Mariam Janad

My degree originally is in journalism, which I love because of the community engagement aspect of it. I love being around people and being able to tell the stories of my community. But journalism just wasn't really the way that I wanted to do it. I ended up in education and just really fell in love with the community of our school, uplifting our students, and giving them working and learning opportunities beyond what's available in public education. My growth at the cafe started because I'm a writer, and we don't really have much of a central space for writers in metro Atlanta - you kind of have to go into the city for a lot of those scenes. So I wanted to start an open mic closer to home. The cafe was the venue that liked our idea and was really supportive of it. We've been doing open mics with them since May, and we've welcomed hundreds of attendees and tons of performers. We've expanded to host workshops and author signings. It's been really exciting watching that grow. Community planning and engagement on a creative level is really where I'm meant to be. In the last month, we've launched a lot of new events, including a Women in Business Networking group for Cherokee County, remote workers groups, live music events, and book signings. We've really expanded what people see as part of Cherokee County. Now we have people come up to us and say they had no idea that people like them existed in this space - that there were fellow creatives and writers and artists and small business owners they could relate to and connect with. Just hearing their stories one-on-one feels like a huge achievement for me, knowing that has caused a positive change in someone's life.