In a close-knit community like Johns Creek, families play active roles in co-creating the everyday environment by recognizing needs and stepping up to make space for them to flourish. In doing so, they leave lasting roots of their own values and culture.
The following five families are a few of the ones who are making their mark in Johns Creek, creating inclusive spaces, advocating for cultural representation, organizing volunteer efforts and building connection around art and sports. Their stories reflect a genuine and reciprocal relationship with the place they call home — one where they contribute to the community, while also being shaped by it in return.
The Muma Family
On some Friday nights at Johns Creek United Methodist Church, an adults-with-disabilities dance takes place. Pop tunes float through the open doors and, inside, there are glow sticks, snacks and always a fun theme — all the things you would expect to see at a typical dance.
For many attendees though, experiences like these can be rare.
“There are programs and schools and camps and things for children with disabilities, but not too many experiences and opportunities for adults,” said Lara Muma Bramel.
The Muma family knows how important those opportunities can be. When Lara’s older brother Bryan was diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome as a child, the family looked for inclusive spaces and also sought to create their own.
Recently, they brought back the dances. Originally started by a youth member of the church as line dancing, the events have since evolved into EPiC Dances. EPiC is a low-sensory ministry offering social activities for teens and adults with special needs.
At each dance, members of the family work as a team. Mom, Lee Anne, brings snacks and sets up decorations while dad, Harold, can be found DJing. Sisters Paige and Lara encourage attendees to dance and have a good time. No one is left on the sidelines if they can help it, which is in keeping with their family philosophy.
“It’s a really fun, energetic time for the adults in the community to get a chance to have kind of a normal dance experience,” said Paige.
Bryan’s journey
Bryan, now 36, was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome — an inherited intellectual disability that causes learning and developmental problems — at the age of two. By the time he turned three, he was participating in several specialized programs that aided his growth.
Access to special programs and resources (in schools and through PRISM of Georgia) were a large part of what drew the Muma family to settle down in Johns Creek.
Today, Bryan is a longstanding and enthusiastic participant of local adaptive sports programs, including playing baseball with the North Metro Miracle League. He also partakes in track and field and two-ball through the Special Olympics program. That annual competition takes place each May at the Emory University campus, with training sessions held at Johns Creek High School.
Through these programs, Bryan has formed lasting friendships with teammates and coaches. The Special Olympics event, in particular, draws strong community support; members of the Johns Creek Police Department can often be spotted running with torches and cheering on the athletes.
“It’s something I think all the parents love, because a lot of the coaches have their own special needs children,” Lee Ann shared. “And so we really support each other outside of the program. It’s made my son’s life more fulfilling.”
Creating spaces and a home for themselves in Johns Creek
Lee Anne and Harold first met in high school in Raleigh, North Carolina. After getting married, they lived in Johnson City, Tennessee for a year before finding their way to Johns Creek in December 1993.
“We would have to leave things early or not go to certain things. [And] there were times we weren’t invited to things, especially in the neighborhood,” Lee Anne recalled of their early years. “So I started having neighborhood parties. I had a Halloween party and an Easter egg party. So everybody came our way, and I think that helped.”
One place they easily found community was at Johns Creek United Methodist Church.
“I went to talk to the pastor to just make sure they felt comfortable having Bryan in the church. And he was so great,” Lee Anne said. “Bryan would wave to the pastor, and he’d wave back, and he would get to sing with the choir.”
For 28 years, Lee Anne worked as a preschool teacher at the church, teaching basic skills to four-year-olds: how to write, do math and socialize — a skill she places emphasis on. She noted that she wanted to impart lessons about how to treat friends and others with kindness.
“It’s just my home away from home. When I started there, there was only one building, and then they built four classrooms, and then they built the educational building. Now we have a new children’s minister who brings in a lot of young families,” Lee Anne said.
Though she retired two years ago, Lee Anne keeps returning to help out in different ways. These days, she can be found volunteering in the library. The community there remains central to her life, holding decades of memories — from attending youth retreats with her children to forming lasting friendships with other parents.
