"I recommend leaders tackle the hardest things first because they may take the longest for you to actually impact. And if you have a time limit as most people do, you need to be effective with how you deploy your time, your resources and your people. So it's critical to really work through those hard things quickly and early on so you can have a realistic strategy to be successful."*
--Aja Brown, Mayor, Compton, California
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides Leadership Tuesdays, a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage and strengthen women leaders. Today we profile Aja Lena Brown, the 18th mayor of Compton, California.
Brown made history in 2013 by defeating the incumbent Eric J. Perrodin to become the youngest mayor ever elected in Compton. She is currently serving her second term as mayor having been reelected in 2017.
Mayor Brown is an example of a home grown talent with vision and passion to make a difference. She went to school and grew up in the area where she serves as mayor and she is the embodiment of one who believes that change is not only possible and but doable.
Brown launched a 'New Vision for Compton’, a revitalization strategy centered on 12-key principles that focuses on family values, quality of life, economic development and infrastructural growth, and began her work in Compton. Her goal is to improve outcomes through policy reform, innovation and strategic partnerships. Since becoming Mayor, she has accomplished the following:
- Decreased homicides from 2014 to 2015;
- Reduced the unemployment rate by 50 percent in Compton from 18 percent in July of 2013, to 9 percent in the month of December 2015;
- Executed policy that improves access to Compton City employment through the First Source Hiring Agreement, adopted in October 2013, which mandates 35 percent local hiring for city assisted and funded projects; and
- Eliminated hourly motel rentals and condemning businesses that incubate human trafficking, and other illicit activity.
Brown is a graduate of the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy, Urban Planning and Development and Master’s degree in Urban Planning with a concentration in Economic Development. She is married to her best friend Van Brown and they are the proud parents of their first child, a daughter named J'ael.
For more information on Leadership Tuesdays and WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.
“I think every leader must possess vision and they absolutely have to have a heart of service. And in order to be an effective leader you have to mobilize other leaders around you.”
Aja L. Brown, Mayor, Compton, California, 2013 --
Every other Tuesday, WOMEN AT LIBERTY provides a platform for a variety of voices and resources to develop, encourage, and strengthen women leaders. In this Leadership Tuesdays' article, we meet Aja Lena Brown, the youngest mayor of Compton, California to be elected. At 33 years old, she is the Chief Executive Officer of a city with a population of more than 96,000 people (2010 Census) and a total 2014/2015 budget of almost $53 million.
Although Compton has been notoriously known for gang violence and gangs including the Bloods and the Crips, the devastating 1992 Rodney King Riots, rappers like Ice Cube, and its most famous athletes--Venus and Serena Williams, the world of professional tennis' winningest sisters, Mayor Brown is on a path to change the image of her city. She was profiled in a 6/10/15 Forbes article on leadership, "Brewing Success One Cup Of Coffee At A Time", by Don Yaeger in which she offered the quote listed above. This millennial is casting a new vision for Compton that includes a community rich in culture, family life, and low levels of unemployment. She told Forbes that,
"An effective leader is able to reach people in their natural environment and extract their experiences and knowledge about the issues that impact them. By this, you can show that you care about people not just from words, but by spending time and making sure they have the resources that they need.”
Mayor Brown is doing just that and seeing results. According to the article, crime is down by 34 percent, unemployment has decreased by 5 percent and more than 1200 new jobs has been added. She is committed to making a positive change in her city by believing in its residents, staying connected to them by regularly meeting with them in informal "meet and greets", and casting a vision of a better future for all. We salute Mayor Brown and wish her and her city well!
To view today's article click here. For more information on Leadership Tuesdays or WOMEN AT LIBERTY, click here.
Nona O.
