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Welcoming<br />
Diversity<br />
At Cracker Barrel Old Country Store ® , we think a key to our success<br />
is welcoming diversity in our company, our country stores,<br />
our restaurants, and our communities.<br />
crackerbarrel.com • © 2012 CBOCS Properties, Inc.
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Best-in-class mentions based on BMW X1 xDrive28i versus Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 4MATIC and Audi Q3 2.0T quattro.<br />
©<strong>2017</strong> BMW of North America, LLC. <strong>The</strong> BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.
welcome<br />
HEAD OF VIDEOGRAPHY<br />
CHRIS HOLLO<br />
I can’t remember ever not<br />
being a photographer, even<br />
before I even knew it was<br />
possible to make a career out<br />
of it. In high school, I took<br />
photography classes and was<br />
on the annual staff. Creating<br />
images for the school yearbook<br />
was my first taste of real<br />
photography experience, in fact<br />
- outside of capturing whatever<br />
spoke to me creatively.<br />
In college, while earning<br />
my business degree, I took every available opportunity to venture over<br />
to the art department. My spare time was spent in the university’s<br />
darkroom, experimenting and honing my craft. <strong>The</strong> photography<br />
classes were all taught through the art department, which was a<br />
blessing because I learned from and studied the masters. Over time,<br />
however, I began veering away from creating fine art images and more<br />
toward exploring commercial work. It wasn’t until many years later,<br />
after I began working commercially, that I realized just how important<br />
learning to be an artist would benefit my commercial career.<br />
At the end of my junior year in college, my photography professor<br />
referred me to a local commercial photographer who was looking for a<br />
full-time assistant. I got the job and - alas! - I learned photography was<br />
a viable career choice. It was news to me, but good news it was.<br />
I worked for and studied under one of the best photographers in<br />
Nashville for two years, taking all my remaining classes at night so<br />
that I could continue to absorb everything. Two years later, when I<br />
had taken in all he could teach me, I went out on my own and never<br />
looked back.<br />
Photography has always been my most cherished creative outlet.<br />
It’s a way to express myself, to earn a living and, most importantly,<br />
help a client realize their vision. I’m a craftsman, a technician, a creator<br />
and a problem-solver. Every assignment is different, every client is<br />
different and I like it that way. Being able to photograph 72 pairs<br />
of ski gloves for a catalog one day and a medical helicopter (while<br />
flying alongside in another helicopter, over the beautiful Smokey<br />
Mountains!) is truly amazing.<br />
I’ve been on assignment in 45 U.S. states, as well as internationally.<br />
I have photographed celebrities in my studio and in the privacy of their<br />
homes. I have worked in Carnegie Hall, the New York Stock Exchange,<br />
Royal Albert Hall in London, and been the house photographer at the<br />
Grand Ole Opry for 17 years. What a ride!<br />
I’ve been self-employed for almost 30 years, receiving numerous<br />
awards for both photography and film making, teaching college-level<br />
photography and video production and having served on the national<br />
board of a photographic trade association.<br />
I love being discovered by new clients and getting the chance to<br />
help them achieve their goals, and I am honored to be the newest team<br />
member of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Connect</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>.<br />
PUBLISHER, CEO<br />
ERIC JORDAN<br />
ejordan@theconnectmagazine.com<br />
PARTNER<br />
DR. EDDIE D. HAMILTON, MD, FAAP<br />
MANAGING EDITOR<br />
LACEY JOHNSON<br />
ljohnson@theconnectmagazine.com<br />
COPY EDITING INTERN<br />
MADISON YAUGER<br />
DIRECTOR OF VIDEOGRAPHY<br />
CHRIS HOLLO<br />
HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
BARBARA POTTER<br />
bpotter@theconnectmagazine.com<br />
PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
DEVIN WILLIAMS<br />
