Category: 434

Even Laurel Smith admits that having a brand that creates both jewelry and dayplanners is a little disjointed. “I like things to be neat and tidy and make sense,” she says, a sensibility that carries through her line of minimalist bracelets, earrings, and other accessories. But that’s what a planner is for—keeping things tidy. And when it came to designing a tool to help her stay organized, Smith kept her own needs in mind.

“The way my brain works, I need to be able to see everything in order to plan it and keep track of all of the moving pieces,” she says. Her version does just that, allowing users to see their monthly calendar, weekly schedule, weekly and month to-do lists, and notes in one spread.

“If you can’t see it all, you’ll lose track of it and then it doesn’t get done,” Smith says. “That’s the foundation of our planner system at Laurel Denise.”

She launched the first one in 2008, but after starting a family in 2012, she needed to pick a lane for the business: jewelry or planners. She chose jewelry as it was more established, but customers wouldn’t stop asking when she’d re-launch the planner—and she needed it, too!

“In 2020, as we were hosting a family from New York during the lockdown, I was managing my team of five remotely, and my two children were learning from home,” she says. “I realized that my organizational system needed to change and it needed to change quickly. In a conversation with my husband, I commented about how much I could use a Laurel Denise Planner in my life right at that moment.” 

The 2021 version sold out and the 2022 version—which comes in deep green or features cover art by local artist Britt Davis—is on its second print run.

“Who knows where Laurel Denise will end up, but for now I’m super happy (and way grateful) to see both of our lanes expanding quite a bit,” Smith says.

Don’t call Carrie Waller an influencer. Even though the home blogger has upwards of 55k Instagram followers (@dreamgreendiy), she has a different take.

“I don’t love that term,” she says. “It has become kind of the standard for people in my industry, but I feel like it makes us sound very cold. I want people to be inspired by my work, not so much influenced.” Her home—a 1960s ranch in Waynesboro, where she lives with her husband and three cats—plays a big role in that. It serves as the backdrop for all of her DIY projects, from building a platform deck to making an air-dry clay diffuser, and eye candy for her interiors-obsessed followers. 

The blogger’s mid-century aesthetic is obviously on-trend, but Waller puts her own spin on things, incorporating décor from other eras and, of course, her own handmade work. We asked her to tell us a little more about the solo-preneur life, a DIY fail, and—don’t worry—where she finds all the enviable pieces she puts in her home.

434: Tell me a little about your background and how it led you to start Dream Green DIY.

Carrie Waller: I’ve always been a hugely creative person. I remember I used to beg my mom to let me rearrange and redecorate my childhood bedroom every few months, and I still have that instinct now. I double-majored in studio art and art history in college, but ultimately felt disenchanted and beat down by the museum world when I tried to jump-start a career for myself in D.C. post-graduation. So, I moved home, and started completely over, getting a generic office job to pay the bills. It felt like rock-bottom, but it was during those years that I reconnected with my now-husband (we were friends in high school years ago), and I decided to start a blog to document the redesign of his bachelor pad. 

Explain the name Dream Green DIY.

There was this one house in our neighborhood growing up that I absolutely adored. It was a big beautiful green Craftsman-style home, and I loved everything about it. As a teenager, I started calling it my “Dream Green.” It became this ideal version of the perfect house for me, so when it came time to pick a name for my blog, I went with my first thought, and it was, of course, about my “Dream Green.” I knew the content for my site was going to be all about DIY and building a home from scratch on your own, so it felt like the perfect title for my brand. I often worry that it doesn’t make much sense to people, but it means the world to me. 

Describe your house for me—what it looks like and what you love about it.

When my husband and I got married, we settled into his bachelor pad, which was a small townhome in Lynchburg. It was a great space, but when it came time for us to find something new, we decided to really lean into our shared passion for mid-century design. We relocated to Waynesboro, Virginia, in 2015, and ultimately found the perfect 1960s gem to love. Only one other family had lived here since they built it in 1962, and it had been immaculately kept up. We are absolutely dedicated to retaining the mid-century charm of our 1,900-square-foot home. I love to plan room makeovers with the previous family who lived here always in the back of my mind. Would they appreciate the little changes we’ve made? Have we respected the original retro aesthetic? If I can answer “yes” to those questions, I know I’m on the right track.

How has your style evolved over time? 

