Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance recently sat down for an interview with Jeezy on Worth A Conversation. There is no wonder why Lance is on the people’s favorites list. Her warm personality opened the floor to an insightful conversation well worth the time.
During the interview, Lance revealed that she is the daughter of Major Lance. The late R&B singer was born and raised in Chicago’s Carbrini Green Projects. Throughout his career, he worked with the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Elton John, and the Beatles.
As a young child growing up in England, Keisha dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. However, after relocating back to Atlanta, she became a Superior Court Judge. She later ran for city council and lost.
” I ran for office and when I lost they wouldn’t let me go back to my old seat. The next year I ran for mayor. People often look at failure as failure. Sometimes failure is the thing that propels you.,” Lance Said.
When Lance first took office, Atlanta faced the biggest cyber attack in government history. The phishing attack shut down their systems for 3 months. ‘ I remember sitting with the FBI and cybersecurity experts, She Said. They talked to me about paying the ransom. I responded, you want me to pay them to get my stuff back? We won’t have computers” In a jokingly firm manner. Subsequently, They ended up building a better system.
Jeezy then when on to ask what Lance’s biggest challenges were dealing with the pandemic. She touched base on the stress of having an unstable leader like Donald Trump in office as well as the financial deficit that the city potentially faced.
“I immediately started thinking about what people need. We started a Strength and Beauty fund and Create ATL fund. Water bills and parking tolls were suspended.” She continued, ” Wear your mask, we have to remember black and broken communities are getting hit hard.”
During her time in office, Lance and her family were diagnosed with COVID-19. Her face was swollen, while her 18-year-old son had no symptoms. Her husband, who was completely healthy prior to, experienced migraines, fatigue, and loss of smell.
Throughout this, all occurring during her first few months in office, Lance refused to stand down. She openly spoke against the governor who planned to open ATL Prematurely. On May 29th, The start of the civil unrest. Lance testified before congress. She spoke on the impact of COVID-19 and the resourced need for the city.
” I don’t want deaths on my hands, I make the same decisions for the people that I would make for my family,” Lance said.
When asked whether or not she believed the city would go back to normal, she admitted a lot of work still needed to be done.” More companies will have people work from home. This will impact small businesses, restaurants, and African American businesses. The pandemic has shown as a major divide.” Lance said.
In response to the pandemic, Lances administration has been very strategic. She opened Learning Pods for kids with no internet access or working parents. The Atlanta mayor also put in place multiple grants, rent assistance, small business, and loan funds.
For more information, please visit www.investatlanta.com and atlstrong.org
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