Genia is an Atlanta native who enjoys reading and spending time with family and friends. She came to Canopy Atlanta as a former Community Editorial Board Member and Fellow from the Bankhead edition. She is presently on the community engagement team. Prior to Canopy Atlanta, Genia worked as an operations manager for an insurance company.

As a senior editor, Heather leads the Cost of Living Project and provides editorial direction for the Atlanta Documenters program and Canopy Atlanta’s continued reporting. She’s been in journalism for more than a decade—most recently as senior editor at Atlanta magazine, where she wrote and edited longform features and special packages. Before that, she was a managing editor for seven years, including at a daily newspaper in Alabama. A first-generation college graduate who grew up housing insecure, Heather is interested in policy, affordability, and cyclical inequality. She lives in southwest Atlanta with her cat, Oswald; her dog, Tater Tot; and her husband, Sahil.

Adrian Coleman has been an Oakland City resident for 18 years. She worked in the IT industry for 20 years and is a photographer and videographer who loves capturing sights and sounds of urban communities. She wants to create community media that is participatory, sustainable, and scalable to reflect and preserve the culture of the West End community.

Serena is the Documenters Program Manager at Canopy Atlanta. She has experience leading communications strategies for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and higher education institutions. She has worked as a newspaper reporter/editor, magazine editor, public relations practitioner, and communications director. Currently, she serves as a communications adjunct professor at Edward Waters University. Serena is the recipient of the 2016 Southern Regional Press Institute’s Louis R. Lautier Award for Communications Career Achievement.

Floyd is a Canopy Atlanta cofounder, media strategist, cultural producer, writer, and documentarian from Atlanta. He has worked across the media spectrum and has produced hundreds of podcast episodes covering art and culture, including projects for WABE, the High Museum, Flux Projects, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and WonderRoot.

Ann is a Jamaican-born, Ghana-raised, Southern Black-reared woman writer who currently lives in Atlanta. In 2017, she began writing for The Atlanta Voice. In 2019 and 2021, she was the licensee and producer of TEDx Collier Heights, which engaged residents from the Bankhead corridor. Ann has written on Bankhead history and is also, currently, working with former residents of Bowen Homes.

Mariann is a Canopy Atlanta cofounder. She is an award-winning journalist who began her career at Gannett and the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a reporter, writing about criminal justice, government, politics and healthcare. More recently, she has worked as a freelance writer and a coordinator for a nonprofit, managing community engagement, projects, and operations.

Angelina is passionate about convening writing, law, and education to further human rights and sustainability. Reared along the corridors of Buford Highway, Angelina joined Canopy to amplify the concerns and hopes of her diverse community members through journalism. She taught English to immigrants and refugees for over five years before obtaining her Master’s in Education Policy. The humbling privilege of listening to survivors’ narratives across the world solidified her commitment to human rights and storytelling as truth to power. She is a mother and a first generation student at Georgia State Law school. Her activism and writing have been featured on Canopy, NPR, the LA Times, the Earth Institute, and the International House of New York.

Kamille D. Whittaker is a co-founder of Canopy Atlanta and an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Digital Media at Clark Atlanta University. She most recently served as managing editor of Atlanta Magazine. Her tenure in community journalism is rooted in the Black Press—from Black Voice News newspaper in her hometown of Riverside, California, to Liberator Magazine, Atlanta Tribune, and Atlanta Daily World.

Ada is an Atlanta-based, award-winning journalist with published stories at Canopy Atlanta, CNN, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Public Broadcasting. She began working with CA doing freelance community engagement by listening to local communities before joining full-time to help with various levels of production across stories, website, social media and the newsletters, Canopy Atlanta Voices and For the Record. She will be assisting in revisiting communities after an issue has been published to do continued reporting based on resident needs. She values journalism that prioritizes authenticity and intentionality.

Brent is a West End resident for nearly 20 years and the managing editor/publisher of the Our West End Newsletter (OWEN) since 2006. He also participated in CA’s inaugural Fellow cohort in West End. In curating the bimonthly OWEN publication, he has read, edited, and written hundreds of stories showcasing the neighborhood’s strengths. As a Canopy West End Fellow, he received training and mentorship and copublished a longform story about the West End Mall.

Amy Cox is an executive consultant to newsrooms and a lecturer of communication at Kennesaw State University. She is the author of “Press Ahead: A practical guide to finding journalism jobs and navigating newsrooms.” Previously, for almost 20 years she worked at CNN, where she led teams on new and emerging digital products/platforms and also guided digital editorial coverage of world news, U.S. elections, and other large-scale projects.

Mindy (she/her/hers) is an Asian American Georgia native passionate about driving social impact, building community, and advancing racial equity so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential and a sense of belonging. Mindy works as an independent consultant and project manager at the intersection of equity, community, and institutions in the Metro Atlanta region. She currently resides in Adair Park with her husband, dog, and cat.

Karyn is a Chief Inclusion Officer and a civic technologist, working in both fields to empower a more inclusive and equitable experience for everyone. Previously, she led digital efforts for ChooseATL, and was the user experience lead for iReport, CNN’s citizen journalism initiative.

Clare S. Richie is a public policy specialist and freelance writer. For more than two decades she has researched and analyzed policy and budget issues for HouseATL, Community Wealth Partners, Enterprise Community Partners, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, Achieve Atlanta, and more. For more than a decade, she worked as a regular paid contributor for Atlanta Intown covering nonprofits, local businesses, local government, and other hyperlocal features. Several stories ran in Rough Draft Atlanta and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Clare has a BA in mathematical economics from Brown University and an MPA from Georgia State University. She has lived in Atlanta since 1993, where she and her husband raised their twins.

Sheena Roetman-Wynn, Lakota, is the education manager for the Indigenous Journalists Association.

Previously, Roetman-Wynn spent six years as director of membership and programs at the Atlanta Press Club, where she also ran APC’s annual internship program and assisted in producing debates for local, state and federal races in partnership with Georgia Public Broadcasting and Public Broadcasting Atlanta. She has also spent more than 15 years as a freelance journalist, editor and researcher.

Roetman-Wynn holds a degree in Journalism with a research specialty in American Indian Media from Georgia State University. She is currently based outside Atlanta, Ga. where she enjoys cooking, gardening, yoga and hiking with her husband and their wiener dog.

Charles Stephens is the founder and executive director of the Counter Narrative Project. He is an alum of the Regional Leadership Institute, the Arts Leaders of Metropolitan Atlanta, and the Rockwood Leadership Institute. Charles has written for publications such as Nonprofit Quarterly, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Voice, Atlanta Magazine, and the Advocate. His current board or advisory board service includes: Actor’s Express and the Center for HIV Law and Policy. His past advisory board service includes: the Alliance Theatre, Historic Atlanta, and the Atlanta Public Schools LGBTQIA Task Force. Past awards and recognitions include: the VOX ATL Hall of Fame, the Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, and Out Georgia’s 100 Most Influential LGBTQ+ Georgians. Charles holds a BA from Georgia State University.

Nichole James Vickers is a Birmingham, Alabama native. She graduated from Spelman College in 1994 with a degree in psychology and received her Juris Doctor in 2005 from Florida Coastal School of Law, where she was a member of the American-Caribbean Law Initiative and Coastal Association of Public Interest Law. She also participated with AmeriCorps VISTA where she served at Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. Nichole currently practices as a senior attorney at Johnson & Freeman, LLC in the firm’s business representation, government, and estate planning practice areas. Prior to joining Johnson & Freeman, Nichole was in private practice and represented clients in a variety of matters including real estate transactions, consumer bankruptcy, business advisory, and personal injury.