Atlantan William Shaheen with Sugar
Location: Atlanta Humane Society
Date taken: December 26, 2012
The numbers speak for themselves: 87 staff members, 800 volunteers, 7,500 adoptions a year. The Atlanta Humane Society is caring for Atlanta’s cats and dogs every day, and providing leadership to the organization’s dedicated staff and volunteers is William Shaheen, who served on the Society’s board for 12 years before becoming its president in 2011.
“Initially, when I was offered the position, I viewed it as life’s second half transition,” said Shaheen, who worked in industrial real estate before becoming the Society’s president. “But I love this organization, and I wanted to do something meaningful with my life. This is a mission-driven organization. You can see the good being done on a daily basis, whether it’s the rescue of an animal from a bad situation or a family walking out the door with a new pet.”
In the past year, the Atlanta Humane Society has made quite a few changes, including opening a new facility in Alpharetta, extending the low-cost neuter program to five days a week and getting rid of the cages in the puppy room.
“There are a lot of great non-profits in this city that serve people, but for some reason, maybe because they can’t speak for themselves, I feel drawn to take care of animals,” said William. “I want to be an advocate for their welfare.”
Williams’ first childhood pet was a Saint Bernard. As an adult, he fell in love with Rottweilers and has always owned at least one, including the three he has now – Hannah, Cane and Lilly. William’s friends often tell stories about his love of animals, including the fact that at social gatherings they are most likely to find William off somewhere playing with the host’s pets.
“There’s a lot of joy in owning a pet,” said William. “You can have a rough day and your dog is still glad to see you. The stress of the day melts away when you play with a pet. For me, my greatest clarity comes when I go run with my dogs. Without them, the clarity isn’t there. There is something about the connection you have with a pet that goes beyond words.”
Learn about the resources and services offered by the Atlanta Humane Society at www.atlantahumane.org.
Atlantans Hugh Malkin and Adam Wilson
Location: Tribute Lofts
Date taken: November 11, 2012
When Hugh Malkin moved back to his hometown of Atlanta in 2010, his job with Philips had him working with the Atlanta BeltLine, figuring out how to light its trails and rails. Soon, Hugh started noticing all sorts of events popping up along the BeltLine – events that were spreading simply by word of mouth. Nicknamed “Huge” and the social coordinator among his friends since high school, Hugh saw an opportunity and contacted his long-time friend Adam Wilson.
“Hugh had gotten back in town and was interested in creating some sort of social event site for Atlanta,” said Adam. “He messaged me to see if I knew someone that he could talk to about building a website. I said, ‘You can talk to me.’ We went out for a drink, saw the Social Network and decided to start something. ”
Hugh and Adam have known each other since childhood – their families hung out together and the two Roswell natives became good friends when they were self-described “band nerds” at Roswell High School. With Hugh’s passion for Atlanta events, places and happenings and Adam’s knowledge of software, the two Georgia Tech grads created HUGEcity.us in January 2012 to help connect people with events in Atlanta.
The site, which utilizes Facebook’s public events to create calendar listings, has become one of the most popular places to find out what is happening in Atlanta and in cities around the world. Thousands of people are logging onto the site each day. Atlanta, where HUGE city started, is the only city (for now) with its own e-mail – events hand-picked by Hugh.
“This city has so much to offer, and most people don’t know about it,” said Hugh, who was born in Houston but moved to Atlanta as a child. “Atlanta might not have the best of anything, but we have a little of everything. HUGE city provides people with the opportunity to find out about events, celebrate where they live and share their experiences.”
Next up for HUGE city – creating a mobile app. Adam, a third generation Atlantan, works full-time for HUGE city and is focused on getting the app up and going sometime early next year.
“Imagine sitting at Dark Horse Tavern in the Virginia-Highlands and wanting to find out about events nearby. How do you find out? Facebook has all the events, but no discovery mechanism,” said Hugh. “An app will allow people to pull up all that information up on their phones easily. With all that is happening with technology, it’s exciting – the connections that are being made. Exciting things are happening to connect people.”
Check out HUGEcity.us to learn about events in your city or go to Facebook and connect with the HUGE city app. Atlantans can subscribe to a weekly events e-mail created each week by Hugh Malkin.
