Meet Tameka Pettis | CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tameka Pettis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tameka, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Our nonprofit organization was founded by my daughter who was a young heart transplant recipient herself. Within her life, she encountered many hospital visits for which she witnessed favoritism being given to the cancer patients.. She felt that someone, like herself, whom had undergone a heart transplant deserved reward for sure. She mentioned to me that she was interested in starting a business that would cater to the heart transplant community. My daughter never allowed her condition to hold her back from living her dreams and began college to become a radio personality. I was afraid to start this business mainly because I knew nothing about nonprofits previously and at the time, I wasn’t sure that I could operate the business while at the same time working for the state of Georgia. In 2013, I did receive an approval our HR department, however we also received bad news about my daughter’s donor heart. I turned my focus to her health and forgot all about he nonprofit that she wanted to start. When my daughter passed, it ignited a fire in me that I can never put out and today, 6 years later, I operate a successful nonprofit that has partnered with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Feed the Heart Program and are currently providing a scholarship to a heart transplant recipient who is working towards her Doctorial degree. The success of our brand is our deep concern for the heart transplant community.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Believe it or not, I am also a state employee and have been for 23 years now. I completed 22 years with the GA Dept. of Revenue and am now with the GA Dept. of Defense. When I began my career at DOR, I was a student in college and a single=parent. I earned a graduate degree (MBA) with specializations in accounting and had originally planned to pursue a career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). The business lessons learned throughout my career as a state employee and the education that I earned has afforded me the knowledge to successfully operate a non profit organization. I am a hard-worker who has overcame so many insurmountable odds. It took courage for me to step outside of my comfort zone as a business analyst t0 begin a career as the CEO of a non profit organization.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
To begin, my friends enjoy visiting my boom boom room at my home. It’s equipped with a pool table, a bar, a movie theater and an area for dancing the night away. I am a karaoke dj for fun, so I love to entertain. Throughout the week, I would be certain to take them to my favorite restaurant in Douglasville, GA called Sam and Roscoes. We would also visit different places in Atlanta like Skyview Atlanta, the Georgia Aquarium, Martin Luther King Jr. Center, Piedmont Park, the belt line, and possibly to White Waters if it was the summer time. We would always find a great place for karaoke at night.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
If I could shout out my daughter in person, I certainly would, because she deserves all of the credit for recognizing the need for assistance within the heart transplant community. I would also like to shout out my children, Cameron Adams, and Marcia Pettis who have encouraged me to continue with our mission even on my worse days.

I would also like to shout out our current board members because without them, we would not be a success. These board members show up and show out. Daina Cressman, Taylor Digby, Syreeta Smith, Shandell Taylor, Amanda Proctor, Mary Waldron, Jamie Proctor, Jane Digby, Lisa Hammrick, and Antonio Morrow

Website: www.changinhearts.org

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changinheartsfoundation/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tameka-pettis-mba-0910927b/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/changinhearts

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/changin-hearts-foundation-palmetto?osq=Non+Profit+Organizations

Other: tiktok.com/changinheartsfoundation tiktok.com/tamekasjourney