Aja Lena Brown (née Clinkscale; born April 17, 1982)[1] is an American politician who was the mayor of Compton, California from 2013 to 2021.

[2][3] Brown was born Aja Lena Clinkscale in Altadena, California, to a single mother, Brenda Jackson, who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech.

[2][6] In 2000, Brown graduated from John Muir High School in Pasadena, Ca [3][4] In 2004, Brown graduated from University of Southern California, where she received a full academic scholarship, with a bachelor's degree in policy, planning & development that included public policy, urban planning and development.

[3] In 2004, while attending USC, Brown began working for the City of Gardena, California as an Economic Development Analyst.

Since the gangs started regular meetings, violent activity and crime was reduced by about 65 percent compared to the all-time high some 25 years ago.

[11][12] In 2018, she announced a run for the United States House of Representatives in California's 44th congressional district, against incumbent Nanette Barragán.

[17] In 1973, nine years before Brown's birth, her maternal grandmother, Lena Young, a nurse, was raped and murdered in a home invasion in Compton that remains unsolved.