Amanda Keller

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Amanda Keller moved to Alabama in 2006 and received her BA in Philosophy from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Amanda is the Founding Director of the Magic City Acceptance Center (MCAC), a radically inclusive brave space for the LGBTQ community in Birmingham, Alabama that opened in the spring of 2014. In 10 years as Director, she has been instrumental in expanding services to over 2,135 LGBTQ and youth, ages 13-20. In 2020, the Magic City Acceptance Center expanded to provide programs to children, family, adults and elder programs, as well as state-wide programs in 52 counties across Alabama. Amanda also manages Family Matters: LGBTQ Youth Perspectives, a photography exhibition by Carolyn Sherer. Family Matters premiered at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in April 2014, and was selected as the Outwin Boochever Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery finalist in 2016. Prior to MCAC, Amanda served as Finance Director at Birmingham AIDS Outreach. Amanda is a graduate of the 2019 American Express Leadership Academy, serves on the Board of the Children’s Policy Council, and Mayor Woodfin’s LGBTQ Advisory Board. Additional awards include: 2015 Simpkins/Talley Spirit of Pride Award, 2015 B-Metro Fusion Award, 2017 Ben Rowell Community Service Award, AL.com’s 2017 “Women Who Shape the State” honoree, 2018 Sylvia Rivera Game Changer Award, one of 2018 Birmingham Business Journal’s “Women to Watch,” a member of the Leadership Birmingham Class of 2020, and the UAB College of Arts and Sciences 2020 Distinguished Young Alumni.