Marva O’Neal began her working career in Shawnee, working for the Community Action Agency. This experience led to jobs in Washington DC and Boston where she worked as a secretary, administrative assistant and tax analyst.  In 1980 she returned to her Shawnee home to be with her family.  Upon her return she found that the city of Shawnee still needed many improvements to make it a good place to live for all of it’s residents so she immediately went to work.  She soon found that she needed the cooperation of the city itself to get more street lights, better streets, and safer parks and playgrounds.