Where You Are Planted: The Story Behind FewtureWorks
Updated: 4 days ago
For Maryam Muhammad, FewtureWorks did not begin with a business idea. It began with a life of service.
Tuesday, October 13
9:00 a.m.
Spark Thomasville Executive Director
Long before becoming an entrepreneur, Maryam was already serving others. She tutored students and helped families understand paperwork, bills, and other challenges they were facing.
Her career continued to center around people. She worked in human resources and strategic planning, supported women experiencing domestic violence, and served individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Through each experience, she saw the same need: people often need someone to help them navigate life and recognize what is possible.
One thing that remained constant: she wanted to help people find a way forward.
“I’ve always advocated for people who were disenfranchised and people who were having challenges navigating life,” Maryam shared.
That commitment was shaped early in her own life. Her parents and grandfather encouraged her to think critically, stay curious, explore, read, and help others. Her grandfather, a farmer and property owner with little formal education, showed her the value of hard work, responsibility, kindness, resourcefulness, and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Those lessons became part of who Maryam is; and eventually, part of what she wanted to build.
Seeing Potential in People
Maryam’s work with young people helped her discover where her passion was strongest.
Through tutoring and teaching, and with the encouragement of mentors such as former principal Clay Stanaland, she realized how much she enjoyed pouring into children and young people.
Today, young people remain at the heart of her vision.
Maryam believes people can reinvent, reset, and create the life they want. But she also understands that wanting something different is only the beginning. People need skills, knowledge, support, relationships, and opportunities to make change possible.
That belief is at the heart of FewtureWorks.
The organization is being built to support people at different stages of life; from young men and teens to single mothers and seniors. Its work centers on areas such as leadership, character development, financial literacy, mentorship, family support, and helping people prepare for the future.
But for Maryam, the goal isn't simply to provide information.
She wants people to leave with greater knowledge, self-awareness, discipline, an action plan, and the confidence to keep moving forward.
And she wants them to know that support does not end when the program does.
Building the Business Behind the Mission
Creating FewtureWorks has required more than a vision. It has required Maryam's time, energy, personal resources, and willingness to build before everything was in place.
Her journey with Spark became an important part of that process.
Maryam describes her Spark experience as “amazing and intense.”
Through Spark, she developed a stronger lens for understanding the financial side of her business, cash flow, operating capital, return on investment, allocating funds, and making informed financial decisions.
But the value of Spark went beyond the numbers.
It was the access to experienced speakers, coaches, resources, research, feedback, and people she may not otherwise have had the opportunity to meet. It was the opportunity to practice, ask questions, be challenged, and receive critical feedback in an environment that remained nurturing and supportive.
For Maryam, Spark demonstrated the importance of community in entrepreneurship.
She describes Spark as an incubator; one that nurtures entrepreneurs where they need it most.
The Rose That Grew from Concrete
There is a poem that captures much of Maryam’s philosophy about life: Tupac Shakur’s The Rose That Grew from Concrete.
For Maryam, the rose represents possibility.
A rose was not supposed to grow from concrete. The conditions were not ideal. Yet it grew.
That image reflects what Maryam has seen throughout her life; people facing difficult circumstances, limited resources, setbacks, and challenges, yet still finding a way forward.
Her interpretation is simple:
You can grow where you are planted, but you have to decide to grow.
That belief is at the center of FewtureWorks.
Maryam does not believe a person’s circumstances should determine the rest of their story. She believes people can reinvent, reset, and create a different future when they have the knowledge, support, relationships, opportunities, and discipline to do the work.
That is why FewtureWorks is about more than programs.
It is about helping people recognize what is possible, and giving them tools to pursue it.
A Legacy Beyond Business
Maryam's vision reaches beyond building a successful organization. She calls it a social return on investment.
When young people become stronger, families can become stronger. When families become stronger, communities can become stronger.
For Maryam, that is the legacy worth building.
FewtureWorks is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: something beautiful can grow even in difficult places.
Sometimes people simply need someone to help them see that growth is possible—and the support to help them get there.
That is the work Maryam is choosing to build.
Our Contact Information
DeShay Williams, Executive Director, Spark Thomasville
125 North Broad Street, Suite 216, Thomasville, GA 31792
(229) 843-4888 office
(202) 821-9874 cell
Spark Thomasville: Building Community…One Business at a Time.
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