Yaphett El-Amin (born March 30, 1971) is an American politician who, until 2006, represented a portion of St. Louis in the Missouri House of Representatives. She is a Democrat. El-Amin is a native of St. Louis. She graduated from the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff with a BA in political science and is pursuing a master's degree in public administration at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. El-Amin, who is African-American, entered politics in 1997, when she became Democratic Committeewoman for the 1st Ward. In 2002, she was a successful candidate for the Democratic nomination for State Representative in the 57th District . She was elected without opposition in the general election and was re-elected without opposition in 2004 . In 2006, El-Amin was an unsuccessful candidate to replace Pat Dougherty in the Missouri State Senate. She finished second in a heavily contested Democratic primary election behind political science instructor Jeff Smith. Other candidates in the race were fellow state representative Amber Boykins, former State Representative Derio Gambaro, and former St. Louis Alderman Kenny Jones . Her husband Talibdan (TD) El-Amin won a contentious primary to become the Democratic party nominee to replace his wife in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected without opposition in the 2006 general election. In 2008, El-Amin became the Executive Director of MOKAN Construction and Contractors Assistance Center, a non-profit organization that since 1974 has served as a vital link between minority and women owned firms and the general construction community. El-Amin has been on the forefront of advocacy issues within the St. Louis Community for many years. She established the MOKAN Educational Institute, a State of Missouri recognized training provider that since 2015, trains and graduates hundreds of minorities and females into apprenticeship construction career opportunities within the St. Louis area. El-Amin is the President of Efficacy Consulting and Development, a private company that she founded in 2007, that specializes in providing diversity consulting services and real estate development. As a leading diversity consultant El-Amin has worked with numerous public and private entities toward realizing their diversity goals and objectives. After working with the Missouri Housing and Development Commission (MHDC) Administration in 2011, to establish stronger business inclusion initiatives, she expanded Efficacy’s focus to further stabilize communities through the expansion of affordable housing development through the creation of their Emerging Business Initiative program designed to increase the number of minority developers and businesses within