Janis L. Ware
Publisher
Publisher. Community Development Practitioner. Real Estate Broker. Housing Expert. Employer. Business woman. Community Activist and Entrepreneur. Janis Ware has practical, hands on, demonstrated expertise in all of these areas and more. As such, she has served the citizens of Atlanta for more than thirty years. A native Atlantan, Janis is a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School and is also one of the first African American females to graduate from the University of Georgia’s prestigious School of Business.
She has worn many hats in her professional and civic career including serving as the current Chair of Southside Medical Center. She recently served on the City of Atlanta’s important Beltway Steering Committee and is also on Atlanta’s Zoning Task Force. Janis’ board memberships have included as Chair and Vice Chair of the Atlanta Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity, the Empire Real Estate Board and The Atlanta Business League, where she has also been recognized consistently as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in Atlanta. She has also served the board of directors the National Newspaper Publishers Association as both its national Secretary and as its Treasurer.
No stranger to community service, Janis Ware is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta and has been recognized by Who’s Who of Black Atlanta on numerous occasions. She was also singled out by Atlanta Magazine, as one of its Women Making Mark Award recipients.
A multi talented and dynamic entrepreneur, Janis is the President and CEO of Essence Unlimited, her real estate corporation specializing in residential, commercial and property management. It has been operating in Atlanta since 1975. She is the second generation owner of The Atlanta Voice newspaper, which is celebrating its 40th year anniversary and where she serves as Publisher. For those of you who know Janis, then you know of her passion for community development. As the Executive Director of SUMMECH Development Corporation, she is recognized throughout the Atlanta housing community, as one of the first urban pioneers willing to make a difference by building affordable homes for first time homebuyers in the Mechanicsville neighborhood. She won’t take it but she deserves a large deal of the credit for almost single handedly transforming that community and setting an example for others who have followed her.
For years, since her graduation from the University of Georgia, Janis worked along side her famous father, the late J. Lowell Ware, whom she gives credit for establishing a vision in publishing, real estate and community development. “I am doing what he envisioned and conceived. He laid out the roadmap as to how it should be done, and I am simply following his footsteps and finishing his plan,” she proudly states. She is to be commended by all Atlantans for taking that vision and uniquely making it her own.
James A. Washington
General Manager
Kandice Phillips
Advertising Sales Coordinator/Circulation manager
Partida
Hatchett
Comptroller
Partida has worn numerous hats with The Atlanta Voice publication for a long time, serving as a receptionist, an administrative assistant in the accounting department and now the invaluable controller for the company. 17 years ago, Partida began working with The Voice through a special work program that Publisher Janis Ware implemented for aspiring businesspeople particularly in the publishing industry.
April Ivey
Sales Assistant