12/17/2025
A 2025 download ⬇️ from GJC Principal Consultant Ashlei Williams...
I’ve been reflecting on how the best stories unfold slowly – through moments, meetings, and momentum. In the summer of 2024, I crafted these words for a proposal:
"From Jordans in Foot Locker to greek apparel in The Burning Sands, Mall West End holds memories for two women who walk in Harriet and Sophia’s legacy of 'a choice to change the world.'
Deven Trowers and Ashlei Williams met in the pews of Sisters Chapel in 2006 at their Spelman College freshman orientation. Ten years later, in 2016, a series of choices led Deven and Ashlei back together as leaders in marketing and communications. For eight years, together, the Spelmanites have marketed 100+ minority-owned companies, earned 200+ diversity-driven media placements, and built 30+ Black-owned brands.
As alumnae, they have witnessed firsthand the West End’s revitalization from the vacant Sears parking lot being converted to Sky Lofts to blighted foliage being transformed to a YMCA. There are new residents looking for an urban lifestyle. While, still, historic houses are being rehabbed and renovated by residents that made the neighborhood a cultural epicenter.
Our heart is in multicultural marketing. Our coming-of-age is in the corridors of Mall West End. Our legacy is in the Historic West End neighborhood. We are equipped to tell this story because we are part of this story."
BRP Companies and The Prusik Group believed that and as a result Atlanta met One West End ATL this year!
We're still in the backstory. But being chosen to consult as Project Strategist for this work has already been life-changing. Gratitude is endless as the work continues, DT Communications! ❤️🖤
