Club President Dr. Victoria Seals opened the program by welcoming Mr. Tharon Johnson the founder and CEO of Paramount Consulting Group, a full service, bipartisan government affairs and communications firm based in Atlanta, serving clients in the corporate and political sectors. Tharon appears each week on Fox 5 Atlanta’s longest-running public affairs program, “The Georgia Gang” and on 90.1 WABE-FM’s popular “Political Breakfast” podcast, ranked among the top 40 political podcasts nationally. Additionally, he just launched an additional podcast called “Tharon’s Take.” He is also the author of the award-winning column “Red, Blue, and You,” presented in Georgia Trend magazine. Tharon was named both a “Top Lobbyist” and one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Georgians” by James Magazine. Tharon was the first Black lobbyist to join the Atlanta Downtown Rotary Club where he first met Atlanta West End Rotarian CJ Stewart.

The program was conducted in a fireside chat style conversation with CJ Stewart, creating an informal but substantive exchange that encouraged both reflection and dialogue. This conversational format allowed Tharon to move easily between personal experience and current events, while giving members the opportunity to engage directly through questions and discussion.

Tharon surprised some attendees by noting that Athens GA known widely as the home of the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) the state’s Georgia’s flagship university owns one of the highest poverty levels of any county in the state. Tharon thrived despite a slower start academically, but he recovered, graduating from Clarke Atlanta University in 2001.

Tharon then answered his own question to AWER: how to become a political leader by emphasizing (1) being ethical, (2) knowing how to be a careful listener, (3) living out integrity, which he defined as being “of your word”, and (4) known to be authentic, regardless of political affiliation. Living by and maintaining these traits is difficult the more one engages with smart and argumentative personalities who have high profiles, such as a personality Tharon described in a TV show host he encountered who made racist statements and was inflammatory in order to bait Tharon into speaking out of anger.

Tharon described his bigger purpose which centered on bringing people together for the good of community and cited the 19 Buddhists Monks’ 2800 mile walk from Texas to Washington, D.C. passing through Louisiana and the Southeast on to Atlanta to promote healing and unity . Tharon said the monks are demonstrating authenticity, showing no political affiliation on their march for peace.

A recurring theme throughout the conversation was the importance of peace-building in public discourse, particularly during times of heightened political division. Tharon emphasized the discipline required to remain composed and fact-based when confronted with inflammatory rhetoric, noting that leadership often demands restraint as much as conviction. He underscored that peace-building does not require agreement, but rather respect, listening, and a willingness to engage across differences. These reflections resonated strongly with Rotary’s emphasis on goodwill, understanding, and service above self.

Tharon concluded by making observations and answering questions about Democratic candidates in Geogia’s gubernatorial campaign. The primary occurs on May 16^th and the election of a new Georgia governor on November 3, 2026

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AWER Keyway Speaker Reporters: Jared Evans and Neil Shorthouse