ASHEVILLE - In her life and political career, Green Party candidate Dee Williams has overcome childhood poverty on the way to compiling a stellar academic career.

She has tangled with city's most powerful leaders and weathered legal controversies. She has run for political office as a Democrat, as a Republican and as an unaffiliated candidate.

In her biggest political success yet, Williams finished fourth in the nonpartisan City Council primary, in part by railing against a "gentrification boom" and promoting "sustainable people-centered development."

"It's the first time I feel I had people who were willing to support me, not just with money, but to come and show up," she said.

Born as DeRothea Goodman, Williams was raised by a grandmother after her parents' deaths. She often missed school because she couldn't afford lunch. Tutoring and a stipend from Mars Hill College’s Upward Bound program changed that. She studied a year at the prestigious Asheville Allen High School for African-American girls. Back at a newly integrated Asheville High, she was the 1971 valedictorian.

After graduating Winston-Salem State magna cum laude, Williams cared for her grandmother in Asheville and taught high school classes to adults.

"I found out I had a niche or a gift for helping folks who came from pretty poor backgrounds," she said.

With husband David she opened two nightclubs and their daughter Delores was born.

From 1987-1994, she directed the federally backed Asheville Business Development Center, aiding minority businesses, but she was at odds with city leaders over minority business contracts and the condemnation of a black-owned convenience store.

On city and county boards, she protested moving the bus station from Pritchard Park and called for the county to help with employee child care.

In 1991, when City Council races were partisan contests, she ran as a Democrat, advocating raising all residents' standard of living and recruiting environmentally conscious businesses. She lost in that primary and again in 1993.

In 1995, Williams was hired and quickly fired as director of a nonprofit administering $2.6 million in anti-poverty grants after she said she discovered mismanagement and kickbacks. The FBI decided not to pursue criminal charges against the organization, a move Williams decried as partisan.

A hotel housekeeper in 1996, she ran as a Republican for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, backing school vouchers and a freeze on tax increases. She won the primary but lost in the general election.

She started a construction business with city and state road contracts. In the late 1990s, the business came under pressure after low-income housing residents alleged she had engaged in fraud as a consultant. No charges were brought, she said. But she sold the company equipment before the recession and now works as a consultant for minority businesses and nonprofits.

Williams ran again in 2007 and 2015, losing in the council primaries. In between, she joined the Democrats to support Barack Obama, then switched to unaffiliated. Recently, she has advocated for removing criminal history questions from job applications and said she was able to negotiate that change with Mission Hospital, as well as paying all employees a living wage.