputation as an effective leader, bringing quick and thoughtful resolution to complaints, and enforcing important affirmative action policies.

Korbel sits on the board of the Minnesota Human Rights Center and was recently elected to the Minnesota Women’s Economic Roundtable. Notably, for the past eight years, Korbel has also served as a YWCA Minneapolis board member and chairperson. She was instrumental in the creation of the YWCA initiative "It's Time to Talk Forums on Race," a luncheon that annually brings together over 1,000 diverse individuals and community leaders to learn and talk about the effects of racism.

Korbel says she works every day to break down barriers and send a message that in order for everyone to reach their full potential, there has to be racial equity. “We must remove those systemic barriers,” says Korbel. “We as a society must provide access and opportunities wherever we can so that every individual has the equal opportunity to be successful and achieve.”