Growing up in the Muma family
Both Paige and Lara were active in the youth program at Johns Creek UMC and attended Camp Glissen in Dahlonega each year. Lara was also involved in North Metro Miracle League Baseball with Bryan and served as a counselor and director at the camp. Her time at camp introduced her to her husband, Nate Bramel.
“It was super important to me that my future partner would be accepting of differences and not just accepting, but embracing my brother,” Lara said.
“Things looked a bit different for us sometimes,” she added. “And that inspired me, because it showed me that there are things that are hard and different, but you can find joy within that. We had to be close just because it was us as a team kind of thing, more than other families.”
That team mentality follows them everywhere, even into the stands at UGA Bulldog games, where attending together has become a family tradition.
“[Bryan] loves that kind of loud cheering environment,” said Paige. “It’s one of his favorite things. So it’s become one of our favorite things. We’ve had friends come join us just because it’s such a fun day.”
Paige and Lara both pursued undergraduate degrees in special education at the University of Georgia, a natural extension of the experiences they had growing up with Bryan.
“Growing up, I always figured I would want to do something with people with disabilities, to give back in a way,” Lara said. “It was something that I believed in, and it was the path that made sense.”
Lara currently works as a counselor at South Forsyth Middle School. Paige was drawn to occupational therapy, inspired by the joy she experienced witnessing her brother and his friends.
“I wanted to make that my life,” said Paige. “Though being in the classroom full time wasn’t for me, I chose occupational therapy because it is individualized and focused on really functional, meaningful activities for kids and adults with disabilities.”
“It’s gotten better over the years, but there’s still that stigma of having a special needs family,” said Lee Anne. “I think a lot of people are uncomfortable around the special needs community because they don’t know how to react. I used to always say, ‘just treat them like a normal kid. Don’t treat them any different.’”
The Saad Family
One busy morning at Shakerag Elementary School’s annual Artist Day, a group of fifth graders were gathered around parent-volunteer Widad Saad, who was introducing them to the Arabic language. The session culminated in the creation of a mosaic artwork, and each child received a piece with their name written in Arabic calligraphy for them to take home.
Widad had volunteered for Artist Day for several years, and always loved seeing the art, music and traditions brought from cultures around the world. But she noticed that there was no Arab representation. At the time, she served on the board of directors for the Alif Institute — a cultural center in Atlanta dedicated to preserving and promoting Arab cultures — and was able to bring that work to Johns Creek.
“When we asked if anyone spoke Arabic, at least one child would excitedly raise their hand,” she said. “Seeing their excitement and sense of pride was just unforgettable. It reinforced for me that representation truly matters. It matters to tell children that their culture and identity are valued and celebrated.”
A commitment to community service
Widad and her husband, Fawaz Vic Saad, have woven service into their lives for nearly two decades. A community thriving with schools and families was what led them and their children, Riad, Juode and Raya, to Johns Creek nearly two decades ago. From the start, volunteering at their children’s schools became a way to connect with the community.
“My husband and I were able to connect with the teachers as well as the parents,” she recalled. “We were all on the same page in wanting to make it a place where students could thrive.”
At River Trail Middle School, Widad helped expand the existing Treats for Teachers program, organizing lunches and coordinating donations from local restaurants so faculty members could feel appreciated throughout the school year. Food became a way of building connections.
Currently, with all three of their children heavily involved in sports, the family’s volunteer work also focuses on supporting the sports teams. Widad has served as a team parent, organized meals during football and basketball seasons and coordinated sponsorships from local businesses.
Outreach in education
When her son was in fifth grade, Widad was part of a parent volunteer group that organized activities to celebrate the class’s final year in the school. She suggested adding in a service component, introducing a collaboration with the Sandwich Project, a nonprofit organization that works to combat food insecurity in Atlanta.
The students assembled sandwiches and made cards for people who would receive them. It was a success, and it soon became a tradition for every graduating class.
An educator who previously taught at Gwinnett Technical College, Widad currently teaches at William & Reed Academy, a private high school in Johns Creek.
