Lightfoot and Eshleman embarrass their daughter in front of the entire city of Chicago at Lightfoot’s victory party in April. Image by Getty

By Ari Feldman May 30, 2019

From left, Lori Lightfoot, daughter Vivian and wife Amy Eshleman, celebrating Lightfoot’s mayoral win in Chicago on April 2. Image by Getty

In April Chicago elected a new mayor: Lori Lightfoot, the first black woman to lead the third-largest city in the country. In several appearances, most notably at her victory party and her recent swearing-in, she was joined by her wife, Amy Eshleman.

So who is Amy?

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Eshleman and Lightfoot have been together for 16 years, according to the Chicago Tribune. They got married on June 1, 2014 — the day same-sex marriages became legal in Illinois.

“You want certain things for yourself, and falling in love and having a family and doing all those things felt really important to us,” Eshleman told the Tribune. “To be able to be married on that day felt really big.”

The two have a daughter, Vivian, a teenager.

Eshleman worked for nearly two decades as the assistant commissioner of the Chicago Public Library, the fifth largest public library in the country by collection size. While there, she helped create YOUmedia, a digital center for teenagers that also does outreach and engagement. Currently, 12 CPL locations have a YOUmedia center. Eshleman’s former boss at the CPL, Mary A. Dempsey, gave Lightfoot’s mayoral campaign $64,776, the Tribune reported. Eshleman left the CPL in 2012, and currently works as an education consultant, according to her LinkedIn page.

In high school, Eshleman was an avid basketball and tennis player, and was a member of the first women’s team to win a statewide high school basketball championship, in 1977.

Lightfoot and Eshleman embarrass their daughter in front of the entire city of Chicago at Lightfoot’s victory party in April. Image by Getty

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount