CareerReady ATL opens doors for Greater Atlanta youth 

Leah McLaurin’s path to full-time employment was not always straightforward, but now she’s made a career out of helping creative apprentices navigate the workforce too.  

“This is a reminder of the place where I am—I’m self-sufficient. In the beginning, I was not,” remembered Leah.  

Looking back at her journey, Leah can count many partners who helped her along the way. At United Way of Greater Atlanta, we  brings those partners together through CareerReady ATL, a network that offers hands-on assistance and end-to-end guidance to ensure youth in high-need communities have apprenticeship opportunities in high demand career pathways that provide a path to economic stability.  

To go to college or not? 

Leah always saw herself working in an arts-related field, even as a high schooler, but she didn’t think college was a part of her journey at first, and faced setbacks on getting accepted. 

Having grown up in the foster care system, Leah is an example of the thousands of students in Greater Atlanta who may be left out of traditional college-to-career pipelines. 

“Youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood face barriers even beyond what most first-generation students experience, because they lack the family support,” explained Monica Pantojo, the Executive Director of nsoro Educational Foundation, one of our CareerReady ATL partners.   

Nsoro provides access, exposure, and financial aid, and wraparound support to help youth like Leah make that transition to financial independence, even when the deck seems stacked against their success. They encouraged Leah when she was finally accepted to Savannah College of Arts and Design and gave her a leg up as she pursued a pathway of study that she had doubted at first was for her.  

“It was hard to truly decide what my next step would be in general…I was lucky to get that opportunity, and I just never looked back,” Leah said. She was able to build her portfolio and graduated with a degree in illustration. 

An apprenticeship opens the door 

With a college degree in hand and creative passions intact, a job out of school should be an intuitive next step.  

For months after graduation though, Leah applied to dozens of jobs and often heard nothing back. Some asked for multiple years of experience, even in an entry-level role. Others seemed to only hire based on referrals and networking to get a foot in the door. 

“A lot of us are ready for the workforce, we just don’t know how to get in the door. We come with skills—of course we will need more training on those jobs and more training in those aspects—but the workforce readiness is there. The excitement to work is there. It just comes with the door being opened.” 

Leah’s foot-in-the-door opportunity actually came at United Way’s office. CareerReady ATL’s partner network meets regularly to learn from each other and give youth opportunities to share their experiences.  

At one meeting, staff members at RE:IMAGINE heard Leah’s story about her experience with nsoro in college. They immediately knew she would fit right in at their creative media company.  

Leah applied to their apprenticeship program and was accepted soon after in July. 

“We try to find young creatives, especially those at the beginning of their career who may have been interested in film, television, or something in the creative media industry, but haven’t had access to learn much at all,” said Emily Kuester, Director of Programs at RE:IMAGINE.  

RE:IMAGINE connects creative companies in Greater Atlanta to a talent pool of apprentices, who take part in a program that offers training in career skills, resume coaching, financial wellness as well as opportunities to work directly with a client company in a paid role. The goal is that they walk away with employment or access to employment, and a sense of community. Thanks in part to support from United Way of Greater Atlanta, the number of youth impacted by RE:IMAGINE in 2025 in just the first two months of the year has already surpassed the total number for 2024. 

Finding a full-time career 

While Leah found fulfillment creatively by designing caricatures and illustrations featured on RE:IMAGINE’s website, she expanded her work scope, taking on more administrative and communication roles with their programming. 

“I love the positivity here, and I feel like that’s the strength I came with already. Also, creativity plays a part,” she said. “In spaces like here where we’re all creative, we’re just feeding off of each other’s energy,” 

Her work ethic and positivity impressed Emily, who immediately thought of Leah when a full-time job opportunity opened on her team at RE:IMAGINE later in the year.  

As the Workforce Development Coordinator, Leah now helps young creative apprentices navigate their own career journeys. She works with the apprentices as they graduate RE:IMAGINE’s training program and enter full-time employment, addressing any needs they have outside work like housing and transportation. She handles communication with partners and does outreach to high schools through educational programs like the DeKalb Film Festival. And, of course, she continues illustrating as much as possible. 

Her advice to Atlanta companies? Seek out opportunities to tap into the strengths of young people by offering apprentice programs.  

“It’s just about getting that foot in the door. If you’re able to provide that opportunity for someone like me, then that would be grand for us,” said Leah. “It takes us from not having an apartment sometimes to then having an apartment on our own. It takes us from not being able to afford food to being able to always have a fridge full of things.” 

Youth like Leah have big dreams of reaching economic mobility, and CareerReady ATL apprenticeships act as the bridge to gainful employment, making that possible. At United Way of Greater Atlanta, we’re committed to introducing 4,000 youth apprenticeship opportunities through our partners before 2027. You can support this effort by donating today.