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MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS

Photo credit: Joshua Spruiel, City of Atlanta

Atlanta has a Mayor Named Keisha

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms talks about her decision to run, how her spirituality factored into that choice, balancing family and what she wants for the City of Atlanta

DEFINING WHAT A SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE FOR ATLANTA

Deya Direct: Faith without works is dead. And so in terms of work, and in terms of agenda, what are the key things that are closest to your heart and that will make you feel like you've been successful?

Mayor Lance-Bottoms: It's interesting you ask that because that's something that I am working on really crystallizing because it's one thing to campaign and speak in campaign terms. But now it's the tangible deliverables. By the end of four years I want to make sure that Atlanta is a place that everybody at least has a chance to succeed. And I have a whole team around me helping crystallize what that looks like in a tangible way. I know education's a huge part of it. Job opportunities are a huge part of it. Getting rid of food deserts in our communities is a huge part of it, making sure Atlanta's affordable for everyone is a huge part of it, and also continuing to be a good partner with our business community.

[Also] Crime is a huge part of it. So now we're working out the details of how we measure success. And I'm very fortunate that my transition team is comprised 38 amazing people. They are all talented and leaders in their own right. I had the CEO of UPS, I had the CEO of Delta Airlines sitting next to Killer Mike, T.I. and it's led by a woman Vicki Parmar who is a former executive with Coca-Cola Enterprises and Larry Gelis Stad CEO of cousins enterprises. So there are people who are really invested in my success and also invested in the success of our city and our communities. And you know what I would say in a nutshell is what I want to make sure is that as these opportunities are available to our adults shame on you if you don't take advantage of it and for our children. If we had to deliver it to your doorstep and feed it to you and make it available to you so you have a chance to succeed. That's what we need to do but we're working on the details and I understand that that's really the tallest, the biggest challenge because a lot of people talk.

But now it's time to do and it's time to deliver what you talked about.

Deya Direct: People like T.I., all the way to executives… that speaks to the vastness of the kind of people that you've impacted. And when you won there was a hashtag that said #atlantagotmayornamedkeisha, another hashtag was #blackgirlmagic and there was this national pride about you and what you represent from people all over the country. Kind of like the Black Panther movie, there was a sense of pride like it made folks feel like somebody sees me. How did that make you feel?

Mayor Lance-Bottoms: It is an incredible feeling and I think that a lot of it really has to do with the highs and lows of where we have been as a people and as a culture. So coming off this incredible high with the Obama's in the White House and then feeling the lowest of the low with where we are with national representation and when we look at Atlanta and we saw the dynamic and it was a racially charged election in Atlanta.

And I think that it really gave people a rallying cry. And thankfully my credentials and experience qualified me to do the job. So it wasn't a tall sell in that regard, but it is unveiling and I realize it's just an enormous responsibility and I just caution people; Remember that I'm human and don't put faith in me and don't put faith in what I will deliver. It's really about what we can all deliver and what we can do for ourselves and what we can achieve for our communities. And I think in so many ways that's what the Obama's left with us that we are. We have the power that it's really about us understanding how we use it and how we maximize it for the benefit of everyone around us.

UP NEXT: THE MAYOR ON WORK LIFE BALANCE

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