My interest in mid-century decor is something that is entirely my own, at least where my parents and little sister are concerned. No one else in my family has ever really incorporated that type of aesthetic into their spaces, so it feels unique to me (although, of course, it’s definitely not unique to me in the larger scheme of things since it’s a pretty trendy decor style right now!). I wasn’t always a mid-century enthusiast, though. My style growing up as a teenager, and later through college, was extremely colorful and handmade. I decorated very eclectic spaces filled with DIY art projects, mixed patterns, and hand-me-down furniture. It was a great time to experiment, and I’ve held onto that love for eclectic decor, but now it feels a lot more focused and probably a lot more mature.

What’s the process like for bringing new things into a home you share with your husband?

Thank goodness for my husband… He’s so incredibly patient with me. I think he respects that this is more than just a passion and a job for me. It’s my life. I thrive on a beautiful paint color, cool retro antique find, and a cohesive color palette. He can see that I need to be doing this in order to feel fulfilled in life, so he is very supportive of my choices. That said, we still have a very collaborative process. If you were to follow us around at an antique store, you’d see me hold up various items to my husband and then you’d hear me ask him a quick, “Can I get this?” He usually says no, but every now and then he loves something I find, and that piece ends up being a shared favorite of ours. If I ever happen to bring something home that he genuinely hates (like the portrait painting of an old grumpy man that I bought on a whim on Etsy), I’ll usually put it in a room he doesn’t go in often, like my office, but I tend to eventually sell those pieces before too long. If he doesn’t love it as much as I do, then it doesn’t last in our home, but luckily, we generally gravitate toward the same things.

Where do you find inspiration? Other bloggers, media, books? 

It sounds cliché, but my inspiration really does come from all over. I love watching movies from the 1950s and ’60s for authentic mid-century design inspiration (my favorite is Sunday in New York), and current design shows on TV help guide my decor instincts, too. Something as simple as wandering around antique stores also fills me with inspiration. I might happen to come across a cool retro table lamp that was placed by chance for resale on an end table with traditional turned wood legs, and suddenly an idea for a whole new room makeover comes to mind. Catalogs from my favorite home decor brands also spark lots of ideas. Just the other day I made a DIY art piece using paint leftovers because of a photograph I saw in a Lulu & Georgia catalog.

Tell me about a “pinch me” moment for your blog. 

Hitting my 10-year blogging anniversary this past March was a big one for me! I’ll also never forget one evening about a year after starting my blog when my husband and I were lounging in our living room after dinner. I timidly brought up the idea of quitting the blog because I was feeling so insecure about how things were going. I was still working full-time in an office during the day, and dedicating every night and weekend to the blog. I was exhausted, and remember saying out loud to him, “If something big doesn’t happen this year, I think I need to start seriously considering letting it go.” A few months later, an email from Better Homes and Gardens popped up in my inbox. They wanted to do a feature about me in the magazine about a dresser I had made over using paint and a stencil. The dresser and I were photographed for the July 2012 issue of the magazine, and I’ve never thought about quitting the blog since then. It was the sign I needed to know I was on the right path.

Can you share a DIY “fail” you’ve experienced? 

My DIY fails almost always have to do with paint. I appreciate that paint is such a great resource for changing up a room or piece of furniture, but I loathe working with it. I remember I tried to create a faux tile effect in our old kitchen using thin masking tape and paint. I spent hours on it, and even roped my sister into helping me meticulously lay the tape in place. I painted over the tape, and when I went to remove the tape layer, all of the paint peeled off in giant sheets. It wasn’t a good evening. Moments like that really make you appreciate the projects that go right, though.

What’s next for Dream Green DIY/your home? 

It seems like 75 percent (or more!) of the news headlines these days are focused on climate change and the negative impact we’re having on the environment. It has really gotten me thinking about what changes I can make personally and professionally. I know I can’t change the world with my little blog, but I want to do all I can to help center the conversation on what we can be doing as homemakers to help support the planet. I’m planning on shifting the focus of my work to sharing teachable moments built on the concepts of sustainability and recycling. It feels like a natural extension of my brand since most people assume the “green” part of my blog name is actually about recycling, so I plan to really dive down deep into that conversation. I want to lead by example by shopping less in general (and when I do, to focus on longevity), opting for secondhand decor whenever possible, and providing inspiration for environmentally friendly cleaners, too. Again, I know I don’t have the power to start a crusade (I’m a hardcore introvert, after all), but I can start small and I can start somewhere. 

QUICK-FIRE

Favorite DIY project to date: The DIY platform deck we just built in our backyard! We completed it just this August, and it has really helped expand the livable footprint of our home.

