Life & Work with Arria McGinty of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Arria McGinty.

Hi Arria, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My elevator pitch (and my bio) which describes my content is “music, media and automobiles”. On any of my digital platforms, my content consists of me using various forms of media to illustrate stories of the Atlantan music and car industries. This all starts before me, with my Atlanta-native Father.

I grew up singing in The Church with my perfectionist Dad (with a degree in music) as my minister of music, so I’ve always had a natural talent for music complimented by my father’s discipline and skill. He restored a 1976 Mustang and painted it Electric Blue when I was a kid, and this would be my first introduction to car culture.

Although I consider myself a multidisciplinary creative, at my core I am a writer. I’ve kept a journal for as long as I can remember, so I’ve been writing for over 20 years; I always thought it was so cute for girls to write in their pinky diary with a fluffy pink pen on TV shows and movies in the early 2000’s. I graduated with my bachelors in English and public relations in 2023, and I’ve since moved to Atlanta and started to explore different creative outlets that could bring me income. I got into marketing, digital public relations, and social media, not only as a creative outlet, but also a sustainable career while I continue to pursue my passions in the music and automobile industries.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I was born with Sickle Cell Disease, so I’ve. always felt like I was destined for some great fate and aware of my own mortality. Luckily, I have my father, whom has sickle cell himself, to guide me. My mother would spend days, weeks, and years by my side. Having a chronic disease can be like swimming upstream sometimes; it feels like you always have to fight just to survive and every day is different. But it has given me a sense of purpose, and I’ve always understood that we’re not promised tomorrow. Sickle cell has made me ambitious in my career, it’s made me a very forgiving person and it’s helped me to enjoy life and all its pleasures with no guilt. I could die anytime! This is why we have to take care of ourselves, hold ourselves accountable, and do what we can to prevent issues rather than dealing with them after they’ve already become a problem.

Aside from the health-related trauma, thanks to my mom’s career, I had a relatively privileged upbringing. I grew up in Turkey and Japan which really expanded my worldview. I remember being humbled constantly at how much bigger the world is than I thought. It was not all peaches and rainbows, of course. Being a black girl in Japan, where my skin, my hair, and my size was not the standard of beauty, really warped my sense of self, especially because we live in a social climate where women are taught and conditioned to always think about how they perceived. It wasn’t until I moved to The States in 2018 when things shifted for my self esteem. I have always been confident in myself, but I really stepped into a new sense of power when I began to fully value how I exist in the world around me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in using various forms of digital media, including photography, social media content and writing, to tell different stories in the music and automobile industries. I do marketing professionally, and in my spare time, I work in the Atlantan music and automobile industries. I just love people. One of our purposes, as humans, is to connect to each other and build community. I love being able to relate to people or to meet someone I have nothing in common with at all. We are all reflections of each other, and I am most proud of my ability to connect with people in the world around me using different forms of media.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think success, just like failure, is completely subjective. I hardly go into anything with expectations. I always just want to learn. If I feel I try my best and I’m satisfied with the standards that I hold myself to, then I’m proud of what I’ve done and I would consider it successful. Everything is a win when the goal is the experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Arriamcginty.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arriamcginty/
• Youtube: arriazona
• TikTok: @arriazona