I’m the Guest Editor for ‘Atlanta’ magazine’s 2023 issue of ‘Atlanta 500’!!! On Newsstands NOW!!!

Hello World,

Remember when I told y’all that I had been working on “a ginormous freelance project that took all of my extra attention outside of my job, family life, and other regular responsibilities”?

I’m now ready to reveal more…Drumroll please…I am the 2023 guest editor of Atlanta magazine’s Atlanta 500!!!

What is the Atlanta 500 you ask?

“The Atlanta 500 recognizes the 500 most influential business and civic leaders in Atlanta. The list also includes dozens of leaders whom the magazine has deemed as ‘Legends.’ The Atlanta 500 recognizes the most influential Atlantans—including not only corporate CEOs, but also leading entrepreneurs, educators, researchers, artists, and those leading nonprofits and shaping public policy.”

I was proud and excited to take on this ginormous freelance project for a few reasons:

  1. Atlanta magazine is the premier magazine of my city. As a magazine journalism bachelor’s degree recipient from the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication of the University of Georgia, it is a no brainer. (Check my Grady College mug in one of the pics 🙂 !)
  2. As the A is my hometown, it was a privilege to edit a book comprised of the best and brightest of the A for 2023! (And if you aspire to be a leader here, I think you should definitely get a copy!)
  3. While I love being a new mother, it is also important for me to continue nourishing and flourishing in my communications career so it was a test of whether I would be able to balance all of my responsibilities as they are now. If I didn’t know before, I truly know now that prayer works! And my village (those who help me and my handsome hubby take care of our twins) is a Godsend…Chile…I already knew that working mothers are akin to superheroes and now I’m finding out why…

So if you are in Atlanta, please get your own copy of Atlanta 500 wherever you would normally buy your copies of Atlanta magazine. I got my copy from the newsstand at Sprouts grocery store. The link for the 2023 issue of the Atlanta 500 will be live in the near future, but in the meantime, please check out Atlanta magazine and previous issues of Atlanta 500 HERE.

So with that, I say, “Peace Up! A-Town Down Shawty.”

Any thoughts?

‘Just Mercy’ Author & Attorney Bryan Stevenson To Deliver the Keynote Address at the 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service Tomorrow, Jan. 16…

President Biden Delivered Sunday Sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church TODAY!

Hello World,

The King Center will host the 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Beloved Community Commemorative Service tomorrow, Jan. 16, on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, at 10 a.m., at Ebenezer’s Horizon Sanctuary, 101 Auburn Ave., Atlanta. The service will broadcast live on FOX 5 Atlanta and livestream on Facebook, YouTube, fox4atlanta.com, and thekingcenter.org.

The 54th Annual Commemorative Service is the hallmark of the King Holiday Observance.  The Rev. Natosha Reid Rice and Pastor Sam Collier will preside over the event. The King Center CEO, the Rev. Bernice A. King, will give the Call to Commemoration. This year’s keynote speaker is Bryan Stevenson, lawyer, social justice activist, law professor at New York University School of Law,  founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (which was made into a movie starring Michael B. Jordan) U.S. Senator and Senior Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, will give pastoral and city greetings, respectively. Several special guests will give tributes to Dr. King including:

  • Leo Smith, CEO, Engaged Futures Group, LLC
  • Rick West, founding director and director emeritus, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
  • Renee Montgomery, co-owner and vice president of the Atlanta Dream
  • Pastor Dennis Rouse, author and founding pastor of Victory Church
  • Veronica Maldonado-Torres, president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Somalia Gilliard, a senior and Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy, will give a special tribute to Mrs. Coretta Scott King.

The commemorative service will feature performances by musical guests: Yolanda Adams, Kierra Sheard, Justin Schultz, Morton, Minister Angella Christie, Ashling Cole, Uzee Brown, and Bishop William Murphy. The Commemorative Service Choir will perform, accompanied by The Covington Regional Ballet. There will be an international musical performance by the Far East Broadcasting Company Korea Children’s Choir.

Additionally, President Biden delivered the Sunday sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual home of Dr. King,  TODAY! Read more about what he said HERE.

I’m forever grateful for the sacrifices of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his family. God has truly used them in a mighty way…

Any thoughts?

Pray.com Partners with National Day of Prayer Task Force for Annual Event May 5…

Hello World,

After many years of praying, I can undoubtedly say that without prayer, my life would not work…That’s why I have to promote the 2022 National Day of Prayer…

Pray.com and the National Day of Prayer Task Force are excited to announce a partnership to broadcast the 2022 National Day of Prayer event hosted from the Museum of the Bible on Thursday evening, May 5.

Now in its third year hosting a National Day of Prayer event, Pray.com previously hosted events concurrent with the National Day of Prayer Task Force. By combining efforts, the group that has been mobilizing prayer on the National Day of Prayer since the 1980s and the world’s No. 1 Christian app for daily prayer hope to mobilize an unprecedented number of participants for this historic observance around the 2022 theme to “Exalt the Lord Who Has Established Us,” taken from Colossians 2:6-7.

The National Day of Prayer has been celebrated annually in the U.S. since 1952 when Congress created a joint resolution, signed into law by President Harry Truman, stating that the President would dedicate one day every year for a National Day of Prayer. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation designating the first Thursday in May as the annual observance. Every president since then has on that day issued a proclamation encouraging the people of the nation to gather together in prayer.  “Our team at Pray.com is honored to officially partner with the National Day of Prayer Task Force this year, to help rally people of faith from every state in our nation to pause and praise the Lord for our many blessings,” said Pray.com co-founder Matthew Potter. “This annual celebration of year-round prayer brings together citizens from all backgrounds into the throne room of Heaven as we renew our reliance on our Almighty God, and as we lift up our hearts to heaven, praying biblically — not politically — and asking the blessings of God to rest on every leader in every area of influence in our country.”

To date, Pray.com and the National Day of Prayer Task Force have encouraged millions of people to join in prayer for our nation. Pray.com has over 1 million paying subscribers, while National Day of Prayer has more than 700,000 followers through email and social media, with an annual broadcast reach of more than 200 million households throughout the world.

Speakers and musicians who will be involved in this year’s event, leading in worship and prayer, include Pastors A. R. Bernard and Skip Heitzig, ministry leaders such as Chip Ingram and Joni Eareckson Tada, and National Day of Prayer Task Force President Kathy Branzell. Local prayer gatherings will be held in all 50 states and several U.S. territories, with the annual national broadcast airing on television and radio, and streamed through social media at 8 p.m. ET. For station and social media information, visit www.nationaldayofprayer.org.

“Our praise of His unchanging attributes and remembrance of His blessings has helped Americans remain steadfast in faith even through the most challenging of times,” Branzell said. “Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we do not waver today in this practice of praise and expressions of faith, love, and thanks as we unite in prayer across America on this National Day of Prayer.”

Any thoughts?