NATHAN ZUCKER<br />
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT<br />
CAROLYN MCHANEY-WALLER<br />
Carolyn.waller@zeitlin.com<br />
DIRECT CONNECT<br />
SUSAN VANDERBILT<br />
susanvanderbilt@entreesavvy.com<br />
SENIOR WRITERS<br />
DR. MING WANG<br />
JACKIE NENTWICK<br />
JOE SCARLETT<br />
KEELAH JACKSON<br />
SHAWN WHITSELL<br />
TONI LEPESKA<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS<br />
CAT HAMM - Photography from EC<br />
CATE BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY - Gerry Fernandez<br />
GRAHAM HONEYCUTT - Empowerment<br />
JOSHUA MACLEOD - Growability/Business<br />
JAMES BANKER PHOTOGRAPHY - <strong>The</strong> 6 Words That Changed My Life<br />
JESSICA STODDOM PHOTOGRAPHY - Mixtroz<br />
ZACH WATSON - JumpCrew<br />
DIRECTOR OF SALES<br />
ERIC JORDAN<br />
PUBLISHERS AND SALES REPRESENTATIVES<br />
Help Wanted: Join Our Team<br />
ALABAMA FLORIDA<br />
GEORGIA KENTUCKY<br />
LOUISIANA MISSISSIPPI<br />
TENNESSEE VIRGINIA<br />
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES<br />
advertise@theconnectmagazine.com<br />
If you would like to write an article for our next issue, please contact<br />
Lacey Johnson for editorial inquiries @ ljohnson@theconnectmagazine.com.<br />
“PUTTING YOUR BUSINESS IN CLIENTS’ HANDS”<br />
4 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
CAN CHANGING YOUR DEFINITION OF SUCCESS<br />
MAKE YOU MORE SUCCESSFUL?<br />
SOMEONE ONCE TOLD me their three ingredients<br />
for success were patience, perseverance and luck. I<br />
suppose this can be applied to any profession. But<br />
my wish is for readers of <strong>The</strong> <strong>Connect</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> to<br />
challenge and redefine their definitions of success.<br />
I was raised by an incredibly strong single mother. I<br />
remember asking myself as a kid, “Why does my mother<br />
have to work two or three jobs just so we can eat?” Despite<br />
how difficult it was, she always encouraged my siblings and<br />
me to make good decisions and “aim for the stars.” I recall<br />
her telling me that I could do anything - if and only if - I put<br />
my mind to it.<br />
While growing up, I didn’t realize how powerful her<br />
words would prove to be. I made some poor decisions in<br />
my youth, but I believe those mistakes were the building<br />
blocks to my success. I clearly remember my loving mother<br />
repeating her three ingredients for becoming successful: First,<br />
she told me to always take care of my children and “Don’t be<br />
like your daddy.” (I heard this one quite often.) Second, she<br />
instructed me to secure a respectable job and focus on myself.<br />
Third, she told me to take care of my wife so that she would<br />
never have to work as hard as my mother did.<br />
Those are all great traits to have and I somehow assumed<br />
if I followed them, I would live a “successful” life. I learned<br />
it isn’t so simple.<br />
My world changed drastically several years ago when a<br />
good friend challenged my definition of success. He asked<br />
me, “Eric, What’s your purpose and passion?” I was so<br />
focused on living a “successful” life that I had no idea what I<br />
was meant to accomplish while on Earth.<br />
After some thought and more living, I realized success is<br />
more than having a certain amount in your bank account or<br />
reaching a particular career height. Successful living to me,<br />
in the broadest sense, means a life led by my spirit, being<br />
unafraid to try for new opportunities, spending time with<br />
those I most care about and living without regrets. In the<br />
Christian Bible, Matthew 16:26 says: “For what will it profit a<br />
man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what<br />
shall a man give in return for his soul?” I live by this concept.<br />
Taking a bold leap of faith while listening to the whisper<br />
of my spirit was my first step toward living a successful life.<br />
Starting <strong>The</strong> <strong>Connect</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> has been one of the most<br />
rewarding endeavors I’ve ever been a part of. Changing<br />
lives, creating jobs, building communities and speaking to<br />
souls are all priceless endeavors, which is why I continue to<br />
enjoy working with individuals such as my Managing Editor<br />
