Like her father, Vanessa Summers won re-election multiple times, and in 2012 became the first female as well as the first African-American to lead the Indiana House Democratic Caucus.

Vanessa Summers has a sister (Natalie), and graduated from the former St. Mary's Academy for Girls, then the only private secondary school in the city that would accept African-American pupils (it closed in 1977).

[5] In 1977, when Vanessa was a teenager, her father won election as a Democrat to the state legislature (a part-time position), and would wim re-election multiple times, representing the 99th district in Indianapolis until his death in 1991.

[8][9] In the Indiana legislature, which was then evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, Summers was appointed to her father's seat for the remaining eight months of the term.

[12] In addition to her legislative duties, Summers coordinates the national Diabetes Prevention Program in Indianapolis, and has also worked for the Amazing Grace Healthcare Coalition,[13] The ARC of Indiana (a statewide advocacy group for people with intellectual disabilities and their families),[14] and the Julian Center shelter (a domestic violence center).