Today we’d like to introduce you to Coleman Hancock.
Coleman, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have always aspired to be a renaissance man. My interests have reached far and wide from maths, sciences, arts, etc. At times I have been a bit erratic with my interests. At this point in my life, I finally feel stable with my career and my hobbies. Today, I am 3 exams away from my license as an architect, work at a successful multifamily residential architecture firm in Dunwoody, serve as President of a young professionals’ organization, and live in Buckhead. My hobbies and passion projects hold an important place in my priorities. I am a classical vocalist and pianist, paint in oil, speak Italian, photograph, play tennis, and am taking golf lessons. My biggest passion project this year, however, is an organization called Young Bucks. Young Bucks is the under 40 arm of the Buckhead Business Association (BBA), which is celebrating 70 years this year at its annual Taste of Buckhead. I have always been involved with charitable organizations and serving as President of Young Bucks has given me the opportunity to serve the young professional community in Buckhead. We have an evening networking social once a month, a professional development webinar once a month, and a big event for charity planned in December. We also attend the monthly breakfasts and evening socials of the BBA. The connections are invaluable.
I was born in Newnan, Georgia. Growing up knowing I was different in a small Southern town (though I wouldn’t realize that I was different because I was gay till I was older) was a defining experience in my life. I embraced my differences and celebrated them. My family, on both sides, has resided in Georgia since the first half of the 1800s. I knew very young that I didn’t want all of my experiences to be confined to Georgia or to the Southeast, however. I was fortunate to have parents who prioritized travel, so from a young age, I was already developing my wanderlust.
I dreamed big and far away as a child. First, I wanted to be a concert pianist in NYC. I picked up classical piano young and continued into adulthood. By the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright. I decided this at the museum at his self-designed home in Wisconsin- Taliesin East. My best subjects were creative arts and math, so it was a natural fit. And as an aside, I will mention that as a very small child, I wanted to be a “server man.” I did later get to live the dream and wait tables while my career was on hold.
To earn my Bachelor of Arts, I majored in architecture and minored in piano, Italian language, and psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. I called it the renaissance degree. Missouri was my first time living out of the South. While minoring in Italian, I spent a semester abroad in Florence, Italy studying Italian and architecture. Italy was a long way from Georgia and brought so much artistic and cultural enrichment to my life.
After college, I struggled for several years during the Great Recession while I waited tables. In 2014, I applied to graduate school at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I spent three years there and graduated with a Masters’s in Architecture. While I was there, my wanderlust continued. I spent five weeks in Europe and then a year in Shanghai, China, where I met the love of my life, my husband. I had always had a penchant for photography and found myself developing into an accomplished photographer. The focus of my photography was my travels. I took tons of pictures in Asia as I traveled around during my year abroad in Shanghai.
As a professional, I have grown quickly and found myself in a position I love. I went from an intern to senior project coordinator in two short years, and I have been the sole architect chosen to work directly with the President of my new firm on his home renovation.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Growing up, I struggled to understand my sexuality. This affected me deeply on a personal level. I wasn’t sure who I loved and whether it was okay to love him or her. It took me years to reconcile myself as a Christian and a gay man. It wasn’t until after college that I finally found peace with this. I wasn’t able to deal with my professional life until I had worked out my personal life. Just after I had found peace personally, I found that it was a great challenge to find work in my field, architecture, in 2008 when the bottom fell out of the housing market.
I, in fact, did not find work in my field. I worked in restaurants for several years. I discovered while working in the restaurant business that I had bipolar disorder. It required me to take considerable time off and a lot of work on myself over the next couple of years. I would not have been able to do either of these things while working professionally. It seems God had better plans for me when I failed to find work in my field. I was in the right place at the right time. Only by taking the time I needed was I able to eventually go back to school and get into the field I so deeply desired to join. Bipolar disorder was my greatest challenge. My rising above it triumphantly has been my single greatest triumph as a human being.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In my final semester at Georgia Tech, I went to a career fair and got a job quickly with one of the largest and most successful multifamily residential architecture firms in the city, who happened to also be a sponsor of the BBA. It was at this job that I first learned of the BBA and Young Bucks. I joined Young Bucks in February of 2020 and quickly was appointed to the social chair. When COVID hit, the organization struggled, and I sort of lost touch. The 2020 Young Bucks President was impressed with me and recommended me to the President of BBA as the 2021 Young Bucks President when things began to open back up in October of 2020. Though I have advanced my career with another firm, I have remained closely connected to BBA and the Young Bucks.
The challenges I have faced this year as the President of what is primarily a social organization during times of Covid have not been insurmountable, but they have been numerous. As we look to expand the organization and grow our membership, we emphasize all the value that membership brings. The membership sells itself when one considers that with a membership to Young Bucks, one gets all of the events and benefits of Young Bucks as well as the events and benefits of the 300+ member BBA at a fraction of the cost. There is a large member database, and all members are willing to help and reach out when they are able. I, personally, have garnered great business connections, great friendships, and my husband has even gotten work out of it as a freelance graphic designer.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I don’t have a specific memory of what was going on or who was there or even where I was, but I can very clearly remember the experience of playing with legos and Lincoln Logs as a small child. It’s like a foggy memory that I can still feel. It was the first hint that I was destined to become an architect.
Pricing:
- $200/yr.
Contact Info:
- Email: youngbucks@buckheadbusiness.org
- Website: www.buckheadbusiness.org
- Instagram: @youngbucks_atl
- Facebook: @BuckheadYoungBucks
Image Credits
The personal photo was taken by the nationally known Mary Beth Meehan, known for her work in portraiture. She has been published in the NYT and discussed by Annie Leibovitz. The two pictures of me and my husband were taken by our wedding photographer, Liliana Leahy. One shows us cutting the cake, and the other shows me holding my graduate school portfolio. I own these photos and have rights to publish them. The blue photo is Mt. Fuji in Japan during the winter, the orange one is Fushimi-Inari Temple in Kyoto, Japan, and the last is of the ruins at Ayutthaya, Thailand.
