Haley Morgan Smith is a Good Neighbor Architect who turns the in-between into belonging.

Born biracial in Rockmart, Georgia, in the hills of Appalachia, Haley was raised by her family and community to work with grit and grace and to believe that love can bridge any divide. Growing up in the 1990s, when mixed-race children were far less common, she lived in a world that did not always know where to place her. She learned to live in the in-between and to turn it into a gift. From the beginning, her life has been about weaving together people who did not think they belonged at the same table. That conviction still guides her work today, building cultures where divides become common ground and neighbors become collaborators.

That thread has shaped every chapter of her journey. At fifteen, Haley moved from leading worship in a rural church of seventy to standing on stage each week at one of the fastest-growing congregations in the country. She spent her early years traveling with camps and conferences, learning how to hold the attention of thousands with nothing but a guitar and a story. Those moments were not just about music. They were about calling people into something larger than themselves.

Her path widened into nonprofit leadership, where she co-founded For Our Neighbors, a rural initiative that brought churches, schools, and civic leaders together across race and class. She helped design curriculum used by more than 6,000 churches and schools nationwide, shaping how communities engage families and the next generation. In places where neighbors had long lived side by side without working together, she supported student-led initiatives, cross-racial partnerships, and long-term collaboration. In one small town where a Confederate flag once flew over city hall, years of shared leadership ultimately led to its voluntary removal, not through mandate, but through trust.

Haley later carried this work into higher education as the inaugural Chief Belonging and Community Engagement Officer at Berry College. There, she created the Good Neighbor Framework, helped secure recognition as a Beloved Community Campus, and directed more than 42,000 hours of student service annually, representing over $1.4 million in community impact. She also managed multimillion-dollar endowments to expand access and opportunity for low-income students, embedding belonging and collaboration into the institutional culture.

Today, Haley serves as Community Impact and Partnerships Leader at GHD, a global engineering and infrastructure firm. Working across metro regions and globally in partnership with the GHD Foundation, she helps align community needs, institutional responsibility, and long-term infrastructure systems. Her focus remains consistent with her life’s work, going where people are, building trust across sectors, and helping institutions partner with communities in ways that honor people and place sustainably and at scale.

Creativity has always been part of Haley’s leadership. Signed to a major record label in her twenties, she toured internationally and wrote with widely recognized songwriters. Her current music project, Kindred Fire, blends Appalachian roots with rock, gospel, folk, and soul. The music is shaped by the same values she brings to her community work, authenticity, connection, and reconciliation.

Her work has reached national stages through conferences, civic gatherings, and collaborations across sectors. She has been recognized with the Exceptional 7 Award and the Diamond Award for civic leadership and is a member of Leadership Georgia, Class of 2026.

Haley holds a Master’s degree in Transformational Leadership with a focus on restorative justice and conflict transformation, along with certifications in Kingian Nonviolence, restorative justice, trauma-informed practice, and mentoring strategy.

Across every space she leads, whether building systems for lasting change, shaping partnerships, or writing songs, Haley continues to architect belonging. She lives this work daily in North Georgia with her dog, Amos.