Fort Lauderdale raised you, and you started falling in love with sports at a young age. As a first-generation college student, you found Penn State on your own, interned at 11Alive, reported on the sideline for the Big Ten Network, and won the Rooks Barkley Scholarship. All while still in school. You are Jezenia Marrero.

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You grew up avoiding your natural curly hair, started documenting your journey online, and woke up one day to millions of views on a 60-second video. You took that platform, built it to over 300k followers, graduated summa cum laude from UNC Chapel Hill, cheered for the Hawks, and somewhere in between watched your grandmother use a plant identification app and thought, what if that existed for hair. You built HairMatch, an AI powered app that analyzes your hair type and recommends products, launched it in November 2024, and already have users in over 120 countries. Sephora took notice. Microsoft took notice. You are already at IBM and a children's book is on the way. You did not wait for someone to solve the problem. You just built it. You are Alycea Adams.

Fayetteville raised you and your parents showed you what it looks like to show up every day and still make an impact. You took that to Morehouse, walked straight into Google, and never forgot home. You built The Two-Six Project from the ground up, brought Nike, Dreamville, Bank of America, and the NBPA to the table, and turned a building sitting vacant since 1956 into a innovation hub for the next generation. Forbes, President Clinton, the North Carolina Governor, and the Obama Foundation all took notice. You went back and gave back. You are Grant Bennett Founder of the Two-Six Project.

Atlanta raised you with a real support system and you carried that confidence into the work. You’ve always had the eye. You started with that VHS feel, made it your signature, and it took you from passion projects to celebrities. But you remember the grind too walking the BeltLine in the cold with your resume, getting humbled, still believing. You quit the hotel job and bet on yourself. Now you’re building what you always wanted Forever Almighty Studios. You are Zion.HELLA INSPIRED.

You grow up in Virginia, already carrying a storyteller’s brain even before you know what to call it.

In elementary school you write The Adventures of Tiny Mekhi and it ends up in a citywide contest.

Then the move happens. You leave Virginia for Atlanta for better opportunities, and everything speeds up. New environment, new expectations, new pressure. Atlanta doesn’t let you stay the same it forces you to level up fast.

You’re still creating through it all. "Borrowing" your sister’s Canon Rebel T100, filming skits, learning how to make something out of nothing. No big budget. No perfect setup. Just vision and consistency.

Now you’re a film major, sharpening the craft on purpose. Building your cinematic style in real time studying directors, pulling from their pacing and framing, then breaking rules when the story calls for it.

And then you take it bigger than you. You start YoungCreatorZ, a network for young creators who need community, access, and a real place to grow. You use the campus as the launchpad, turning everyday connections into a creative ecosystem.

You are Mekhi. Founder of YoungCreatorZ.

HELLA INSPIRED.

You grow up in South Memphis, where the days shape you early and you learn how to move with hunger, focus, and resilience. Sports becomes your first language, and when you move to Georgia and step into Wheeler, the adjustment is real, but you embrace it and keep rising. That drive takes you to Shawnee Community College and then to Clark Atlanta, where you help bring home the 2016–2017 SIAC Championship and carry the pressure of being the one your team depends on, learning what leadership really looks like when people are counting on you.

When basketball ends, you don’t lose yourself, you pivot. You build and create, turning that same discipline into a brand, launching what started as OAM and grew into Motivational Art, with your pieces getting seen on names like Pooh Shiesty, Dak Prescott, and Chris Brown. You learn that creativity opens the door, but structure is what keeps it open, and you start balancing the art with the business, the legal side, and the money it takes to grow something real.

Then life makes it deeper. Fatherhood changes the pace, loss changes the perspective, and you learn how to stay present while still letting yourself feel, using every chapter to sharpen your purpose. And through it all, music stays in the background, then steps to the front. From posting in 2015 to dropping Strictly Business in 2020, you step back to evolve your sound and return with momentum, including a video that crosses 1 million views, plus a distribution deal with UnitedMasters to take it to the next level.

You are Tim Sanders, creating through Motivational Art and music.

You grow up in Stockbridge, Georgia, and early on you learn leadership is not about a title. It is about standards. You are paying attention to what most people ignore. Who shows up, who gets overlooked, and what happens when nobody is held accountable. You step into rooms where you are the youngest, but you move like you belong because you do. You do not wait to be chosen. You put the work in and earn trust.

You take that mindset to Clark Atlanta, where campus leadership teaches you how to navigate people, pressure, and real decisions. Then you scale it through the NAACP, learning how to recruit the right team, activate communities, and keep momentum when the noise gets loud.

And eventually, you look at your city and think, this is not the standard. So you run. Not for attention, but out of responsibility. You win, and you make history as the youngest Black mayor in Georgia history, but you do not get caught up in the moment because you are already focused on what is next. Strengthening economic development, creating real opportunity for the next generation, and proving that Gen Z leadership can be unapologetic and effective.

You are Jayden Williams. Mayor of Stockbridge, Georgia.