Georgia is a graduate of the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government program.  Georgia was one of 12 Americans awarded the George Mitchell Scholarship for graduate study on the island of Ireland. As a Mitchell Scholar, she completed a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs and Political Communications at the University of Ulster (United Kingdom). Georgia holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, where as an adjunct faculty member she taught nonprofit management at the undergraduate and graduate level for five years.

Georgia is an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, a member of the Riley Diversity Fellows program, and a commissioner for the Columbia Housing Authority, a position appointed by the Columbia City Council. Previously, she was appointed by the Governor of Arkansas to serve as a member of the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee.  Georgia has served on numerous nonprofit boards including the founding boards of City Year Little Rock and Harmony Health Clinic, a free clinic for the uninsured.

Georgia is married to Dominik Mjartan, who is the President and CEO of Optus Bank. They are foster, adoptive and birth parents, and together they have three children ages 3, 4 and 5.

Prior to coming to First Steps, Cassie was executive director of the SC School Improvement Council at UofSC and also served as the state coordinator for the SC Education Policy Fellowship Program. With her background in collaboration and mediation, Cassie is very excited to work with leadership from the member agencies of the ECAC and other state-level partners to leverage their collective work on behalf of South Carolina’s youngest children and their families. Early successes include drafting a first-ever statewide early childhood strategic plan and launching PalmettoPreK.org, an online portal where parents can access free, publicly-funded preschool programs statewide. Cassie also provides leadership for the annual SC Summit on Early Childhood, the largest event of its kind in South Carolina, which is hosted by SC First Steps and the ECAC.

She has been an advocate for young children throughout her career as a producer of a children’s show at WLTX TV, in the Communications departments at Richland School District Two and EdVenture Children’s Museum, and as a teacher at Spring Valley Baptist Preschool. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of South Carolina and is a graduate of Leadership Columbia and Richland Two’s Leading Up Academy. Laura is the mother of three and has received accolades for her design and website work.