The first Black mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Blessing Adeyemi (popularly known as Yemi) Mobolade was born in Lagos, Nigeria on February 12, 1979. His father worked for Exxon Mobile and his mother was a secondary school teacher. Both were also Christian ministers. Yemi attended primary and secondary school in Lagos. He was also immersed in the Yoruba culture of his parents and extended family.
At the age of 17 Mobolade joined a brother living in the United States. He attended Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems. He later earned a master’s degree in management and leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana. He was also awarded a Master’s of Divinity degree from A.W. Tozer Theological at Simpson College in Redding, California in theological and intellectual leadership.
In 2010 Yemi moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where he started a church associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In 2013 he invested in a downtown café, the Wild Goose Meeting House and in 2017 he cofounded the Good Neighbors Meeting House.
In 2015 Yemi took a position with the First Presbyterian Church as Director of Outreach and Engagement. Yemi cofounded the nonprofit, COSILoveYou, that brought over one hundred churches in the area together with the mission of service to the Colorado Springs community. He also began to leverage his success as an entrepreneur and business owner by working as the vice president of business retention and expansion at the Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corporation. In that position he was instrumental in assisting local employers. This was a period of record grow and his office attracted many new businesses to Colorado Springs and surrounding areas.
In 2019 Mobolade became a small business administrator with the city of Colorado Springs. In this position he assisted local entrepreneurs in starting businesses by introducing them to COSOpenforBiz.com and Permit Partner which streamlined opening a business venture in Colorado Springs. In this position he also organized and led many collaborative efforts between the private and public sectors in Colorado Springs.
In March 2022 Mobolade resigned from the position of small business administrator to enter the race for mayor of Colorado Springs. In the primary contest of April 2022 Mobolabe finished first of twelve candidates with 29% of the vote. In the run-off election his opponent was Republican Wayne W. Williams. Mobolade, an Independent, won the election garnering 57% of the vote. Upon his inauguration he became the first Black mayor of Colorado Springs and the first mayor not to be affiliated with the Republican party.
Yemi Mobolade and his wife, Abbey, are the parents of three young children.
