Lily Pabian - Hispanic / Immigrant Owned Businesses in Brookhaven

Description

Join us for an informative luncheon about Hispanic / Immigrant Owned Businesses in Brookhaven.  

    
Lily Pabian joined We Love Buford Highway in 2019 as the agency's executive director, bringing her over 30 years of experiences within B2B, B2C, consultancy, and nonprofit industries. "Collaboration, connection, and communication are my optics for momentum," says Pabian. "And fostering relationships is at the core of how we will continue to deliver our mission. I look forward to building many within this community."

When asked why she loves the Buford Highway corridor, her answer is grassroots, "because it was our family's first home." Pabian was a resident in an apartment complex right off the highway. "Buford Highway was my family's first home in Atlanta. It's where I learned to speak English and where I had my first taste of foods and knowledge of other cultures,' says Pabian. "As a 6-year-old Chinese American kindergartner in the late '70s, all I wanted was to blend in, to do the impossible. Friendships that I made with other first-generation immigrants were special times, where I found solace, laughter, and simply to feel like a kid."

Buford Highway remains a mainstay for Pabian and her family. "I've lived all over Atlanta, but my roots are here. I get a visceral sense of belonging everywhere I patron. Buford Highway is thriving and constantly changing. People need to know about it, and I have a strong sense to both protect it and educate about how unique, vibrant, and special this place truly is."

An Atlanta native, wife, and mother of three young adults, Pabian served as a member of Fulton County's School Governance Council and was a recipient of GADOE's Parent Leadership Award. In 2021 and 2022, Pabian was recognized as Georgia Asian Times' 25 Most Influential Asian Americans, an honoree for the Atlanta Business Chronicle's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award, and most recently, recognized as ABC's Power 100, Atlanta's Most Influential Advocates. Pabian is a graduate of Georgia State University where she studied journalism and cultural anthropology.