Most treasured thrifted item: The secondhand mid-century starburst clock my husband and I found together (for just $12!) when we were still dating.

Favorite place to source vintage pieces: Circa in Charlottesville is one of my favorite resources. I go a few times a month because they always have new treasures to look through. Half of our house has been furnished and decorated with pieces I’ve found at Circa. The same goes for Galaxie Modern in Bedford, Virginia. I also love Greenwood Antiques & Uniques in Greenwood.

Currently on your wish list: New windows. I know that’s not the “sexy” answer, but I daydream about getting new windows for our very energy-inefficient mid-century home.

Favorite corner of your home: The dining room. My husband and I eat dinner together there every night, and it’s so gratifying to be able to look around at this home we’ve created. Our pets are constantly running around at dinner time, too, so our dining room is full of laughter. It’s my favorite corner, and my favorite time of day.

The folks at Visible Records want to lift artists up. To do so, they’ve had to slow things down. 

The newish art studio/gallery concept, backed by The Bridge/Progressive Arts Initiative and located in the former office space at 1740 Broadway St., opened last November. But the artist-run consortium, which highlights minority and low-income producers, still finds itself carefully navigating COVID-19 concerns. Organizers say they aren’t as far along in their mission as they might’ve expected at this point.

Visible Records’ studio portion—23 distinct spaces from 130 to 312 square feet in size—is less than two thirds full. And the gallery side saw its first exhibition open on August 6, nearly nine months after Visible Records’ first tenants took up studio space. “We’ve had no other option than to move really slowly,” says Kendall King, who heads studio operations.

But the slow pace has almost certainly been a blessing, King says. Building a community around the right artists takes time.

One of the firsts to use a Visible Records studio herself, King says the space has been invaluable in her own production of large-scale prints. She thinks other artists will benefit similarly—not only from the dedicated studios but also from the available common area, where they can collaborate and be inspired by others. “We give artists time and space to take stock of where their career is going.”

Getting into the studio is the first step, and Visible Records’ vetting process for new tenants is deliberate. Because the studio’s intention is to lift up marginalized artists, space is available by application only and has no set price. The community selects artists for inclusion based on fit—whether it be in terms of mission, medium, or demographic.

“We go through a process—everyone who applies that we also want to have as part of the community, we ask them what they can afford without impacting them negatively,” King says. “It might look like someone who helps doing work around the space. Or it might look like us raising money to help them.”

Fundraising has gone well, King says, largely because of Visible Records’ association with the established nonprofit Bridge/PAI. King doesn’t believe the consortium will be limited by money as it selects artists for inclusion in the near future.

King operates the studio space alongside another local artist-in-residence, Morgan Aschom, who acts as manager of the larger warehouse housing Visible Records. The multi-use space was converted after its former tenant, data management company Data Visible, closed in 2014. What remains is 55,000 square feet now encompassing Decipher Brewing, Grow Coral Reefs, Patois Cider, Metal Inc., A2D Appliance Sales, Dreadhead, The Freeman Artist Residency, recording studios, and other small businesses, in addition to Visible Records.

A separate team of local and regional arts industry insiders direct Visible Records’ gallery side, King says. The space’s first exhibit, which closed September 14, is Tiahue Tocha, featuring art by the Colectivo Rasquache. The artists have been unable to return to their home in San Francisco Coapan, a community in the volcanic region of the State of Puebla in Mexico, due to the pandemic.

“It’s just been going great—people are coming to see it,” King says. “The Rasquache collective is entirely aligned with our community. Every day when I come to [the gallery], I am moved and provoked thoughtfully by it again. There is such a range of mediums and contributions to it, but you can tell when you are in the space that these artists have the same energy and intent.”

Beyond its first exhibition, Visible Records has a full schedule lined up for the remainder of the year. Next up is the Freeman Artist Residency, running September 25 to October 30. Established by University of Virginia Professor Neal Rock, the residency program intends to lift up Black artists who are first-generation college graduates.

A solo exhibition featuring Fidencio Fifield-Perez will follow, from November 4 to December 11. Fifield-Perez lends his perspective as a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, to the debate over borders, edges, and the people passing them. Closing out the year and moving into 2022 will be a group exhibition of the current Visible Records studio tenants. The exhibit will open December 17.

With gallery operations scheduled for the foreseeable future, Visible Records can now continue the slow process of finding and vetting possible tenant artists. One remaining hurdle, King says, is that outsider artists often don’t know what’s available to them.

