Prior to becoming Second Lady, Lordina Mahama's husband served as a member of the Parliament of Ghana representing the Bole-Bamboi constituency from 1997 to 2008.

[2] Raised in Brong-Ahafo and Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana, Mahama is a trained caterer and a Hospitality manager.

[3] Mahama joined her husband on campaign trails ahead of the 2008 when he was the running mate to John Atta Mills and also in both 2013 and 2017 when he was the flag bearer for the National Democratic Congress, winning in 2013 but losing in 2017.

[13] As President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA), Mahama was honoured at the 50th International Women Luncheon of the Rainbow Push Coalition which took place in Chicago (USA) for her role and outstanding work in advocating for the destitute and vulnerable children in Africa and also in her role as president to empower women to take charge of their reproductive health rights, as well as end mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Due to that during those outreaches, the former First Lady took the opportunity to also engage directly with leaders, members of the communities she visited to advocate for more people to know their status and start early treatment.

[4][15][19][20] Through her foundation and her role as First Lady, she came up with initiatives for early detection screening of women especially within the rural areas of Ghana to ensure proper treatment if necessary.

[21][22][23] Through her foundation and support from government and other private and non-governmental organisations, some girls in Ghana have been immunised against HPV by the GAVI vaccination initiative to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases.

[21][22][23] She considered women as being major contributors to the development of the world's economies as seen over the years and made continuous calls on non-governmental organisations to help bridge the health promotion and healthcare delivery gap in terms of cancer as they provide the main source of funding for such initiatives not withstanding governments providing healthcare funds.

[26][27] On 21 July 2015, she called on other first ladies at the 9th Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer (SCCA) conference in Nairobi, Kenya, not to see implements as a dream but rather develop initiatives and campaigns for action to be taken to ensure early detection and to lead a planned, sustained campaign and work with related agencies and organizations to support cancer prevention and control in Africa.

[36][29]Through her women empowerment initiatives she adopted the Gambaga Witch Camp located in North-East Region of Ghana as a centre that needed attention.

[37][38][39] She also made several donations of start-up kits to artisans across the country who had completed and graduated from vocational training centres and institutes to facilitate their entry into the business world and help them establish their own enterprises and businesses,[40][41] these included donations in support with the Chinese Embassy in Ghana through their Ambassador Sun Baohong.

[42][43] Lordina is married to John Dramani Mahama and together they have five children named Shafik, Shahid, Sharaf, Jesse and Farida.

[44] In November 2024, former First Lady Lordina Mahama advocated for better healthcare access in rural Ghana at a health event in Tamale North.