Maia Chaka becomes NFL’s first Black female official

Maia Chaka has become the first Black female official in the history of the NFL. The league announced that she has been added to the roster of officials for the 2021 season on Friday.

“I am honoured to be selected as an NFL official,” Chaka said. “But this moment is bigger than a personal accomplishment. It is an accomplishment for all women, my community, and my culture.”

Chaka, who has officiated for several years on the college level, enters NFL after working in the Pac-12 Conference and Conference USA. She has participated in the NFL’s officiating development program since 2014.

Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said that Chaka’s “years of hard work, dedication, and perseverance have earned her a position as an NFL official.”  “As we celebrate Women’s History Month, Maia is a trailblazer as the first Black female official and inspires us toward normalizing women on the football field,” Troy said.

Chaka is a health and physical education teacher in the Virginia Beach public school system. She earned her bachelor’s in education in 2006 from Norfolk State University.

The NFL did not specify which officiating position she will work.