Lacey Johnson. We both share the same passion and love for<br />
believing in the greater good and empowering others. This is<br />
invaluable to me.<br />
Looking back, if that same friend were to ask me my<br />
three ingredients for success, I would now say to him, with<br />
confidence: First, believe in something more powerful<br />
than you. Second, trust the process. And, finally, surround<br />
yourself with only positive and uplifting people.<br />
I believe it is more important to keep your focus on your<br />
long-term goals than to profit immediately by nickel-anddiming<br />
your customers to death. I pride myself on giving<br />
our readers, who are still becoming acquainted with us,<br />
inspiration and valuable information - for free. I am also<br />
grateful to my mother, who taught me the importance of<br />
loving and respecting others.<br />
I’ll conclude this message with a quote by Vincent Van<br />
Gogh: “Love many things, for therein lies the true strength,<br />
and whosoever loves much performs much, and can<br />
accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”<br />
CEO/PUBLISHER<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 5
14<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />
Cover Story 24<br />
SPIRITUAL MASTERMIND DEEPAK CHOPRA ON<br />
HOW TO CREATE AN EXTRAORDINARY WORLD<br />
This globally-renowned superstar has a special message for every<br />
questioning and suffering heart.<br />
Features 14 THE ANTHEM OF GIGI BUTLER: FROM FALLEN DREAMS<br />
IN NASHVILLE TO NATIONAL CUPCAKE SUPREMACY<br />
24<br />
She went from rags to reigning culinary queendom.Here’s how.<br />
18 MIZTROZ: THIS MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO IS<br />
PUTTING THE QUALITY BACK IN CONNECTIONS<br />
<strong>The</strong>se two fierce female entrepreneurs bravely and daringly<br />
carved their own pathways to success (and they’re hooking<br />
you up with sweet connections as a result).<br />
48<br />
30<br />
CEIBA ART GALLERY OFFERS STUNNING CELEBRATION<br />
OF LATIN AMERICA & BEYOND<br />
35<br />
WHAT NEW YORK CITY TAUGHT ME ABOUT<br />
LOVE & HUMANITY<br />
In all of its cosmopolitan and frenetic glory, the Big Apple never<br />
stops teaching us this.<br />
42<br />
LAUNCH TENNESSEE MADE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL<br />
SPLASH WITH THEIR 36|86 CONFERENCE<br />
It was a hot soirée of goals, networking and visionaries.<br />
44<br />
WELLNESS EMPEROR DR. JOSH AXE ON MAKING<br />
IMPACT OUT OF PERSONAL TRIALS<br />
This internet-viral health guru almost lost his mother to cancer,<br />
but it gave him a purposeful life.<br />
48<br />
Columns 10<br />
36<br />
38<br />
41<br />
WHY CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE IS ESSENTIAL<br />
FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO THRIVE<br />
Is your lack of cultural acceptance and understanding plaguing<br />
your professional growth?<br />
WALKING INTO YOUR DESTINY GRACEFULLY<br />
It’s high time you admit that you deserve the fruits of<br />
your hard work.<br />
HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BRAND ON SOCIAL<br />
MEDIA WITHOUT FEAR<br />
You’ve created something awesome. Don’t be afraid to tell<br />
everybody about it.<br />
THE GREAT JUGGLING ACT: HOW WORKING<br />
MOMS STRUGGLE TO BALANCE CAREER<br />
& MOTHERHOOD<br />
TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO HELP THOSE IN NEED<br />
You may have no idea how far and deep your support will reach.<br />
44<br />
30<br />
COVER PHOTO: DEVIN WILLIAMS<br />
18<br />
47<br />
GET OFF THE STAGE AND GET IN THE MOMENT<br />
by <strong>The</strong> Daily Doll<br />
Let us live a little, and stop worrying so much about proving to<br />
others how magnanimously we are living.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Connect</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> is a quarterly lifestyle publication and online media<br />
source committed to engaging our diverse audience through empowering and<br />
impactful stories of entrepreneurs, young professionals and businesses in pursuit<br />
of creating positive ripples throughout the world, through efforts large and small.<br />
42<br />
6 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
At Holler & Dash, we’re about the experience that comes with it.
