Saturday, March 23, 2024
You're invited to our Be the Inspiration Gala, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Join us for an inspiring and exciting evening with all proceeds supporting year-round leadership development and career exploration programs for high school students across the state, while also providing $11,000 in scholarships to the 21 students recognized with the Georgia Youth Leadership Award
Saturday, March 23, 2024 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 2024 gala, which raised over $215,000 in support of our year-round youth leadership development programs, which come at little to no cost to students.
Thank You to our 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.
Congratulations to the 2024 Georgia Youth Leadership Award Winners
- Jordan Adeyemi, Phillips Exeter Academy, Gwinnett County
- Aditi Ashok, South Forsyth High School, Forsyth County
- Prateek Doddla, Chattahoochee High School, Fulton County
- Shiv Garg, Innovation Academy, Fulton County
- Joshua Girgis, Montessori School of Rome, Floyd County
- Melanie Harper, Marist School, Fulton County
- Christian Hooks, Grayson High School, Gwinnett County
- Humza Iqbal, Parkview High School, Gwinnett County
- Diana Jachman, Midtown High School, Fulton County
- Hannah-Lisa Jones, Johnson Ferry Christian Academy, Fulton County
- Anshuman (AK) Khadanga, Lakeside High School (Evans), Columbia County
- Hannah Lang, Georgia Cyber Academy, Walton County
- Akanksha Manna, Campbell High School, Cobb County
- Maya Matthews, Westlake High School, Fulton County
- Olaoluwa Oguneye, Decatur High School, DeKalb County
- Abigail Rong, Denmark High School, Forsyth County
- Dhahami Salgado, Emanuel County Institute, Emanuel County
- Rhea Shah, Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science & Technology, Gwinnett County
- Ishita Sukul, Johns Creek High School, Fulton County
- Zarina Wang, Lambert High School, Forsyth County
- Ivy Yang, Alpharetta High School, Fulton County
2024 Digital Program
Check out the event program where you can read the bios of our 21 student Georgia Youth Leadership Awardees, see our alumni and student vendor spotlights, and take a look at the inspiring supporters and program impact of 21st Century Leaders.
Meet the Coaches & Selection Committee
Thank you to our 22-member Selection Committee and 21 volunteer coaches for supporting the 2024 student awardees with recognition and guidance.
2024 GYLA Coaches
Sam Aguilar, Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America*
Monique Bell, Bobby Dodd Institute*
Maranie Brown, BlackRock, 21CL Board of Directors*
Greg Clay, City of Atlanta, 21CL Alumnus*
Whitney Deal Marshall, Whitney Marshall Coaching*
Alex Ebanks, Essence
Chandra Farley, City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience*
David Felfoldi, SHERPA Global*
Marty Fleischmann, All Electric Racing Organization (AERO), 21CL Board of Directors*
TreVorski Garrett, Cox
Taylor Green, IBM, 21CL Alumna
JP James, Libreum International, 21CL Board of Directors
Kelly Lee, Atlanta DREAM*
Clarke LeGrand, Cobb Medical Center (Wellstar)
Brandon Morgan, Iconic Orthodontics, 21CL Alumnus*
Christian Murphy, Wellspring Living*
Michael Quigley, QVH Media*
Taunia Nkromo-Stevenson, Warner Bros. Discovery
Angela Williams, AMBSE*
Thurman Williams, Community Volunteer, Coca-Cola Alumni*
Anqi Zou, Truist, 21CL Board of Directors*
*Coaches who also served on the Selection Committee
Georgia Youth Leadership Awards Selection Committee
All nominations were reviewed by our 22-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 Arjun Chowdri, Hagerty, 21CL Board of Directors; Cam Henson, Citibank, 21CL Alumni Board; Asher Jones, MarketSource, 21CL Alumni Board; Felicia McDade, Engie; Patrick Solomon, The Collective 180, 21CL Advisory Council; Kristopher Williams, Warner Bros. Discovery; and Raveena Ali, 21CL member, Youth Ambassador and 2023 GYLA Student Recipient.