On Saturday Sept. 20, more than hundreds of people filled the ballroom of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis for the 2025 ISB Gala, a night devoted to faith, friendship and the bridges that hold Atlanta together. The event, hosted by ISB (Islamic Speakers Bureau) of Atlanta reflected nearly a quarter century of work bringing people of different religions, races and backgrounds into conversation.
“Tonight is about connection. It’s about joy. It’s about honoring the power of leadership in our city,” said emcee Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, Principal and Founder of SCC Advisors. “ISB Atlanta has spent more than two decades nurturing leaders, building bridges, and ensuring that belonging isn’t just a word, but our actual lived experience.”
Mayor Andre Dickens, in a recorded message, praised ISB as a vital partner. “For years, ISB Atlanta has partnered with the mayor’s office to host the Eid and Ramadan celebration at City Hall,” he said. “Events that reflect our city’s commitment to diversity and inclusion… Thank you for your partnership and for the incredible impact you make in our community.”
The evening honored Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, with ISB’s Distinguished Leadership Award. “Receiving this honor from this organization whose work I admire so greatly fills me with incredible pride and really profound sense of responsibility,” Womack said. “You have built bridges, real bridges, transformative bridges. You connect people who otherwise might not have been connected or have never crossed paths… In a world that often feels divided, your example reminds us of the power of community, the power of compassion and the power of collaboration.”
He reflected on what it takes to sustain that work. “To build a bridge requires direction — requires the path from one place to another,” he said. “We have to know and understand the conditions on both sides of the bridge… As we become more proximate, as we become closer to each other, we get to know each other just a little better — our life expectations, our beliefs, our foundations, but also our frustrations. Yes, all of us here tonight, we must continue to build bridges.”
That message has guided ISB since its founding. The organization began in August 2001, weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, when Soumaya Khalifa and a group of Muslim professionals launched the first Islamic Speakers Bureau in Georgia. “We created this organization… and 9/11 hit us,” she recalled. “We had conversations with the board — what do we do? The decision was made, no, let’s go ahead and move forward with what we have planned… It was a tough time… but we wanted to share our stories with our fellow Atlantans.”
Khalifa said ISB has always been “for Atlanta.” “We focus on Metro Atlanta — and that’s really important for us because we call Atlanta home,” she said. “We are part and parcel… the Muslim community is part and parcel of this city.” She described the group’s mission as “the external relations department for the Muslim community,” adding, “It’s about starting relationships, strengthening relationships and continuing in relationships.”
That mission was visible throughout the gala, not just in words but in presence. Leaders from government, businesses, schools and houses of worship shared tables, and students from the “Piece by Piece” interfaith program offered prayers in both the Bible and the Quran. “Dialogue doesn’t erase differences,” one student said. “It deepens respect.”
Khalifa told the audience, “At ISB, we see ourselves as we are in the people business. It’s about getting to know people, connecting, building bridges of understanding, preparing new generations of leaders to be better leaders, to impact right here in Atlanta and hopefully the world.”
Day to day, ISB provides public speaking training for Muslim and interfaith community members, leads corporate and school diversity workshops, facilitates interfaith panels and community dialogues and runs service projects like the summer lunch program in Fayette County that feeds thousands of children each year. Its Leadership Institute develops civic and faith leaders from across metro Atlanta who bring those bridge-building skills back to their workplaces and communities. ISB also hosts cultural competency sessions for police departments and hospitals, mentors high school and college students through youth programs and coordinates interfaith outreach during Ramadan and Eid to strengthen ties across the city.
“Individuals have to be very intentional about building relationships,” Khalifa said. “Showing up and doing what we say we do, creating an environment of trust, creating an environment we’re in this all together.”
Manaal Ali, ISB’s new associate director, said joining the organization has already shown her the depth of its impact. “It’s such an honor to be part of ISB. You can feel the impact of this organization everywhere… in schools, in companies, in conversations that people are having about faith and belonging,” she said. “When I came to ISB, I immediately saw the heart behind it… the sincerity and the way everyone truly cares about making Atlanta a better place.”
Ali added: “Bridge-building isn’t just a slogan. It’s what ISB does — one person, one table, one story at a time.” She described the gala as “a reflection of that energy,” adding, “I’m still new but I see the difference this work makes… it’s about connection and service and that’s what drew me in.”
Throughout the evening, the recurring theme was that Atlanta’s diversity is its strength, but only when people choose to engage. “Each one of us could be breakable,” Khalifa said from the stage. “But when we all are together, we’re hard to break. So let’s come together to bring goodness to the world, one interaction at a time.”
After nearly 25 years, ISB remains a fixture of Atlanta’s interfaith and civic landscape. Its work extends from school classrooms to corporate boardrooms to community kitchens where volunteers prepare and deliver meals through the summer lunch program in Fayette County. As Khalifa put it, “We are in the people business — people-to-people business.”
The organization’s mission, Islam, Service, Bridge-Building, continues to define its programs and partnerships. “We’re in this all together,” Khalifa said. “We can’t navigate on our own. We all have to be together to navigate better.”
For Atlantans interested in ISB’s work, the organization offers speaker training, leadership programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all faiths. Click here to learn more or get involved.
As the lights dimmed and guests left the ballroom, the feeling lingered that in a city still learning how to bridge its many divides, ISB isn’t just building connections. It’s reminding Atlanta how to stay connected.