“We’ve subsidized, partially or fully, at least five artists here,” King says. “And we’ve always had at least a third of our artists partially or fully subsidized. I would urge people—if this is how you want to make your mark on the community—we are the place.”

Darryl Nelson Smith had never been in a play when he uprooted his Richmond life for an office gig supporting the Charlottesville theater community. He figured he’d take the job with Live Arts for a few years. Twenty years later, Smith is a pillar in local theater—on and off stage.

434: So what’s your ROLE at Live Arts? Lol.

Darryl Nelson Smith: I’m the box office manager, but I feel like I’m more like the face of Live Arts. I help with development and marketing and fundraising. I get to throw fun parties and do a lot of the community outreach. I can’t wait to have people back in the building. And, since we’re a 100 percent volunteer organization, I have been onstage in a couple of Live Arts shows.

If you’ve only recently been in productions, what brought you
to Live Arts in the first place?

A co-worker in Richmond was coming to do shows at Live Arts many years ago. I came to see one and fell in love. Then she took a marketing position here. One day, I got a phone call from her—”this might be weird, but we are looking for a box office manager.” Four or five months later, I packed up my suitcase and a moving truck.

What is it about theater you love?

The cool thing about theater is it is always growing and changing. At Live Arts, we do six or seven productions per year, and there’s great excitement around opening night. But then after four weeks of doing the same show, you’re a little tired of it. Then, there’s all of a sudden a new show and group of people to engage with.

How were you convinced to finally perform yourself?

I went to school for communications and advertising, and in Richmond I worked at museums mostly. But with Live Arts being a volunteer organization, someone was eventually like, “hey, by the way, we need a person and think you should audition.” I’d be like, “you’re crazy—I am not an actor.” But then after going out for a couple of beers, I’d be in.

What’s the last year been like for Live Arts?

We reinvented the wheel and did online shows—but you don’t get that immediate feedback you get with live audiences. We’ve also been doing dance parties to reach out and let people know we are here. It’s just kind of been like, “how can we engage the community?”

What’s the year been like for you personally?

After our doors had been closed for a year and a half, I honestly started to wonder if I could do it again. But I recently had a chance to go to New York and work with a former director of mine and run his box office. I got to do what I love, and I thought, “I can do this again.” I love the interaction with the public—that excitement of people coming to a show. It’s so magical.

What’s been one of your favorite moments as Live Arts box office director?

The last show before the pandemic was Men on Boats, which is an all female cast playing men characters. We ran for two weeks before the pandemic and kind of knew this was a big thing. For the last show, the audience just really wanted to be there and came to support us, and I think the actors felt the love. It was their last show, and they gave it their all.

What’s next for you and Live Arts?

I’m going to be here as long as they want me. But you never know. My life goal is to end up in a cabin in Canada somewhere.

Our first show this season is a one-man show, but we have three different actors available each night just in case. If someone gets sick, we have another actor who can go on. You can come three times and it might be different every time. We also have a big ol’ musical coming next summer. And I always say I won’t be onstage, but you never know. I say no, then I’m up there singing and dancing.

It makes up around 60 percent of the human body. It covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface.

And it makes up 100 percent of local Black-owned business Civil Water’s product portfolio. 

Good old-fashioned water—in bottles. No bubbles, no flavors, no harmful chemicals, no healthy minerals removed.

So what’s the big deal then? Barely 6-month-old Civil Water sells its liquid to wholesalers or direct-to-consumer only in aluminum bottles. The 12-ounce vessels are available online—and by subscription service—in 24-packs for $43.99.

“We’re in five states on the East Coast,” said Faith Kelley, one of two just-over-20-year-old founders running Civil Water out of a Charlottesville office. “As far as being in large chain stores nationwide, that’s more difficult. Our timeline is about a year or two.”

It’s tough to figure out how well Civil Water is doing relative to its competitors and the overall market, as data on packaged water material are scarce. But anecdotally, boxed and metaled water firms keep pouring out. Liquid Death, JUST Water, Open Water, Proud Source. Along with C’ville’s own, they’re all looking to irrigate a portion of the market.

“What makes Civil Water unique is a lot of people are really connected to the fact that we are local,” Kelley says. “And, only a few of the other aluminum bottled water companies are actually spring water.”

