ATLANTA, GEORGIA:

For NBA veteran Malcolm Brogdon and artist Olu, Atlanta wasn’t just home — it was a blueprint for possibility.

“Being from Atlanta has always been like the seed,” Olu explains. “It was planted in my mind at birth — you can be anything you want to be. But not only be anything you want to be, but you could create, own, run, leave a legacy. Because that was everywhere around us.”

Both grew up surrounded by Black excellence — family members committed to their communities, schools named after trailblazers, and a city where success in business, music, and film was built by people who looked like them.

Brogdon saw that influence everywhere. “You grow up in Atlanta, and everybody around you that looks like us is doing well,” he said. “It’s like an inspiration. You not only want to go out and be great, and you have the confidence to be great.”

For them, Atlanta didn’t just shape who they are. It set the bar for who they could become.