Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms is the former Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, and currently serves as a political commentator for CNN.

During her tenure as mayor from 2018 to 2022, Bottoms led several major initiatives, including establishing Atlanta’s first fully staffed Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; appointing both an LGBTQ Affairs Coordinator and a Human Trafficking Fellow; eliminating cash bail citywide; and launching Atlanta’s Open Checkbook, the most far-reaching financial transparency platform in the city’s history.

Tracing her family’s roots to a Georgia slave plantation, Bottoms was named Georgia Trend magazine’s 2020 Georgian of the Year. She has also been recognized as one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year and earned a place on Ebony magazine’s prestigious Power 100 list. Additional honors include BET’s Entertainer and Innovator of the Year and Smart Cities Dive’s 2020 Leader of the Year award. She also received the Distinguished Civil Rights Advocate Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law.

Keisha is the daughter of R&B icon Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson. She and her husband, Derek, are the parents of four children.