The two women, who have been friends since the age of 4, opened their practice, Storey & Williams, on Jan. 1.
"I think the difficulty comes when you internalize it," Williams said. "Keisha and I are very strong individuals and I don’t just say that just because it’s a cliche, I’ve lived it. I’ve watched her, she watches me and I think we strengthen one another.
"To me, when you take someone saying you’re a woman, or you are a black woman, it’s sort of like a handicap and I have always been taught that no matter where I’m from or where I go, I can always meet certain challenges. We always look at challenges as the next step."
Both women graduated from Gainesville High School then from Emory Law School. They went on to begin their careers, but always knew they would end up back in Gainesville.
"I knew that we wouldn’t do that coming out of the gate, so to speak, but we always knew we would come back together and start a practice here," Storey said.
Storey’s mother, Janice Storey, said she is very proud of the two young ladies and their new venture.
"To be the first two black women in the community (to open a firm), that is history in itself," she said. "(Keisha) has always been a hard worker and has had goals and ambitions since she was young. I really admire her because she came back to give back to the community."
Before opening their local practice, Storey, 33, worked for more than four year as a Hall County assistant district attorney and in private practice. She specializes in criminal defense, family law and personal injury.
"I came out (of the district attorney’s office) in 2005 because I was wanting the flexibility that I think private practice has to offer," Storey said. "And I think that I can speak for both Terriea and I when I say that it’s always been our goal to come back together as attorneys and start a practice together here in our hometown."Williams formerly worked at a firm in Atlanta and specializes in bankruptcy, real estate, personal injury and family law.
While their law practice can affect the community each day, both women said they take it a step further.
"We want to be an inspiration to other young black females or young black children in the community," Storey said. "And it’s not just a color thing — we want to be an inspiration to all the children coming up behind us. We want them to be able to look at us and see that we are from Gainesville, we went off to school ... so they’ve been where we were and they can say now we are professionals and have brought that back to the community."
Storey is on the board of directors of United Way of Hall County, the Boys & Girls Clubs, Rape Response and Friends of Recovery along with being a graduate of Leadership Hall County.
But she said the most rewarding part of her community service is serving as a defense attorney for Hall and Dawson counties’ Drug Court programs.
"In a lot of ways I feel like that is providing a service to the community," Storey said. "Because it is actually working with addicted individuals ... that part of my job is closest and dearest my heart."
Williams, 31, provides community service through her college sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
"Some of the programs that I have participated in are cancer awareness, voter registration, going to underprivileged schools and reading to kids and being mentors and through my church (Cascade United Methodist in Atlanta)," Williams said.
So in following with service and setting a good example for youth in the Hall County community, Storey and Williams find it very important to keep the tradition of Black History Month alive.
"There are so many achievements and contributions that are made on daily basis," Williams said. "I think that if for some reason we stopped celebrating those contributions and achievements, then the greatest that people contribute to this country would go unnoticed."
Added Storey, "Who would have thought that Barack Obama being a black man was going to come out and win the number of votes that he has won ... I’m proud of the inspiration that he has been for me and I think for us, stepping out on faith and against all odds making history, and I can say that Terriea and I ... hope that we are following in his footsteps."