Tucker Community Spotlight

Aaliya Bashir isn’t shy about her love of Tucker. In fact, when she wanted to open her own brick-and-mortar business in 2013, there was no doubt about the location.

“Tucker has been my home for a really long time,” Bashir explains. “These are my people, they’re really tight knit and I wanted to stay in Tucker and nurture the community that has nurtured me.”

As founder of Warrior Body Spa, Bashir nurtures her neighbors through a variety of high-tech spa treatments. The focus is on relaxation and detoxing the body. To that end, she says the most popular treatments right now are the ionic detox footbath and the infrared sauna therapy.

“We have a client who’s a teacher,” Bashir says. “She was super-stiff and she made space in her budget for her spa visit. It’s increased the quality of her life. She’s a better mom, better teacher. That one person you’ve helped is now able to help others, so it’s rewarding to know we’ve helped thousands of people.”

Warrior Body Spa is hosting a Wellness Hour and Open House on September 10 to introduce the community to their new location on Brockett Road and to celebrate September as Self-Care Awareness Month. From 4-7 p.m., their doors will be open to anyone who has questions about how these therapies can make a difference.

“We really want to introduce ourselves to the community. We want to create a forum where people are welcome to ask their questions, tour the facility and feel comfortable,” Bashir says.

Warrior Body Spa is located at 2298 Brockett Road. You can find them online at www.warriorspa.com.

“The Smoke Signal, the monthly published newspaper for the Smoke Rise community, began 50 years ago in 1968 and has been published continuously since. It began on a kitchen table cut and paste style with volunteers doing the work, before being sent to the printers. Now, of course, it’s done via email and computer technology and still with a volunteer staff. The number of people over the past 50 years who have poured their time and effort into the paper numbers well into the hundreds.

“The Smoke Rise community was originally known as Mountain Shadow, so-named in a Smoke Signal sponsored contest to name the area between Tucker and Stone Mountain along Hugh Howell Road. The Smoke Signal was first conceived as a yearly fundraising project for the Smoke Rise Community Club and distribution was limited to the neighborhood of that name.

“Pat McCurdy was the paper’s first editor. Today, three editors share the responsibility of getting the paper out. Cheri Schneider, AvivA Hoffman and Jan Mahoney edit the paper on alternating months. A number of volunteers from the Smoke Rise neighborhoods write and submit articles and photos. The paper’s finances are also handled by volunteer Harry Strack. Other volunteers handle the advertising inserts, folding and distribution. It is truly a team effort that has been going on for 50 years.

“The Smoke Signal is delivered around the first of each month to 2,300 households in the Smoke Rise area and would not be possible without these wonderful citizen volunteers.”

Nomination by Frank Luton