Shanti Das
As a former music executive and native Atlantan...
I absolutely love the history of this town! Being a young African American girl and growing up in the S.W.A.T.S. (Southwest ATLANTA), it was surreal to see so many professional people that looked like me: lawyers, politicians such as...
... former Mayor Maynard Jackson, Ambassador & former Mayor Andrew Young, former Mayor Shirley Franklin, etc, doctors, dentists (Dr. Samuel Gulley), and educators like Dr. Shirley Kilgore or Shirley Cathcart.
Or attending Benjamin E. Mays high school, which was named after Dr. Mays, a Baptist minister, civil rights leader and former President of Morehouse college. You see I never thought that I couldn’t make it, because we had SO many positive role models that genuinely cared...
about the well being and success of the next generations!
The other thing I LOVE about ATLANTA is the food! Southern cuisine or “soul food” as I call it is one of the staples of this community. Whether it was a Chef Mama Das (my mom) throwing down with the collard greens, turnip greens and fried chicken or the best restaurants like...
Miss Ida’s or Paschal’s. And now even though we have some amazing spots that are more vegan and plant based friendly like Local Greens, soul food cooked by our parents and grandparents will forever be one of the heartbeats of this city!
My cousin still has Sunday dinner and her baked chicken and potato salad are unmatched.