EMPOWERMENT<br />
WRITTEN BY: KEELAH JACKSON<br />
SUPPOSE THE DAY has come - finally - when you know your<br />
career dreams are manifesting into reality. <strong>The</strong>re are no more<br />
doubts that you have “done the work,” and now it is time to<br />
accept your evolved and professionally-actualized self.<br />
Psychologists have long attested that the process of selfactualization<br />
occurs when all components of development and existence<br />
collide to form the perfect opportunity for one to become who he or she<br />
was innately meant to be - mentally, physically and emotionally.<br />
It is well understood that the process of accepting a surreal<br />
professional actualization may be overwhelming; it may even take your<br />
breath away. You are the resulting embodiment of your blood, sweat,<br />
and tears: your hard work. So, what does that mean precisely, and what<br />
exactly does that look like?<br />
<strong>The</strong> key of the glory is to flow with what you have fundamentally<br />
intended. Move in tandem with the energy of being the success you are.<br />
You set and worked toward the intention of succeeding, and you have<br />
done just that. Congratulations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> proof is “in the pudding,” and you could not have made it<br />
happen if you weren’t fully capable of triumph. Don’t underestimate<br />
your strengths any longer, and put your vulnerable insecurities to bed.<br />
Indeed, you must be responsible for yourself to know your human<br />
limitations, but - note to you - beyond infinity is your limit.<br />
Savor and appreciate your moments of manifestation, while going<br />
beyond them, by employing the following strategies:<br />
1 DON’T DISCOUNT THE POWER OF A VISION BOARD<br />
Perpetuate and further develop your business and personal objectives<br />
by using a vision board. Vision boards, literal areas where you display<br />
specific images or scenes of the objects or lifestyle of your desires, are<br />
amazing tools for assisting one’s brain in visualizing the career, lifestyle,<br />
and personal goals of his/her dreams.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y are extremely powerful in attracting the desires of your<br />
attention, but they help in generating new aspirations, too! As long<br />
as you truly believe that you can accomplish or attain whatever those<br />
visions are, you can bring them to life! Your visual images posted to<br />
the board should be placed in a prominent spot for daily viewing, and<br />
you should mentally stay in the space of believing for bigger and better<br />
experiences and expressions of who you essentially strive to be.<br />
2 DRESS AND ACT HOW YOU WISH TO BECOME<br />
Live impeccably in all facets of your career development and<br />
organization. Support your professional victories by utilizing great<br />
marketing and branding techniques–consistently present yourself in<br />
the most desirable way to communicate that you are extraordinary!<br />
It’s perfectly okay to advertise your entire professional skillset, so<br />
please do. Reside in the successful frame of mind. Dress for success.<br />
Plan like a boss!<br />
Stay on top of the savvy business trends, and by all means, remain<br />
grounded. Keep a strong team of like-spirited individuals around you to<br />
support and hold you accountable for being balanced and ethical in your<br />
pursuit of continued success.<br />
3 NEVER BE TOO ARROGANT TO BE ADVISED<br />
Be confident but remain humble, heeding the advice of sage professionals<br />
who’ve paved the way in your specific arena of success. Sound business<br />
advice helps you to navigate the scene in your field of expertise.<br />
Once you’ve “arrived”–which there’s absolutely no such thing, by<br />
the way–is certainly not the time to acknowledge others’ golden nuggets<br />
of advice and experience that have been shared to you beforehand. Let<br />
their pitfalls be your prep notes. Take the wisdom of others’ mistakes and<br />
advice, and allow the information to show you how to become the best<br />
version of yourself!<br />
4 ENCOURAGE & FEED OTHERS FROM YOUR FRUIT<br />
Serve as an asset to your circle of existence. Now that you have brought<br />
your initial business dreams to fruition, you are in a fantastic vantage<br />
point to inspire and encourage others to do the same. Become a strong<br />
asset to your business circle, community, family, etc., and lead by<br />
