Saturday, March 15, 2025
You're invited to our Be the Inspiration Gala
Join us for an inspiring and exciting evening with all proceeds supporting year-round leadership development and career exploration programs for over 2,500 high school students across the state, while also providing $11,000 in scholarships to 21 students recognized with the Georgia Youth Leadership Award
Saturday, March 15, 2025 6:00pm at Savanna Hall at Zoo Atlanta
Event Leadership
Mari Sifo, Host Hotels & Resorts
Chi Nguyen Swallow, Insight Global
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BE INSPIRED
View the recap video of our 2025 gala and hear from our student winners and coaches and how they’re inspired to lead. Last year’s event raised over $250,000 ensuring that all of our year-round youth leadership development programs come at little to no cost to every student.
Thank You to our 2025 Sponsors
Presenting Sponsor
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Entertainment Sponsors
Friends of 21CL Sponsors
You Inspiring Students + Students Inspiring You
There is no age requirement for leadership, which is exactly why we take the time to honor our students demonstrating leadership today. What makes our Be the Inspiration Gala so special is that we select 21 of our students, who have been inspired through our program, to be recognized with the Georgia Youth Leadership Awards (GYLA). All nominations are reviewed each year by our GYLA Selection Committee, comprised of recognized business and community leaders.
Once selected, the student awardees are paired with a Coach, a business professional, to mentor them through the award season where they will help present their award and their monetary scholarship at the Be the Inspiration Gala.
Meet the 2025 Awardees
- Moatapari Agbere, Chattahoochee County High School, from Muscogee County
- Ashley Nelson, Chamblee Charter High School, from DeKalb County
- Michelle Wang, Fulton Science Academy, from Fulton County
- Pranav Yellapragada, Chattahoochee High School, from Fulton County
- Wendell Rogers, Dunwoody High School, from DeKalb County
- Sreepadha Daram, Innovation Academy, from Fulton County
- Hadil Adam, Clarkston High School, from DeKalb County
- Ibraheem Hassan, Lakeside High School (Evans), from Columbia County
- Tessa Hayes, Jefferson County High School, from Jefferson County
- Daniella Taiwo, Lovejoy High School, from Fayette County
- Christopher Boyd, Landmark Christian School, from Clayton County
- Kenia Gonzalez-Chavez, Cedar Shoals High School, from Athens-Clarke County
- Laurin McCoy, Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School, from Richmond County
- Ca’Leia Nelson, Milton High School, from Gwinnett County
- Jace Williams, Westlake High School, from Fulton County
- Ethan Barlay, Rockdale Magnet School, from Rockdale County
- Sheona Diwakar, Campbell High School (Smyrna), from Cobb County
- Micah Newton, Pickens County High School, from Pickens County
- Yasmin Rios, Swainsboro High School, from Emanuel County
- Sauyer Stewart, Arabia Mountain High School, from DeKalb County
- Ronak Vyas, Alpharetta High School, from Fulton County
View the winner announcement press release.
Meet the Coaches & Selection Committee
Thank you to our 27-member Selection Committee and 21 volunteer coaches for supporting the 2025 student awardees with recognition and guidance.
2025 GYLA Coaches
Maranie Brown, BlackRock, 21CL Board of Directors*
Greg Clay, City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office, 21CL Alumni*
Whitney Deal Marshall, Whitney Marshall Coaching*
Naceo Denney, Georgia Power*
Chandra Farley, City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office of Sustainability & Resilience*
David Felfoldi, SHERPA Global*
Marty Fleischmann, The Masters Team Fund*
Tania Garcia, Senior Marketing Executive, 21CL Board of Directors
Brian Goebel, Goizueta Business School, Business & Society Institute, 21CL Board of Directors*
Taylor Green, Amazon Web Services, 21CL Alumni*
Poojan Karnik, Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center
Ashley Lee, The Coca-Cola Company*
DJ Lewis, Technology Consulting Executive
Lanita Lucas, Aflac*
Dr. Brandon Morgan, Iconic Orthodontics, 21CL Alumni*
Taunia Nkromo-Stevenson, Warner Bros. Discovery*
Michael Quigley, QVH Media*
Martha Revelo, DeKalb County
Ed Roche, Cox Enterprises
Assi Van Bastelaar, Spotfire
*Coaches who also served on the Selection Committee
Georgia Youth Leadership Awards Selection Committee
All nominations were reviewed by our 27-member GYLA Selection Committee, comprised of 21CL corporate volunteers, 21CL Board of Directors, and 21CL alumni and student peers. Committee members included the coaches indicated above, along with Curtis Bennett, MarketSource; Erik Bryant, Truist Wealth, 21CL Board of Directors*; Neha Chaparala, Mercer, 21CL Alumni Board; Susannah Darrow, Purpose Possible; Dr. Shaneeta Johnson, Morehouse School of Medicine; Jeff Kupor, Invesco, 21CL Board of Directors; Clarke LeGrande, Wellstar; Jason Wallace, Capital Group, 21CL Board of Directors; Thurman Williams, Community Volunteer, Coca-Cola (retired); Anqi Zou, Truist, 21CL Board of Directors; and Hannah Lang, 21CL Youth Ambassador and 2024 GYLA Student Recipient.