50 Most Influential Latinos

Luisa Fernanda Cardona

Deputy Director

Office of Immigration affairs

Welcoming Atlanta.



Luisa Fernanda Cardona de Vence serves at the Deputy Director of the City of Atlanta’s Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs – Welcoming Atlanta. Luisa supports the director in the development and implementation of Welcoming Atlanta’s strategic plans and policies, and provides leadership and direction to the Welcoming Atlanta team. Programs which she currently supervises include language access through iSpeakATL, Citizenship and Citizenship Corners, ATLinBusiness, ESL and financial literacy, Bank On Atlanta, and community and volunteer engagement. Her work also includes serving as a Spanish media liaison for Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Luisa is especially proud to have developed and implemented the first citywide language access plan to ensure that all people, regardless of English ability, have equitable access to all city of Atlanta services.

Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Luisa served the immigrant community as an attorney both in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. In this capacity, Luisa advocated on behalf of immigrant workers, tenants, and DREAMers. Luisa was born in Armenia, Colombia and raised in metro Atlanta, and holds a law degree from the American University’s Washington College of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University.