what i felt at 18 on I-85 turned out to be true... 🫶🏾
Published 2 days ago • 1 min read
I came to Atlanta for college in the very late nineties with no particular plan beyond showing up. And as soon as we hit the city limits on I-85 on move-in day, I felt right at home.
What I felt back then was a kind of permission that I hadn't felt anywhere else.
Permission to be exactly who I was, to want things, and to build something that hadn't been built before.
Far from home at eighteen years old, it was the first time in my life I didn't feel like an outlier. I felt like I'd finally found where I was meant to be.
After college, my career took me to Los Angeles, back to Texas, and eventually to Shanghai for a short while.
I moved through cities known for their arts scenes and culture, and I learned a lot in each of them. 🫶🏾
But I never stopped thinking about Atlanta, and when I moved back nearly 10 years ago, the city and I picked right up where we left off.
I've watched it hold poets, juice founders, keynote speakers, and much more. I've watched it give people the room to try, fail, try again, and become...just like it's done for me.
So, this week I felt compelled to write about it.
This story is part love letter, part economic argument, part reminder of three pros I've had the privilege of sitting with over the past year who each chose Atlanta and built something real here.
And with the World Cup arriving in this city in a matter of days, it felt like the right moment to tell this story.
The piece starts where most of my profiles don't...with a little bit of data because the receipts matter. Then it gets into a few of my favorite stories.
If you've been wondering whether where you are is enough to build what you're building, this one's for you.
P.S.Atlanta isn't a secret anymore, and it's time for purpose-powered articles like these to be seen, too. Thanks for sharing this with someone who needs to be reminded that anything's possible. ✨