example. Help those who need guidance, and give back abundantly by<br />
means of mentoring and volunteerism.<br />
5 KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DESERVED IT<br />
Accept your mantle of greatness. Know that you do deserve to succeed!<br />
While some (or many, depending upon how many competitors<br />
you have) may have spoken negatively over your dreams and goals<br />
throughout your professional journey, brush the dirt off of your<br />
shoulders and walk bravely into your destiny.<br />
If you’ve enduringly burned the midnight oil and made the<br />
sacrifices, then bask in the shine of success! It is yours for the taking.<br />
Ultimately, congratulations are in order for your professional<br />
manifestations! You have bravely maneuvered the endeavor of<br />
determination that so many have continually forfeited through lack of<br />
faith in themselves. Gratefully (and gracefully) assume your seat at the<br />
proverbial table.<br />
Job well done, my friend!<br />
10 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
New York Times Best-Selling Author<br />
Patti Callahan Henry’s<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Bookshop at Water’s End”<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON<br />
EVERY HEART HAS a point of geography it is stirred to call<br />
upon - a place that holds a space of comfort, enchantment or<br />
unanswered questions. For some, it is the playground where<br />
nets were cast into the hot air, anchoring dreams and fireflies<br />
alike. For others, it is a park set in the spring, where they<br />
forever remain a young lover - blood pumping unscathed and whisked<br />
by fantasies of what is sure to stretch on boundlessly.<br />
For New York Times Best-Selling Author, Patti Callahan Henry,<br />
it is a cabin near Cape Cod, Mass., where she spent her childhood<br />
summers trampling through the woods and learning to sail. It is<br />
where she credits her “great love of story” for having been given<br />
breath. Upon revisiting the cabin as an adult, Callahan discovered the<br />
landscape to be rich with memories that had never lost their pulse<br />
- rushing to greet her as if to say, “We have been waiting for you.<br />
Welcome at last.” Through this experience, the inspiration for “<strong>The</strong><br />
Bookshop at Water’s End” tugged at her, demanding to be filtered<br />
through her consciousness and creative interpretation.<br />
Engaging and wistful, this quintessential summer novel is set in the<br />
Low country of South Carolina, and offers three first-person points<br />
of view. An exploration of the nuances of friendship, desire, grief<br />
and regret, partnered with secrets locked up tightly and murmuring<br />
to be pulled to the fore, it is - ultimately - about the rediscovery and<br />
resuscitation of self.<br />
“Originally, I was holding ideas for two entirely different books. But<br />
it was as though they came together one night and shared a moment of<br />
alchemy under the moon. Through that merging, this book was born.<br />
It was both magical and therapeutic for me,” says Henry.<br />
A synergistic dance of poignant and redemptive, it will unearth you<br />
and assuage you. You will melt into every scene like an old love letter<br />
your heart thought it had forgotten but never did, and savor every page,<br />
bite-by-bite, like a beloved recipe from childhood you never want to end<br />
12 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
INSPIRING SUCCESS STORY<br />
14 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
INSPIRING SUCCESS STORY<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CHRIS HOLLO<br />
THE MOST POWERFUL moments in our lives often find<br />
us in dark alleys, sneaking upon us in the form of an<br />
unsuspecting “what if?” And, if we listen long enough to<br />
be lured by its song, and then pursue its message, we are<br />
sometimes led to extraordinary places. This is a tune the<br />
Oklahoma-born Gina “Gigi” Butler, Founder of the nationally-famous<br />
cupcake empire Gigi’s Cupcakes, knows by heart. She followed this<br />
question through the dirt-kicking lows of bank loan denials, personal<br />
struggles and an album’s worth of pitying “bless your heart”s - rising<br />
straight into the apex of cupcake supremacy.<br />
But it all started with a simple phone call.<br />
It was Labor Day weekend 2007, and Butler was in a quiet<br />
house, back bent over and surrounded by piles of sponges and<br />
rags. Scrubbing toilets by day and mic in hand by night, she had<br />
