Mejia poses with Georgia State mascot Pounce on her graduation day.
At just 22 years old, Jady Mejia is making waves as a rising leader in her community. In December 2024, she completed her B.B.A. in finance from Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business. She is the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college. Within the same month, she received the 35 Under 35 award from Gwinnett Young Professionals, an initiative established by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. Mejia was selected from more than 140 nominees.
Mejia was in her 17-year-old mother’s womb when she relocated from Pereira, a small town in Colombia, to Queens, New York.
“The odds were stacked against me,” she said, adding that her father struggled with addiction. When she was 14, Mejia moved with her mother, stepfather, and younger brother to Duluth, Georgia, to pursue brighter opportunities.
“In New York, I was in survival mode,” Mejia said. “In Georgia, I experienced this thing called Southern hospitality. People were kind. It was like stepping into a completely different world.”
Mejia spent a couple years at the University of North Georgia before transferring to Robinson in summer 2022. She chose to major in finance to secure a good job and to address a gap she noticed throughout her childhood: a lack of accessible financial education for Latino communities.
“Latinos in the U.S. are an incredible economic force, but we’re often held back because we don’t have the financial knowledge we need,” Mejia said.
From 2022-2023, Mejia served as founding chairwoman of Future Youth Real Estate (FYRE) Lab, a project launched by brokerage firm RudHil Companies. Before ceasing operations in 2023, the nonprofit provided personal finance resources and basic real estate market education to Hispanic high school students. Mejia also led credit-building information sessions at a university in South Carolina.
“Many Latinos are scared of credit, but if you navigate it correctly, it can be a powerful tool,” Mejia said.
Mejia poses with her stepfather, mother, and younger brother on her graduation day. She is the first member of her immediate family to graduate from college.
Because of the obstacles she encountered growing up, Mejia sees the tough love she received at Robinson as a good thing—particularly in Marta White’s strategic management course.
“Dr. White's class was tough. We split into groups and ran competing shoe companies. We had to figure out how to work as a team,” Mejia said. “That class came when I was going through a personal difficulty, but it taught me to focus on what's in front of me and get things done.”
Mejia sees law school or a master’s degree in business as a logical next step.
“No dream is too big. Whatever you set your mind to is achievable,” she said.