During the Georgia Women Connect: Leadership and Civic Engagement Panel held Sept. 16 at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson and Clarkston Mayor Beverly Burks shared personal stories of resilience and service, urging women to take leadership roles across Georgia.
Georgia Women Connect is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit that educates and encourages women to engage in public life by helping them find roles on boards, commissions and appointed offices across Georgia.
“I never had an aspiration of being an elected official,” Cochran-Johnson said. “And, you know, I will say that God truly has a sense of humor.”
The event, moderated by Georgia Women Connect president Adelaide Steedley, focused on women’s journeys into leadership and the importance of civic participation through local boards and commissions.
Cochran-Johnson, elected in 2024 as DeKalb County’s first Black woman CEO, said her upbringing in “LA — Lower Alabama” shaped her early understanding of community and accountability. “If you know anything about the rural South, everything you do happened at the church,” she said.
Her move into politics, she explained, began unexpectedly. “My car was stolen just yards from in front of my house,” she said. “When that happened, it really became real to me that you’re not immune, and that’s when I started to watch where the money went, and I started to question more elected officials and who represents us. And that was the birth of me going down there to qualify.”
Cochran-Johnson said her experience shows that public service is open to anyone willing to work hard. “It does not take a pedigree,” she said. “I have seen some folk who have been in government forever that ought to retire. It’s very true. So hopefully, you know, we serve—I know for me—as encouragement that anyone can do it, because I was not a part of the machine. I had to run against it three times in two years. And you can win. You can win.”
Mayor Burks, who became Clarkston’s first Black woman mayor in 2020, described how caregiving and community drew her into politics. “Service has always been important for me, and it’s been a cornerstone for my family,” she said. “My father was a doctor, my grandfather was a doctor.”
While caring for her grandmother, Mayor Burks said she began to see her community differently. “It kind of slowed me down and made me look at my city,” she said. “I started really looking at Clarkston… I like this place. I like this. I’m getting to learn it.”
Her political career began almost by accident. “They said, Beverly, if you do not run, at least if you do not run, there will be no women on council,” she said. “So that Friday, at 4:20, qualifying ended at 4:30, I went on and qualified, and I didn’t even tell my family that I was running.”
Two years later, Mayor Burks ran for mayor while undergoing breast cancer treatment during the pandemic. “I was bald head, running for mayor,” she said. “I got sworn in on my birthday at the end of November. So my birthday is November 30. So that was my gift to me, the gift to the city, in terms of my commitment.”
Her experience, she said, deepened her commitment to equity and empathy. “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and provided quality of life,” Burks said.
While moderating the panel, Steedley reminded attendees that Georgia Women Connect’s Clearinghouse, an online database of local board and commission openings, serves as a practical entry point for women interested in public service. “You can go in and sign up, put down your contact details, your areas of expertise, your areas of interest,” Steedley said. “And then we will meet with local officials that are looking for local constituents to fill these boards and commissions.”
Cochran-Johnson also encouraged attendees to take that step. “Let’s get you started in quasi-governmental roles, and let’s move you along progressively,” she said. “Success is when preparation meets opportunity.”She also called for new voices and term limits. “Some of the folks have been serving for 25 years,” she said. “I created a policy—four years and on… you’re going to have to move along, because I got things to do, and I only have four years.”
Participation ensures better representation, Burks added. “If the bulk of the fatalities were coming from our Asian community, and you don’t have any more Asian on the committee to understand culturally what was happening,” she said, “that’s why I emphasize you need to be a part of those committees, because if you’re not part of those committees, you’re not influencing the policy that is being created.”
Cochran-Johnson commented that the biggest challenge she faced was not doubt but gender bias. “What I dealt with, more than anything, was men who honestly did not know how to receive a woman who had the three Cs, care, capacity and conviction,” she said. “People who diminished me to make themselves bigger.”
Self-doubt can also keep women from stepping forward, remarked Burks. “Part of the reason why we don’t have women in these roles is that we sometimes have that imposter syndrome that we don’t feel that we’re the right person to be on council, or we don’t think that we could ever be mayor,” she said. “And that’s not the case… You just have to activate them. You have to activate them.”
As the event concluded, both leaders shared words of encouragement. “As women, if you didn’t know, we have superpowers,” Cochran-Johnson said. “You give women a job, we make it better.”
Burks agreed. “Build your squad,” she said. “Pump people up. Make them feel how great it is to do public service… because that’s the most rewarding experience that you can do, in terms of the legacy you can leave behind by just simply being present and involved.”
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