devoted the decade prior to aspirations of singer-songwriter<br />
stardom in Nashville, Tenn. Having migrated to Music City<br />
in her teens, time had turned the dream from exhilarating to<br />
cruelly elusive.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, a 32 year-old woman with no interest from label<br />
executives, she was forced to make peace with knowing her<br />
dreams of chart-topping and touring had fallen on deaf ears.<br />
Instead of sharing the stage with the likes of Leann Rimes<br />
and Taylor Swift, she was dusting their book shelves. Her<br />
most applause-garnering performances would be played as<br />
“Gigi the cleaning lady” - or, so she thought.<br />
In the midst of scrubbing, Butler’s phone buzzed - her<br />
brother’s name lighting up the screen. Answering only to<br />
tell him she was busy, he presented her with a thought<br />
that was soon to grant her an entirely new storyline.<br />
“He said, ‘Hey, I’m in New York, and I just spent two<br />
hours standing in line for a cupcake that’s not as good<br />
as yours or mom’s. Why don’t you open up your own<br />
shop there in Nashville?’ It sounded silly at first, but<br />
something told me to listen,” says Butler.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re began resounding in that space a giant,<br />
reverberating “what if?” - one that amplified in a<br />
way no others had before. Entertaining it with<br />
subtle curiosity, she followed the idea until it<br />
led her to staring at her own reflection in the<br />
bathroom mirror.<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 15
INSPIRING SUCCESS STORY<br />
IT CAME FROM SOMETHING BEYOND ME. I TOLD MY<br />
FAMILY THAT GOD HAD SHOWN ME A GLIMPSE OF WHAT WAS<br />
TO COME, AND THEY THOUGHT I WAS OUT OF MY MIND.<br />
“I remember tossing my hands up into the air. I had my cleaning<br />
gloves on” says Butler. “I looked square into my own eyes and said, out<br />
loud, ‘Well?! Why not me?’ I had already failed at my first dream, so I<br />
thought I may as well give another one a shot.”<br />
Two days later, she found herself staring into a bank wall, nervously<br />
shifting in her chair while trying to convince the powers that be to<br />
grant her a business loan. “<strong>The</strong>y all laughed in my face like I was a crazy<br />
person. A cupcake shop was a joke to them,” says Butler.<br />
After her fourth denial, she turned to cash advances on her credit<br />
cards - $100,000 worth, in fact.<br />
And, with every passing day, the vision for her brand began finding<br />
its rhythm. She decided she would not merely offer up her delicious<br />
gourmet confections to the masses. Rather, she was going to serve up a<br />
harmony of joyful creations. Calling upon her family history of talented<br />
bakers, Butler drew inspiration from the recipes that most stirred her<br />
- some of them 100 years old - and funneled them through her own<br />
interpretations. Each cupcake would first be prepared with the finest and<br />
rarest ingredients and then, similar to the production of any well-written<br />
song, arranged and styled to have its own unique personality and story.<br />
But, for a season, this was a dream only Butler could see. “Looking<br />
back, I think a lot of people felt sorry for me, almost like they thought<br />
it was a desperate move. Some of my cleaning clients would say, ‘Oh,<br />
honey, we’ll buy a dozen from you.’ <strong>The</strong>y were sincere in their support<br />
of me, but I think there was a lot of ‘bless her heart’ in it, too,” she says.<br />
Butler describes the moment she selected her first store location,<br />
on Broadway in downtown Nashville, as “an overwhelming out-ofbody<br />
experience.”<br />
While standing in the parking lot in front of the empty space,<br />
flashes suddenly raced through her mind like a music video montage.<br />
“I could see myself in the kitchen baking and swirling frosting. I<br />
could see crowds of people forming. I just knew I didn’t need to look<br />
anywhere else,” says Butler.<br />
And, much like the songwriting legends who claim to have been<br />
struck by the uncanny inspiration for writing an unforeseen hit, Butler<br />
felt she was possessed to realize this dream. “It came from something<br />
beyond me. I told my family that God had shown me a glimpse of<br />
what was to come, and they thought I was out of my mind,” she says,<br />
with a laugh.<br />
<strong>The</strong> night before her opening day, Butler admits to having spent it<br />