By any measure, aluminum is way more recyclable than plastic. Regulators and the packaged water industry have taken notice. Governor Ralph Northam signed an executive order on March 23 requiring executive branch state agencies to stop trafficking in single-use plastic water bottles, as well as disposable plastic bags, plastic, and polystyrene food containers, and plastic straws and cutlery. The gov gave necessary medical, public health, and public safety plastics some exemptions, but the agencies must phase out all non-medical, single-use plastic and polystyrene by 2025.

“About 9 percent of plastics that get recycled actually get repurposed,” Kelley says. “Aluminum is of course the number one most recycled material.” 

Kelley’s right, but it does take some effort to move aluminum down the recycling stream and get it back on shelves. She suggests taking your empty bottles directly to a recycling center, rather than throwing it in your single-stream bin. You have to be “religious about physically taking your items,” she says.

So what’s next for the self-funded, two-employee Civil Water? Kelley and co-founder Neil Wood are confident they can grow with demand—they contract with a third party to bottle their water, which they say is direct from an Appalachian Mountain source, and have plenty of capacity. They’re now looking for funding to expand, Wood says. 

“We want to be able to hit the huge retail chain stores to become accessible for everyone around the country,” Wood says. “And then from there, we will offer some smaller options for packaging.”

And what about those bubbles and flavors? “We actually haven’t thought about that,” Wood says. “There is a market for it. But we don’t drink it.”

Matthew Winston was thisclose to shutting down the candle-making business he’d recently started. The VCU grad had a degree in creative advertising, but couldn’t picture himself settling into a 9-5 job, so he turned his hobby into a business: The Win Candle. Hoping to drum up ome extra attention (“I would get a few orders here and there, but it just wasn’t enough,” he says), he turned to Tik Tok. 

“I posted a video about my parents offering to buy me more inventory and how I wasn’t getting any sales or visitors on my website,” Winston says. “Not even an hour later I went viral.” From that video, more than 300 customers bought up the rest of his inventory. 

Winston himself designs the labels, concocts the scents, and makes the candles—which have unique wooden wicks for a slower burn and wider fragrance throw—from his home with 100 percent virgin coconut soy. The Bonfire scent, with notes of spice, velvet woods, sugared vanilla bean, musk, and golden amber, is a bestseller (and his personal favorite). “It’s the perfect cozy candle,” he says. Bonus: The wooden wicks create a soft crackling sound similar to a fireplace.—CH

Like many people, Samantha Koon Jones found herself with a lot of time on her hands at the start of the pandemic. So she turned to reading. 

“I knew a couple of people on Bookstagram—a subgroup of Instagram users who post primarily about books and reading—and I liked the idea of keeping a virtual reading journal,” says Jones, who can be found @_bookstasam. “It’s all impossibly nerdy, but it’s also really, really fun.” We asked her to help stock our bookshelf for fall. 

My Heart is a Chain Saw by Stephen Graham Jones 

horror, literary fiction, Indigenous author

Seventeen-year-old Jade, a horror junkie and social outcast, is uniquely positioned to recognize when a series of murders in her small Idaho town start to mirror the opening scenes of one of her beloved slasher flicks. Stephen Graham Jones’ latest novel is a love letter to horror movies, a tongue-in-cheek homage that picks horror tropes apart and reassembles them as something totally new and socially relevant. Through the chaotic lens of gory slasher movies, Jones is able to direct our attention to the real-life horrors of colonialism, gentrification, and Indigenous displacement.

The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan 

literary fiction, Palestinian-American author

I’m a seasonal reader, and cozy fall weather has me reaching for a complex family drama to sink my teeth into. The Nasr family, spread out across the U.S. and Middle East for years, reconvenes one last time in Beirut when the patriarch decides to sell the family home. The Arsonists’ City is an intensely personal, timely novel whose strength lies in exceptional relationship-building and characters that are complex and beautifully flawed.

All’s Well by Mona Awad 

literary fiction, dark academia, speculative fiction, female author

What’s a fall reading list without a little dark academia? Miranda is a chronically ill theater professor hell-bent on putting on a production of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. The other stakeholders are more interested in producing the famously cursed Macbeth, but Miranda manages to secure a major donation from three mysterious benefactors to bring her dream production to life. All’s Well is a very weird but very engaging work of literary fiction chock full of Shakespearean references, black magic, and revenge.

Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght

nonfiction, white male author

Wildlife biologist Jonathan C. Slaght has devoted his career to the conservation of the elusive Blakiston’s Fish Owl, the world’s largest species of owl boasting a six-foot wingspan and native to Eastern Russia. His book, Owls of the Eastern Ice, is a fascinating blend of science and memoir. It will pique your interest in both the endangered owls at the heart of Slaght’s work and the remote forest in which they life. 

