At just 16, Gia Agarwal is already stepping into rooms where decisions are made and making sure her voice is heard. Recently elected as Georgia FBLA’s State Secretary, she now represents students across the state as one of only nine officers in the organization.

For the Alpharetta High School junior and Shirley Estates resident, the role is an opportunity to create space for others. Gia has built her reputation not just on leadership, but on her ability to connect and communicate with peers statewide. 

What started as an interest in presentations quickly turned into competitions and leadership roles, where she found confidence in public speaking and discovered her passion for building connections through communication. That growth led her from chapter officer to regional leadership, and now to the state level.

“FBLA has given me a sense of belief in myself that I carry into every part of my life,” she says. In her new role, Gia is focused on giving that same experience back to others, helping create opportunities for students across Georgia to grow and find their own voice.

Alongside FBLA, Gia serves as a chapter officer at Alpharetta High School’s Tri-M Music Honor Society, where she participates in service-based events, and recently co-hosted a fundraiser that raised $1,000 for North Fulton Community Charity.

Long before the titles and leadership roles, though, Gia’s path started with a love of reading. As a child, she spent time living in India and remembers turning to books for comfort while adjusting to a new environment. “They felt universal,” she says. That early connection eventually led her to start writing her own stories. By age 12, she had interviewed her favorite author Roshani Chokshi and written a cover story for Khabar Magazine.

One moment in particular helped shape her perspective. Reading Aru Shah and the End of Time in middle school, and seeing an Indian-American girl at the center of a story rooted in her own culture, left a lasting impression. It gave her confidence at a time when she didn’t always feel it, and it sparked a desire to create that same sense of belonging for others through her own work.

She’s continued to pursue that passion, including being selected for the Governor’s Honors Program in Communicative Arts last summer where she explored different forms of writing and performed an original slam poem in front of hundreds of students. 

For Gia, success means using her voice to connect with others. Her dream is to publish a novel and keep telling stories that matter.