curled into a fetal position - shaking under her bed sheets. “I hardly slept<br />
at all. I was shivering and terrified because I had no clue how I was going<br />
to get customers to come to my store,” she says.<br />
<strong>The</strong> following morning, February 21, 2008, Butler said a prayer, tied<br />
herself into the cupcake-themed apron her mother sewed for her, flipped<br />
on the overhead lights and unlocked the doors - a mere $33 in her<br />
checking account. A $15,000 drywall bill playing in her head like a sour<br />
note, there was not a dollar to spare for advertising.<br />
But, within one week, small lines were forming. By summer,<br />
they were stretching out of the door - rivaling the kind seen at the<br />
legendary Bluebird Cafe where she once channeled dreams of catching<br />
her big break.<br />
“I never imagined I could love anything as much as I loved music. It<br />
was my dream since I was 7 years old,” says Butler. “But I fell even more<br />
in love with this. <strong>The</strong> truth is I still pinch myself sometimes.”<br />
When asked if there is one word or phrase that would serve as the<br />
title track for the day she gave birth to Gigi’s Cupcakes, Butler smirks<br />
softly. “It could only be ‘Hold on,’” she says, while launching into a<br />
string of staccato-like chuckles. “That day defined my life because even<br />
though I didn’t know how I was going to pull it off, I had the bravery<br />
and tenacity to get up and open my doors on that scary morning.”<br />
And that tiny location on Broadway would prove to be no onehit-wonder.<br />
It has been almost a decade since that “scary morning” of uncertainty<br />
and, at the time of this writing, those 100-year-old recipes are being<br />
served up at more than 120 store locations across the United States.<br />
And, even sweeter, Butler’s appeal has gone beyond those seeking an<br />
indulgent sugar fix. She made quite an impression with viewers for her<br />
2015-appearance on the CBS show “Undercover Boss,” and her success<br />
has been featured in a multitude of major media sources.<br />
Upon being asked what she most wants people to understand about<br />
her, Butler glances downward at her hands for a moment before locking<br />
eyes with me sweetly. After a tender pause, she says: “I want to set an<br />
example for all women - one that says, ‘If one dream dies, just get back<br />
up and try something else. But, don’t you dare give up on yourself.’”<br />
And, much like the hook of a heart-gutting country song that stays<br />
with you - looping in your head long after the stage has broken down,<br />
Butler serves up an unforgettable dollop of candidness: “I didn’t have a<br />
granddaddy giving me a trust. I had no hand-outs and no silver spoons.<br />
You can have a good idea, but lots of people have those. If somebody<br />
thinks they’re above working hard day after day, then they’re not cut out<br />
for success,” she says.<br />
She then adds, “I’ve cleaned 65,000 toilets in my life for goodness’<br />
sake, and now I’m the queen of cake. I still have the aching knees and<br />
calluses on my hands to show for the sacrifices I made to get here.<br />
It’s such an incredible rush to think about, but it wasn’t an easy road.<br />
Nothing worth having ever is.”<br />
Butler may have paved one remarkable empire with her signature<br />
swirl, but she isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Currently developing<br />
her own line of bakeware and in early discussions about a television<br />
program, she is also in process of writing a book, set for release in the<br />
spring of 2018. <strong>The</strong> book is said to be a page-turner - an unfolding<br />
of her redemptive story, with each chapter concluded by a life lesson<br />
and a recipe. It will be heaping with melodious narratives and sweetly<br />
unsolicited wisdom, Gigi-style.<br />
“Look, I don’t want to be sittin’ on a porch at 90, asking myself ‘what<br />
if?’ God gave us all an amazing spirit, and you have to listen to what it’s<br />
trying to tell you,” says Butler, leaning coolly in her chair.<br />
And, then, I guess you better hold on.<br />
16 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
TECHNOLOGY<br />
Is Putting the Quality Back in <strong>Connect</strong>ions<br />
WRITTEN BY: TONI LEPESKA<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: JESSICA STODDOM<br />
ASHLEE AMMONS SCANNED the room for colored dots.<br />