Here for It, Or How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays by R. Eric Thomas

memoir, humor, essays, gay Black author

R. Eric Thomas’ memoir-in-essays is laugh-out-loud funny, a coming-of-age story that perfectly balances humor with heart. The essays span the breadth of Thomas’ life, touching on everything from a summer spent shelving books at his school library to the awkward Thanksgiving dinner at which he introduced his white now-husband, a Presbyterian minister, to his extended family. Thomas touches on racism, homophobia, writing, and self-love all with his signature comedic flavor and wealth of pop culture references. (Thomas also performs the audiobook, and it is outstanding.)

The Secret Life of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

short stories, literary fiction, Black female author

The Secret Life of Church Ladies is a collection of nine short stories, all centered on Black women and their connection to the church, each in some way addressing the conflict between the protagonists’ wants and needs with the expectations of their faith. From sleeping with the preacher to caring for a difficult parent suffering from memory loss, Philyaw covers a lot of ground and reminds us that there really is no drama like church drama.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced so many to change their worklife. For some, it was working from home and Zoom meetings. For others, it was losing a beloved job and seeking employment elsewhere, or even in a new field altogether.

Then there are those among us who have taken on daring career pivots willingly. Those who have thrown caution to the workforce wind and charted a new course in life.

The following is a look at five folks who’ve forsaken longtime careers for new professional paths. Whether motivated by industry pressures, new perspectives, or milestone events, the pivoters all made opportunity out of change.

“The biggest thing I would say is people shouldn’t be afraid to pivot, especially this day and age,” says Justin Ide, who jumped helmet-long into firefighting five years ago after more than two decades working as a full-time photographer. “If you’re unhappy, just do it.”

Sing it on

Lora Kelley now knows what she wants. During the 18 years she spent working as a full-time hair and makeup artist, it was in the back of her mind. And when she and her husband, local photographer Eric Kelley, founded Grit Coffee (formerly Para Coffee) in 2008, it was in the back of her mind then, too.

“I want to write songs for other people and with other people that tell a truer story,” Kelley says.

In 2017, Kelley took a sabbatical from hair and makeup—doing other people’s, that is. Along with focusing on her music career, she needed a source of income to keep her on key. Enter trauma-informed story coaching. According to Kelley, the process involves understanding what your story is and working to become the person you want to be. To write herself into story life coaching, Kelley earned certification from The Allender Center at the Seattle School of Psychology and Theology.

Music, however, remained her passion. In 2015, Kelley released her first EP (a record including more than a single but less than a full album), titled Dusty Wheels, and a second self-titled EP in 2018. Now, she’s eyeing June 10 to release her first full-length record, a pop-county and Americana hybrid titled Domystique.

Kelley, who has three kids, cites Patty Griffin, Lori McKenna, Natalie Merchant, Joni Mitchell, John Prine, and Brandi Carlile as influences. Her style sometimes calls to mind Taylor Swift’s country catalog, but Kelley hopes her songs provide a perspective popular music often misses.

“I am not falling in love and breaking up, and I’m not going out drinking on the weekends—there’s not a lot of heartbreak,” she says. “When I’m cooking food for my kids in the kitchen, I want a song that makes me feel really good about the present moment I am living in instead of pining for something else.”

So, how does one become a sought-after songwriter working for and alongside the best in Nashville? Kelley knows she has dues to pay. She figures she’ll have to keep writing songs—many of them bound to be not-so-great—and getting better. 

“I’m still learning how to write them. I think my best songs are still to come,” she says.

In the Navy no more

Sherrod Fisher saw a lot as a 21-year Navyman. He did six deployments, three in the West Pacific and three in the Mediterranean. He was in the Middle East when Saddam Hussein was deposed as Iraqi dictator in 2003. He sailed
the Suez Canal. He supplied munitions for the United States’ “shock and awe” campaign during the Gulf War. He met Tom Cruise.

“I was an armament guy, aircraft armament, F-14s,” Fisher says, referencing the fighter jet featured in Cruise’s 1986 film Top Gun. “They were in [Naval Air Station] Miramar. It was something interesting.”

Fisher had seen enough after he’d served his time, though, and in 2010 he retired from the Navy. While simultaneously going through a tough divorce, he decided to go to college on the advice of a former lieutenant. He enrolled at South University in Richmond and took a few psychology classes. It might be a calling, he thought. In the Navy, he’d always been the guy people came to to talk about stuff, and he was a good listener. 

