Birmingham, Alabama Mayor Randall Woodfin on How Being a Son of Birmingham Shaped Him as a Leader and as a Person

Birmingham, Alabama — also known as The Magic City — is a major part of my story. I lived there for nearly 11 years, from January 2013 until December 2023; my husband is from there and I met my husband there; and, living there from age 26 to 37, it was part of my formative years as an adult. During my time in Birmingham, I worked in communications at the economic development organization the Birmingham Business Alliance, where I had the opportunity to meet Birmingham’s mayor, Randall Woodfin, on a number of occasions. Sometimes those in office are one way in front of the cameras and a completely different person when the cameras are off; Mayor Woodfin was always kind, gracious, generous, and a genuinely good person — the real deal — even if it was just the two of us in a room. Mayor Woodfin won election as mayor in 2017 in a bit of a David and Goliath type victory over longtime Birmingham political mainstay William Bell; he has been in office ever since. Now, on January 21, he is coming out with a memoir, aptly titled Son of Birmingham: A Memoir, about his life, leadership, and, fascinatingly, his love of Outkast. As I tell Mayor Woodfin in this episode, we all deserve someone that loves us as much as he loves Outkast. Mayor Woodfin truly is a son of Birmingham and, having been in office since 2017, has seen the city through some difficult times, not the least of which is COVID-19. In this episode he talks about the modern day Birmingham and what the public still gets wrong about it; about being the youngest mayor in Birmingham’s modern history; what it was like to win the mayoral election over seven years ago; some of the toughest situations he’s faced in office; about answering the call to serve; and about his life as a husband and father now. A native of Birmingham, Mayor Woodfin attended Morehouse College and then returned to Birmingham, working at City Hall in jobs for the mayor and the City Council and for the Jefferson County Committee on Economic Opportunity. He attended the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and, after obtaining his law degree, took on a job in the City of Birmingham Law Department. Outside of his work as an assistant city attorney, he was a political organizer, working on campaigns at the local, state, and federal level. After serving on the Birmingham Board of Education, he ran for mayor and is now in his second term in office, seeking a third in 2025. He was also a featured speaker at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. I will always, always have such an affinity for Birmingham, and for Mayor Woodfin, too.

Son of Birmingham: A Memoir by Mayor Randall Woodfin