Sadiqa N. Reynolds
President and CEO, Louisville Urban League
Sadiqa Reynolds is the President and CEO of Louisville Urban League. Her appointment made her the first woman to hold this title in the affiliate’s 100-year history. She has previously served as Chief for Community Building in the Office of the Mayor where she oversaw approximately 1500 employees. Sadiqa serves on several boards including Fund for the Arts, the Louisville Chamber, WAVE3 Editorial Board, WDRD Advisory Board, and is a Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She served for two years as District Judge for the 30th Judicial Court. She was also the first African American woman to clerk for the Kentucky Supreme Court when she served as Chief Law Clerk for the late Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens. Her life as a public servant also includes being the first African American to serve as Inspector General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Services. Prior to entering the public sector, Sadiqa owned her private legal practice, which included criminal litigation, employment law, death penalty litigation, and serving as Guardian Ad Litem representing abused, neglected and dependent children as well as arguing successfully before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She has also been recognized by the Louisville Bar Association for providing pro bono hours in which she represented domestic violence victims and other disadvantaged citizens. Sadiqa earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Louisville and her law degree from the University of Kentucky. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Bates Memorial Baptist Church.
She received the 2017 Community Leader of the Year Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness because of her work to reduce the stigma around mental health. She is also a proponent for Restorative Justice and participated in the Face It Movement, a campaign to end child abuse. She has been interviewed by the New York Times and appeared on CNN’s Headline News for the Louisville Urban League’s work in jobs, justice, education, health, and housing, as well as serving as a guest on CBS News, FOX News, BBC, and other international news outlets.
Sadiqa is a much sought-after speaker and has been locally, regionally, and nationally recognized with awards of distinction such as the Charles W. Anderson Laureate award by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, one of Louisville’s Most Admired CEOs of Business First, a Healthy Kentucky Policy Champion, and the National Council of Negro Women Certificate of Excellence. She’s previously been recognized as a Business First Enterprising Woman to Watch and a Woman of Influence. She has been honored with a Tower Award, a Torch of Wisdom, and named a Daughter of Greatness by the Muhammad Ali Center. She’s received the Fannie Lou Hamer Award, for her commitment to justice, was recognized as one of BizWomen’s Business Journal’s top “100 Women to Watch” nationally, recognized for her housing advocacy work by the Mortgage Banker’s Association, and honored as Louisville’s Communicator of the Year. Sadiqa has received honorary Doctorates from Spalding University and Simmons College of Kentucky. She was the 2017 Louisville Magazine Person of Year and a 2018 National Urban League Woman of Power.
She has two wonderful daughtersーSydney, a high school junior, and Wynter, a high school freshmanー both being educated in public schools. Her goal is to leave the world better for them.