Fisher completed his bachelor’s degree in 2013, about the same time his oldest daughter graduated from the University of Virginia. He visited her in Charlottesville at the end of the semester and sat in on a psych class. It further inspired him, and he decided to pursue a master’s in mental health psychology, also at South University. He completed the degree in 2016. “Those were grueling years,” Fisher says.

He landed an internship in Richmond when he graduated, but found himself jobless for several months in 2018. “I am a praying man, and that was my time to get prepared for the next step,” Fisher says. “I stepped out on faith and said, ‘Lord, if this is where you want me to go, I’ll go.’”

Fisher put in an application with the Region Ten Community Services Board and has been an outpatient clinician working with children and families ever since.

Along his journey from longtime soldier to civilian, Fisher remarried his wife in 2014. It was another significant pivot for a man accustomed to taking them on.

“When I retired and divorced in the same year, that was pretty traumatic,” Fisher says. “But there was a silver lining to all of that. It was like the beginning.”

Out of the vault

Crystal Napier had enjoyed a steady, nearly 10-year career in banking when she started work on her master’s in business administration. She completed the degree in 2013 and continued on in her career. The MBA could only improve her prospects as she climbed the banking ladder, and her future was bright.

But in 2014, she lost her steady job, and went straight to work trying to find a new banking gig. A grad school project had stuck with her: While working toward her MBA, she’d created a business plan for a fashion boutique and personal styling agency. Her husband suggested she stop the job search and pursue her passion.

“I just didn’t realize it was a sign for me to start,” Napier says. “Once I did, I just got out there.”

Napier leveraged a severance package from her previous job, personal funds, revenue from a rental property, her husband’s income, and belt-tightening to make ends meet while she struck out on her own way. Her goal? Help women—regardless of body type—dress themselves professionally and confidently without spending a fortune.

Napier launched Renee’s Boutique with a Facebook page in 2014 and a website in 2015. She traveled around Charlottesville and eventually up and down the East Coast, working directly with clients and hosting pop-up retail events. By mid-2015, she had enjoyed enough success to open a brick-and-mortar location on Water Street. The storefront stood for more than a year, but Napier pivoted again in late 2016, going back on the road for pop-ups and traveling sales and consultation.

In 2018, while six-weeks pregnant, Napier and her husband were involved in a bad car accident. “I was not able to do pop-up shops at all in 2018,” Napier says. “That was a tough year.”

She got back on her feet in 2019, and changed her business model again to focus on online sales and fashion consultations out of her home. She launched virtual styling sessions. The business model, along with several successful grant and loan applications, turned out to be one that would help her fight through the economic hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was very tight for our last year, and it’s been a lot of sacrifice,” Napier says. “It’s been a learning curve, but when you are an entrepreneur, there’s always going to be something.”

Flexibility is key

Allie Redshaw didn’t wait long to get back in the kitchen after a workplace accident took her hand in March 2017. But things weren’t the same. After an accomplished career as a chef, she was frustrated by not being able to take 100 percent ownership of her plates from start to finish.

Then, a culinary schoolmate and friend nudged Redshaw into what would become her new career. She gifted Redshaw a year of classes at Hot Yoga Charlottesville, where Redshaw says she was welcomed completely.

“I was in a fragile place,” Redshaw says. “But even if I wasn’t in a class, I loved being in the community and with the people. Everyone knew what my arm looked like, and I didn’t have to hide it. That led to learning cool ways my body could adapt.”

Redshaw was pregnant at the time of her accident but leaned hard into her yoga practice after the birth of her second child in 2017. She listened to her body and learned adaptations, she dove into the spiritual side of yoga, and she embarked on yoga instructor training. Redshaw reached out to other amputee instructors and attended a yoga retreat exclusively for amputees. She eventually discovered the limitations her right arm brought could actually be a blessing in a sport that focuses on inclusion and mindfulness.

“I liked that I could be a representation of difference,” Redshaw says. “Mindful practices…aren’t just for able-bodied people or skinny people.”

Redshaw now leads several classes per week at Hot Yoga Charlottesville and expects to teach more as people return to their regular schedules post-pandemic. Still, she retains her passion for cooking. Soon after her accident, she earned a sommelier certification to bolster her hospitality resume on the wine side, and more recently, Redshaw and husband Ian, also a well-regarded local chef, launched a catering business, Sumac Supper Club.