Atlantans Jesse Vogel and Jordan Shorthouse
Location: East Atlanta Village
Date taken: November 10, 2012
The smell of t-shirts burning in the oven reminds Jesse Vogel and Jordan Shorthouse of their first attempt at silk screening. On a Saturday afternoon three years ago, the two friends and co-workers spent four hours in Jesse’s kitchen printing their design on 12 t-shirts. It was a slow beginning, but it was definitely the start of something.
Jesse and Jordan, founders of Rep Your Hood, worked together at Turner Broadcasting for several years before going into business together. Although they are assigned to different departments, through their work on graphics for Turner Sports they find themselves collaborating on projects almost every day.
In 2010, when Jesse got a silk screening kit and started brainstorming ideas for t-shirts, he ran the idea by Jordan. Jordan took Jesse’s photos of Atlanta street corners and created Rep Your Hood’s large design. Or, as Jesse says, “Jordan took my idea and made it dope.” Rep Your Hood’s first shirt featured a street corner in East Atlanta Village – Jesse’s neighborhood at the time. And, at the 2011 East Atlanta Strut, Rep Your Hood sold 50 of their newly designed shirts.
“It’s because of the East Atlanta neighborhood that we got started,” said Jesse, a native of Boston, who moved to Atlanta in 1997. “There is so much pride in this community. Even though I don’t live here anymore, this is still my favorite part of town. I even wrote a song for my brass band about East Atlanta – ‘Flat Shoals Rider.’”
Rep Your Hood now sells 12 designs, representing 10 Atlanta neighborhoods. Grant Park, where Jordan grew up and currently lives, is featured on two designs – one with Zoo Atlanta’s most famous resident, Willie B. At local festivals where they set up Rep Your Hood tents, Jesse and Jordan enjoy talking to fellow Atlantans who often start reminiscing about the Atlanta neighborhoods they love and have lived in.
“The minute this starts feeling like work, we won’t do it anymore,” said Jordan. “But I love working with Jesse, love doing this every day and it’s great to be able to meet people who are excited about the neighborhoods where they live.”
Rep Your Hood features t-shirts and prints of Atlanta neighborhoods. You can purchase online through the company’s website or look for their tent at local Atlanta festivals.
Atlantan Barry Clement
Location: Stone Summit
Date taken: November 5, 2012
Barry Clement’s family tells him they would like to see a few nice pictures from his trips, but the less they know the better. Barry, a Decatur native and resident, has been rock climbing for more than a decade, and the sport has taken him to some breathtaking and precarious places.
“I remember one trip to climb a route named Remember Appomattox when I became dehydrated and had low blood sugar … and then a storm came in,” said Barry. “With the steepness of the cliff, the only way out was up. We slept on the side of the cliff wall, rationed out our food and waited out the storm and eventually moved out. For a while there, it seemed like the world was bearing down on me.”
Barry got his first taste of rock climbing at age 14 at a summer camp. Later, he received training from the National Outdoor Leadership School to become a adventure ropes course instructor and started leading climbing activities. By the time he got to Georgia Tech for college, Barry was hooked on the sport. During every school break and most weekends, he and a group of friends would head off on climbing trips.
“There’s a sense of accomplishment with climbing and an adrenaline rush,” said Barry, who majored in industrial design. “It’s a certain amount of scariness and excitement at the same time. And, it’s addictive because when you start, you can see yourself progressing in the sport really quickly.”
For the past two years, Barry has served as general manager of Unique Outfitters, a specialty sporting goods store located in the country’s largest indoor climbing gym – Stone Summit. With several new climbing gyms in Atlanta and some of the country’s best natural climbing located just two hours away in the Lower Appalachians, Barry says the climbing community in Atlanta has exploded in the past five years.
Unique Outfitters seeks to outfit Atlanta climbers with the needed gear and apparel. The store’s employees are all expert climbers like Barry, who has traveled all over the world climbing – from Hidalgo, Mexico to Fontainebleau, France.
“The longer I have been climbing, the more I’m drawn toward the aesthetics of the sport,” said Barry. “Now, I’m looking to climb something aesthetically pleasing to me. Imagine looking an Ansel Adams photo and thinking ‘I want to be a part of that.’ That’s what I think when I go climb. I want to be a part of it.”
Unique Outfitters is an online and retail location, located in Stone Summit. The store features more than 60 pairs of climbing shoes, extreme hammocks, hangboards and other items for climbers. Side note: Barry is also a co-inventor and co-founder of Superhooper, lighted hulu hoops.
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