This story was originally published on Emory News Center. Story and video by Alya Khoury. Photos by Sarah Woods, Emory Photo/Video.
Teresa Abboud has turned Atlanta into her own canvas. From Emory’s Cox Hall to Clarkston, Georgia, her murals bring color and life to walls across the greater Atlanta area.
Abboud paints as if she’s dancing with her brush, turning swirling designs into something that transforms even a highway underpass into a place that feels like home. Her work is a tribute to the power and beauty of community.
As she says, “I feel my mission is to unite people through art, through music, through dance. But my medium is painting.”
After moving to Atlanta from Lebanon, Abboud began her career in the U.S. by selling her art at local markets and teaching community painting classes. It was at one of these markets where a friend encouraged her to apply to Start:ME, a free, four-month accelerator program through Emory’s Goizueta Business School.
The program pairs local entrepreneurs with education, mentorship and support at no cost to help them grow their business and connect with the Atlanta community. Start:ME serves a variety of entrepreneurs, from family clinics and small restaurants to car shops and more.
Abboud joined the 2020 cohort with the hope of growing her art business, Teresa Afternoon.
“When I stepped into Start:ME, I really became an entrepreneur,” she says. “I was able to call myself that—not just an artist with a brush in her hand.”
Six years later, she remains deeply connected to the Start:ME community as a volunteer business mentor, paying forward the guidance she once received.
She also has a firm connection with the Emory campus: she filled the ceiling of the Honolulu Coffee Shop in Cox Hall with coffee cups from cultures around the world, a nod to her belief that even in our differences, coffee can connect us.
Abboud’s murals can be found across metro Atlanta. Her work enhances a government building in downtown Atlanta, Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, streets in Lawrenceville, restaurants throughout Midtown—and more.
She painted her biggest to date in summer 2026, covering 5,000 square feet along the I-285 ramp for the city of Doraville. Watching her paint “Martha from Doraville” revealed the work and the motivation behind every mural she creates.
As Abboud puts it, “If a design or a drawing I do can connect with a five-year-old and a 95-year-old, that’s my goal.”
Learn more about the Start:ME program here. Support Start:ME microbusinesses at www.startmeatl.org/shopping-guide.
