Destiny Cook

In late 2019, young Leon Ondieki made a 15-second parody fitness skit on TikTok that changed the trajectory of his life forever. Just Ondieki and his friends fooling around in the gym before class catapulted his influencer career into the limelight. Within two weeks of posting, the video he aimlessly created brought 100,000 followers to his page. “I woke up the next weekend, and the video was like 5 million views,” Ondieki said. “This is so crazy. I was honestly in disbelief.” He was on to something.

Responding to the physical, emotional and economic challenges that communities of color have faced during the last two years, an innovative project that combines the arts and social activism with transportation is set to roll through MARTA beginning in late August or early September and continuing through November.

Camaran Burke has been in the restaurant industry for decades and witnessed firsthand the devastating effects the pandemic had on food and beverage businesses, especially those owned by minorities and women. While working with a bar owned by white and minority partners, he noticed how easy that business was able to obtain a government loan to keep their business afloat.