meet the founder

I am a Nashville native and have called Atlanta home since 2011. I’ve always been drawn to this city. It’s vibrant, energetic and full of opportunity. I did not know anyone when I came here, but I knew that it was important for me to fully engage in my community. To begin making friends and connections, I joined the Urban League of Greater Atlanta Young Professionals (ULGA-YP) and NAAAP Atlanta. I also began attending events with the Emerging 100 of Atlanta.

My volunteer work and my board involvement with ULGA-YP and NAAAP Atlanta enabled me to meet others who cared about Atlanta and opened my eyes to the similarities and struggles of our communities of color. It made me realize how much more powerful we would be as a city if we all weren’t so siloed in our own communities.

The vision with the Collective for Community Empowerment began years ago as just a thought. It was only just until in November of 2019 when the name and the idea came to life with our kickoff meeting as a core group. We currently have six founding partner organizations. After a number of conversations and meetings, we are now official and public to the world! With everything that is happening in our country and our world, we feel now more than ever that coalition-building and putting the term “Allyship” into action must happen.

This is truly a grassroots movement. This is a movement that is working as the boots on the ground. This is the movement that will be the change we’ve all been asking for. This movement is being built BY the community and FOR the community. We cannot solve all of our society’s issues on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, but we can do our part to become more aware, more educated, more supportive and more understanding of one another. It starts right here with us.

Welcome to The Collective for Community Empowerment.