Never one to sit still, Redshaw also works at yoga retailer Lululemon and is nearing certification as an Ayurveda health practitioner. Ayurveda, which originated in India hundreds of years ago, is a wellness therapy combining yoga practice with a mindful approach to what we put in our bodies.

“I am so grateful that two things that have always been loves and passions of mine—food and yoga, being present in our bodies—have met in the middle to create this perfect place for me,” Redshaw says. “I am grateful for my past and where it has gotten me.”

Photos to fires

The Boston Herald had 37 staff photographers in 1999. That’s the year Justin Ide made the number 36 by leaving the coveted job.

“When I left, they all said, ‘What? Are you crazy?’” Ide remembers. “I wanted to do something else.”

The craziest thing? It was a minor career change in the scheme of things. After leaving the Herald, Ide took a job taking pictures for Harvard University. He worked at Harvard for 12 years before his wife’s career as a hospital administrator brought the couple to Charlottesville.

Ide wasn’t able to snap up a new staff photo gig in C’ville, so he did some freelance work and ended up hanging around the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department. He liked the vibe at the firehouse, but he was nearing 50 years of age, and firefighting is known as a young man’s game. Still, maybe Ide had stumbled on his new path.

“One day I was talking to a career guy—Crozet didn’t have any career guys in the fire department, but he was there for something,” Ide says. “And he said, ‘Hey, Virginia is a right to work state. If you get all the certifications, they can’t not hire you.’”

Ide earned his emergency medical technician certification and got a job with UVA’s Medic V rescue team. Then, it was on to firefighting training. Ide was 51 by the time he began; some of his fellow trainees were as young as 19. Still, he persisted. And he was eventually hired by the Waynesboro Fire Department.

“The biggest thing about it is not so much in the daily stuff. During a fire, all hell is breaking loose for the first five minutes, and then it’s fine,” Ide says. “But we would go to certain trainings and things, and the 19-year-olds could do physical exercises repeatedly without a pause in between. When you’re 50-something, you need that pause.”

With more than 20 years of professional photography under his firebelt, Ide still misses taking pictures for a living. But firefighting’s on-and-off work schedule gives him time to pursue his passion, and he’s brought some of his skills to the firehouse, as well. He’s only a few classes short of a master’s degree in public information and serves as an informal public information officer for the Waynesboro FD.

“I’ve created a good working relationship with the local media,” Ide says. “It’s been a great addition, bringing my previous job experience to the forefront in this job.”

Greg Breeding’s art has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, easily. It’s traveled across the entire country. You might even have some in your house. But you might not know it—because Breeding’s art is approximately one square inch.

Breeding, president, co-founder, and product studio director for Charlottesville’s The Journey Group, designs postage stamps. Since 2013, he’s served as one of four art directors contracted to the U.S. Postal Service, honoring everything from stage magic and dragons to Jimi Hendrix and Batman.

“The opportunity to design a stamp is on most every graphic designer’s bucket list,” Breeding says. “We like to say that they are ‘miniature works of art.’”

Art directors supervise every aspect of a stamp’s design. Sometimes, Breeding secures image rights, selects artwork, and arranges type to create the stamp himself. For other assignments, he figures out what look the stamp needs, finds the right artist to collaborate with, and helps them create the final images. 

“Even when we commission artists, we are still melding the original art into the stamp format with special consideration to typography, color, cropping, and how it all comes together,” Breeding says. He and his artistic collaborators often toil on a stamp for a year or two to meet the USPS’s demanding standards.

Getting artists comfortable with such a tiny canvas can be a challenge, Breeding says. But the small size, he says, “encourages us to explore new ways of creating innovative design while also being visually accessible to the public.”

Breeding grew up in Bristol, Virginia, cultivating a love of art alongside his dad, who painted for fun. While studying at what’s now VCUArts in Richmond, Breeding kindled a passion for Swiss modernist design that continues today in his annual vacations to Switzerland. (He also loved the “Batman” TV show as a kid; getting to design those stamps in 2014 to honor the character’s 75th birthday, he says, registered an 11 on an excitement scale of 1 to 10.)

The past few years haven’t been kind to the postal service, and Breeding says stamp design can only do so much to help: “While it’s true that postage stamps have high visibility to the public, the related revenue isn’t significant to the bigger issues.” 

But Breeding’s doing his part, both artistically and commercially. Since he started designing stamps, “I make it a part of my business life to write more postcards and notecards, especially to thank our colleagues and clients,” he says. “I have come to deeply appreciate a handwritten note.”