“As a teacher, this commitment has become an extension of my daily work, where I strive, not only to educate students, but also to support their well-being and help them reach their full potential,” she explained.
Humanitarian work across borders
In addition to work done within the community, the Saads spent fifteen years volunteering with a nonprofit dedicated to providing children from war-torn countries with access to medical care and constructing medical facilities. It involved coordinating medical treatment for children who had been injured but could not access adequate care.
Widad led the Atlanta chapter for a few years and, over the span of a decade, brought in 10 children for medical treatment.
“When you care for them that closely, they begin to feel like your own children,” she shared.
“One moment that stayed with me was when a young girl who had just received a prosthetic leg was doing so well walking after completing physical therapy. I told her how proud I was of her and that I hoped her new leg would help her,” Widad continued. “She said, ‘Thank you so much, but what if my other leg gets blown off like this one? What do I do then?’ Her words truly broke my heart. Because she was right. I think that we, as a global community, are failing our children if this is the reality they must face.”
Widad’s work, whether introducing students to different cultures, helping organize medical missions or supporting school events, comes back to the same idea.
“I believe when we invest in the health, education and dignity of children, we strengthen the entire community. I truly believe you can help and be part of your community if you just start locally. So whether you’re helping at the school your children are in or helping children across the world, it all matters.”
Catalina Gomez-Beuth and Jose Cellario
Catalina Gomez-Beuth was born in Colombia, where her lifelong passion for art led her to study fashion design at the Escuela De Diseño Proyectual. A stay in Florence, Italy, where she pursued studies in design, deepened her love of art.
She met her husband, Jose Cellario, who is from Argentina, while on vacation, and the couple moved to the U.S. in 2001. After spending some time in downtown Atlanta and Douglasville, they chose to settle down in Johns Creek in 2010. Today, their 19-year old daughter Camilla attends UGA, and her son Matias will start at Chattahoochee High School next year.
A love of diversity
One thing Catalina quickly picked up on upon arriving in Johns Creek was its abundance of food options. The restaurants are representative of something bigger though — the abundance of diversity of the residents who live here.
“My kids are growing up surrounded by diverse cultures, languages and perspectives,” she said. “They’ve done projects not only on their heritage, but also others, appreciating where everyone comes from. They’re more open-minded and curious because of it.”
She said that this type of cultural mix and tightly-knit community is rare.
“For me, this is something so unique. For people that live here forever, they might not see that as something extraordinary. But for me, this is extraordinary [and] so special.”
Multiculturalism as a source of artistic inspiration
“Through my art, I want people to connect with something deeper,” Catalina said of her drive to create. “I want them to see the humanity we all share.”
In keeping with this intention, in many of her paintings, she portrays faces in shades of gray to avoid the boundaries of skin color and ethnicity. She then surrounds her subjects with vibrant colors, to highlight emotion and gesture.
Her themes of choice revolve around her culture, roles as a mother and woman and her genuine love for multiculturalism. In her series “ROOTS,” she depicts subjects from different backgrounds. Though her work has always gestured towards universality, she says living here has deepened her sensitivity towards it.
“Every time that I have an idea or I have a kind of problem in my art expression, I find the solution through talking to people,” she said. “For example, through interacting with friends from India, I was inspired to use silk as a material in my piece, the cloth that is used in sarees. That’s what makes this particular place so interesting for me, because of the richness of the diversity.”
A recent piece “Community,” inspired by the connections she’s found in this community, combines ceramics and textiles. It consists of three ceramic cocoons connected together by woven fibers, “representing how we’re individual, but need each other to stand.”
Family as inspiration
Catalina’s at-home-studio is lined with artwork and filled with art supplies, scraps of fabric and materials and half-finished projects. She says it is always bursting with opportunities for inspiration. Working at home has also allowed her to share creative experiences with her family — for example, she often asks her children to pose for her paintings.
“My kids are my biggest inspiration and favorite models,” she said. “They get the message I’m trying to convey through my art, and they help me by posing for me. It’s awesome to have them involved.”
