Get To Know

All About Liliana

Liliana Bakhtiari was born and raised in Atlanta and is serving their first term as a member of the Atlanta City Council, representing the citizens of District 5. 

Liliana is a longtime resident of Southeast Atlanta and the daughter of Iranian immigrants. They grew up working at their father’s pharmacy in the historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood where they learned the value of hard work and what it takes to run a small business. They began organizing in the community from a young age, and by college they were investing their time in student-led coalitions at Georgia State University and causes such as affordable education and the Georgia Dreamers program.

Liliana followed their passion for people abroad, spending their early adulthood fighting for affordable housing, women’s and children’s health, and environmental justice across 26 countries around the world. Back at home in Atlanta, Liliana has tackled initiatives locally including suburban and rural voter engagement during critical elections, direct services for unsheltered populations, blood drives, senior partnerships, public art initiatives, and more.

Professionally, Liliana served as the Public Affairs Manager of Planned Parenthood Southeast; they lobbied for voting rights with ProGeorgia; they served as a consultant for Echo Market Research as they built out their Social Justice Division; finally, they collaborated with Partners for Home to establish a hotel program housing our at-risk unsheltered population during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In 2021, they were elected to serve on the Atlanta City Council. In their tenure on City Council, they have authored legislation providing access to legal counsel for individuals facing eviction, de-criminalizing abortion in the wake of the Dobbs decision, and expanding housing voucher requirements for city funded projects. In 2021, Liliana was named “Person of the Year” by the Georgia Voice and in 2022 they were awarded the “Next Gen Leader of the Year Award” by Out Georgia. Most recently, they were named as a 2023 David Bohnett Fellow, and attended the Executive Leaders in State and Local Government Certificate Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy. They were recently named as an honoree for Atlanta Magazine’s “Atlanta 500 Most Powerful Leaders of 2024.”

Liliana is the first queer Muslim person to be elected in the state of Georgia, and the first non-binary person elected in the City of Atlanta.