InTucker Magazine

Business of the Month – Journey’s Unlimited

Journey’s Unlimited is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving communities through a wide range of outreach programs. Under its umbrella is Atlanta for Haiti, an initiative that supports Haitians and Haitian refugees. Journey’s Unlimited also houses a program that has become a cornerstone for youth in Tucker: STORM Cheerleading, which stands for Sisterhood, Trust, Optimism, Respect, and Mentorship. STORM provides cheerleading opportunities for young people who otherwise could not afford to participate. By removing the financial barriers often associated with competitive cheer, an activity traditionally dominated by families with significant resources, STORM opens the door for every child to experience the sport.

“I noticed our girls could not do all-star cheerleading not because they were not good enough,” cofounder Megan Celeste said. “It was simply because they could not afford it. So, I wanted to provide access to kids in the community to do this because it had such an impact on my life.”

Celeste was born in Mississippi and raised in Georgia. Growing up in Lilburn, she learned cheerleading at North DeKalb Parks & Recreation, where the sport became a defining part of her childhood. As she grew older, she transitioned into coaching and quickly became a sought-after instructor, teaching private lessons and later coaching at Greater Atlanta Christian School. Throughout her coaching career, a passion steadily grew inside her, a desire to create a cheer program where no child would be turned away because of cost.

Pastor Vincent Campbell of The Faith Center and his wife, Felicia Campbell, had daughters who were coached by Celeste. When she shared her vision, the Campbells believed in her immediately and helped bring it to life. They offered the church’s facilities for practices and purchased mats to get the program started. Celeste then partnered with co-founder Dee Dee Cunningham, and together they began building what would soon become a thriving organization.

The program grew quickly. They started in the church’s activity room, then moved practices into the lobby when they ran out of space. Eventually, they outgrew the church entirely and opened their own facility at 5238 Royal Woods Parkway in Tucker, later expanding to an additional location in Lithonia.

Since then, Celeste and Cunningham have been transforming children’s lives. Each year, they host fundraisers to ensure that every child who wants to cheer can do so at a reduced cost, or even for free. Celeste shared that 30 percent of their athletes receive scholarships or financial assistance. STORM also serves as a welcoming space for children who speak little or no English. One Spanish-speaking athlete, who arrived unable to communicate in English, not only learned the routines but excelled, qualifying for the Youth Summit, a national competition featuring the best young cheerleaders in the country.

Beyond youth development, STORM has produced collegiate athletes, with several earning cheerleading scholarships. Their gym is lined with trophies, banners, medals, championship rings, and jackets, a testament to their success. The program is also a back-to-back national champion, adding titles in both 2024 and 2025. Yet Celeste and Cunningham are most proud of the safe, inclusive environment they’ve created. STORM’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, exposing children to peers from many cultures and backgrounds.

“We’ve got kids in the program that don’t speak a lick of English,” Celeste said. “We have Latin kids, Asians, white, and of course Black because we started off Black. You know Tucker is such a diverse community, so we have everybody here. We have Jewish folks here, Africans, we have all kinds of folks here, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Mexicans. For a kid to be in that type of environment and being held to a standard and teaching them life skills is something marvelous.”

Celeste and Cunningham hope to continue expanding the program. They envision a larger facility to accommodate more athletes and plan to add tumbling to their offerings. While they are proud of how far STORM has come, they know there is still more to build. For Celeste, one of the greatest joys of all is watching her own two daughters cheer in the program and fall in love with the sport that shaped her life.