She shared that her husband played a key role in encouraging her to pursue art full-time. “He’s not an artist himself, but he’s my biggest supporter. He’d help me, critique my work; he’s been instrumental in my career.”
Community and teaching
Currently an instructor at The Art Center, where she started as a student more than a decade ago, Gomez-Beuth said one of her favorite classes to teach is the seniors class — part of the Newtown Park Seniors Program.
“It is super special,” she said, “something that just fills my soul.”
In addition to teaching, she has created pieces for non-profit organizations, such as Caminar Latino and Pianos for Peace, and has exhibited widely across Georgia.
“As immigrants, we always try to stick to the same tribe, right? But you don’t feel any different here,” she said of Johns Creek. “You feel welcomed. It’s a community more open to difference, which is why I think this place is like a magnet for people.”
The Cerejo Family
When Mugdha Cerejo noticed that children in her Johns Creek neighborhood couldn’t safely walk from Shakerag Elementary to Shakerag Park, she left a comment on the city’s Facebook page.
“I remember on one of their Facebook posts, I made a comment like, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be nice to have a sidewalk connecting the school to the parks?’ And believe it or not, within three months, the city had worked on it. I was blown away by the attentiveness the city gave us,” she recalled.
Personal encounters like that are what drew the Cerejos to put down roots in Johns Creek.
Moving to Johns Creek
In 2016, Mugdha and her husband Lyndon moved from New Jersey with their two sons: Roshan, who is now pursuing industrial engineering at Georgia Tech, and Kovid, a sophomore at Northview High School.
“Lyndon would travel a lot to Atlanta for his work, and we’d hear these glorious stories about warm weather while we’d be suffering in the snow,” Mugdha said. “So, we gave it a shot for one year, fell in love with the place, and we’ve been here since.”
When they moved, their children were in elementary school and naturally resistant to moving to a new city.
“But I remember the first day when we moved here,” Mugdha recalled. “Somebody rang our doorbell, and just said, ‘hey, we saw two boys walk inside this apartment. Can they come out and play?’ And since then, they have made a ton of friends.”
Recreation and city parks
The Cerejos enjoy walking through Cauley Creek Park and Shakerag Park — the latter holding a special place as it is near the school their children attended when they first moved here.
“I think the reason why we moved into this particular neighborhood was we were trying to replicate certain things that we had back home in New Jersey,” said Mugdha. “There used to be a small lake where we lived. And it is so nice to have a place to walk and clear your mind, it just resets your day.”
The joys of being a parent volunteer
Though they tried to recreate the lake and recreational aspects of their New Jersey home in Johns Creek, they found the education system to be completely different — but in a positive way. Mugdha believes the highly competitive environment has in turn encouraged her sons in their education.
“One of the things that I found contrasted, too, was the ease with which [school administrators] here welcome input,” she said. “Fulton County Schools always welcomes input from parents who are literally the stakeholders in this system. So that was very welcoming for us.”
When they moved to the city, Mugdha had just quit her full-time job as an automation engineer. Lyndon currently works at Inspire Brands as the head of design.
“When we made that decision to go from a two-income family to a single-income family it was an eye-opening experience,” she said. “We always believe that giving back to the community is important, and it’s also a joyful experience. I see that my own children look at us and get inspired. That’s one of the things I tell all the parents who I speak with: it’s the fact your kids are watching you.”
Over the past seven years, Mugdha has spent time volunteering at the schools her kids attended. She is currently on the board of the Northview PTO and the Northview HS Fine Arts Association.
“For the past seven years, every single opportunity I got, I have always volunteered,” she said, “to the point where I’m known as the full-time volunteer at the school. From 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock, I am mostly at the school, doing a lot of work for different parent booster clubs and organizations. And then I come back home, and I start my mentoring, my tutoring job that keeps me occupied for the rest of the evening.”
Creating the Meals of Gratitude program
While volunteering at her son’s middle school through the Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) program, which rewards students for good behavior, Mugdha noticed that although the program had funding for students, there was no budget for rewarding teachers. Since they are equally part of the system, she suggested introducing an initiative to cook home-cooked meals for teachers as a token of gratitude.
