Because I have the scars and stars of experience—37 years worth!
Arriving in Atlanta in mid-1970, I taught high school English and Mass Media; and filled my after-school hours with volunteer work for non-profit organizations, which I loved more than the classroom. Through my exposure to the Atlanta Community Relations Commission, I met Andrew Young—later Mayor of Atlanta—as well as my mentor, Helen Bullard, PR person for Mayor W.B. Hartsfield, for whom Atlanta’s airport was named. I also worked on Maynard Jackson’s first mayoral campaign, which neither of us ever forgot. Just a few weeks before he died, I called him and he called me back at 6:00on a Friday night!
In addition, I assisted the public affairs director of WSB-TV—then the local NBC affiliate—in researching community-oriented programming, as well as escorting celebrity guests like Daddy King and Hosea Williams to the studio.
My next job was equally enriching—providing experience and contacts in the community arena. For nearly three years in the mid-70’s, I traveled to 35 Atlanta Housing Authority projects and wrote human interest stories about tenants—children, families, and senior citizens—and the social service programs that supported them.
There I met unforgettable human beings like Susie Labord, president of Grady Homes, and Mary Sanford, president of Perry Homes: the former referred to me as her daughter because I was her diligent ride for weekly community events held at night; the latter taught me about her girlhood experiences with the Ku Klux Klan, as I picked her up for 7:00 a.m. interviews on Today in Georgia at WSB-TV. In addition, I became familiar with the streets of Atlanta. To this day, I know how to get off the expressway and find my way from surface streets where many memories are buried.
Marilyn Pearlman
Founder Pearlman Associates
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