Alyia Gaskins, a tenacious fighter for families, communities, and health equity, is the first African American woman to serve as the Mayor of Alexandria. She was elected in 2024 and is dedicated to building a healthier, more prosperous Alexandria for all.

The same issues that motivate Alyia as an elected official—health, housing, education, public safety, and the economic, social, and physical vitality of cities— have motivated her professional career as a public health strategist and city planner. She has worked on hunger policy at D.C. Hunger Solutions and health issues at the National League of Cities, managed an affordable housing investment program at the Center for Community Investment, and was most recently a Senior Program Officer at the Melville Charitable Trust, a national philanthropic organization devoted to ending homelessness. Currently, Alyia runs her own consulting business, CitiesRX, which focuses on building physical, social, and economic health through community partnerships. Alyia graduated from Vanderbilt University, where she majored in medicine, health, and society. She earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of Pittsburgh and further honed her policy chops with a master’s in urban planning at Georgetown and a Professional Certificate in Municipal Finance from the University of Chicago.