The idea was met with enthusiasm, and what began as a small initiative with ten parents cooking four to five meals a month, quickly grew — from River Trail Middle School to Northview High School. Over time, it included gift cards and restaurant meals. And the Cerejos’ son built an app for the program, to allow volunteers to submit entries and staff to select what they would like.
With the success of the program, Mugdha is already thinking ahead; after her son graduates in two years, she hopes to expand Meals of Gratitude beyond Northview.
Mentoring initiatives
Another way Lyndon and Mugdha have made a difference is by conducting coaching sessions for the 3DE Magnet program at Northview, guiding students through real-life case studies, such as design thinking exercises for companies like Arby’s. They led a session based on a Home Depot case-study together.
Mugdha combines her personal passions with her love for education. She is certified in kathak, an Indian classical dance form, and teaches students of all ages, in addition to mentoring and tutoring.
“Every interaction I have with students motivates me. Teenagers are very unique. They might not talk much at home, but they do with friends,” she said. “Being around them has made me a better parent, just being with students of different age groups.”
To aspiring parent volunteers with burgeoning ideas, she suggests just going for it.
“If you think you can do it, you just have to start. I feel like there are so many opportunities if you think about how useful just one hour of time can be. And if it’s a good outreach program, likeminded people will join.”
The Ip family
On weekend mornings in Johns Creek, Carol lp can often be found at the lacrosse field, watching her sons practice while her husband, Bonar, helps coach. What began as a sport their older son tried in elementary school has gradually become one of the ways their family connects with the community.
Moving to Johns Creek
Carol and Bonar moved to Johns Creek about ten years ago from Norcross. When they began thinking about where they wanted to raise their children, they were drawn to the area’s schools, natural surroundings and sense of safety.
“Compared to our previous neighborhoods, the people here are really nice. Our neighbors look out for each other,” Carol said. “And there are so many trees and open spaces; it just always feels peaceful.”
Their older son first discovered lacrosse in third grade. “We were at Newtown Park and he saw a group of kids practicing lacrosse, and he was like, ‘Oh, what’s that? I want to do that.’”
Although the family didn’t know anything about lacrosse, they looked it up and found a team to join. Newtown Park became their hub for practice, and Bonar tried out the sport to learn alongside his son.
“He’d never played it before, but he loves kids, and he loves just hanging out with them,” said Carol. “So he usually would be like an assistant coach, just helping out as much as he can.”
Before long, their younger son joined in the sport as well.
Bonding through coaching
Bonar eventually began helping out as a coach, deepening the family’s involvement in the local lacrosse community. He got into coaching to help them understand the game more and to spend quality time together — bonding and talking, particularly when a game might be an hour away.
“Lacrosse isn’t as popular as basketball or football. And so it’s a very small community. But because of that, you really get to know everyone,” Carol shared. “We travel around to different fields where the kids practice and play. You start seeing the same parents over and over again. It becomes a nice connection.”
The community’s youth programs often feed into the high school teams, giving younger players something to work toward while creating lasting friendships among families.
As for what makes the sport most rewarding, Carol said it is witnessing her sons pushing themselves while still enjoying the little moments in each game.
A shared love for the outdoors
Outside of the recreation and practice of lacrosse, the family also enjoys spending time outdoors in other ways — something they say Johns Creek naturally provides for.
During the pandemic, when many activities shut down, the lp family decided to try out mountain biking. It stuck as a shared activity. When the weather is warm, the family often heads to nearby trails, like Big Creek Greenway.
Some of Carol and Bonar’s most rewarding memories include seeing their sons play their best without worrying about score — just pushing themselves to explore the sport. And having the opportunity to travel to different states for tournaments and going sightseeing in the area while they’re there.
“That’s a fun thing to do post tournament, but it’s also just like quality time together,” said Carol, “to spend some more time outdoors, away from the electronics.”
This article originally ran as the cover story in the April/May issue of THE CREEK magazine.