A 27-year-old former college cheerleader, radio disc<br />
jockey and sorority sister who’d been groomed for New<br />
York on a diet of Sex and the City episodes, she loved<br />
the city’s fast pace and fashion sense. She had organized<br />
events with Oprah Winfrey and Leonard DiCaprio in attendance. She was<br />
known as “Ashlee at TAO,” a reference to a big-deal luxury hospitality<br />
company. In five years, she’d gone from being an executive assistant for one<br />
of its owners, Noah Tepperberg, to director of events. Ammons was wellconnected,<br />
but she felt she needed to diversify her contacts. That led her to<br />
being reduced, one day in the fall of 2014, to looking for dots that matched<br />
hers on nametags at Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Life in NYC conference,<br />
where the billionaire founder of Spanx was the keynote speaker.<br />
“So,” Ammons paused for effect, “you’re supposed to look at a<br />
woman’s breast area and strike up a conversation at lunch about nothing.<br />
That’s the scenario that got my mom and me talking. We decided there’s got<br />
to be a better way.”<br />
On the telephone line, the mother-daughter duo cooked up an<br />
idea. <strong>The</strong>y left their jobs, cut back on pedicures and became first-time<br />
entrepreneurs in a man-dominated industry.<br />
“We aren’t what people expect when they see companies like this,” said<br />
Ammons. “But we don’t believe in a ‘pity party’ – oh, we’re women, and<br />
oh, we’re black. No, we’re smart business women.”<br />
Capitalizing on their social experience in building relationships and<br />
unintimidated by stereotypes, the admitted extroverts created Mixtroz – a<br />
marriage of the words “mix” and “introduction.” It’s a conferencing app<br />
that even a breast cancer diagnosis could not stop.<br />
“No one does what we do,” said Ammons’ mom, Kerry Schrader, 55,<br />
who believed so much in their product that she pitched the app from an<br />
operating table. “We bring people - not profiles - together.”<br />
Ammons, who was raised in Ohio and will be 30 years old this fall,<br />
is Schrader’s first born. For four years after her divorce, it kind of felt like<br />
the two of them against the world. Schrader remarried when her daughter<br />
was 8, but the intensity of their connectedness remained unbreakable. After<br />
Schrader finished raising her girl, she was able to be something other than<br />
18 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
TECHNOLOGY<br />
a mom – a “bestie,” she said. Schrader had moved to Franklin, Tenn., near<br />
Nashville, and Ammons was in New York. <strong>The</strong>y talked by telephone on a<br />
regular basis at night after every workday.<br />
On the evening of Nov. 9, 2014, Schrader was considering a lifealtering<br />
career move. Her human resources career had spanned more than<br />
25 years, however, since planning a dinner party for friends at a local Italian<br />
restaurant, she’d felt an inclination for a different vocation. She’d always<br />
loved planning fun events for friends, but this one had gotten especially<br />
high praise. <strong>The</strong> restaurant Schrader had selected seated 75 people, and she<br />
was able to swing getting 40 seats. She coordinated all the invitations and<br />
arrangements. Though she loved the work, she started thinking about easier<br />
ways to bring people together.<br />
Schrader shared her thoughts with Ammons on the phone that night,<br />
but they decided event host was not exactly the route to take. Instead, they<br />
conceived Mixtroz.<br />
<strong>The</strong> duo formed their LLC in January 2015, and signed with<br />
California-based developer AppNexio. Experiencing FOMO – the fear of<br />
missing out on something great - Ammons left her beloved New York<br />
and moved in with Schrader in Franklin. That October, Mixtroz became<br />
available for free download at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.<br />
<strong>The</strong> app only works at an event site. Schrader calls it a “virtual nametag,”<br />
and it works like this:<br />
Event hosts or sponsors purchase Mixtroz for attendees. Upon arrival,<br />
attendees download the app, complete a virtual nametag and answer 10<br />
customized, multiple-choice questions. At a designated time, such as at<br />
lunch or during breakouts, the app will notify an attendee what group of<br />
three to 10 people he or she has been paired with, with the assistance of the<br />
answered questions, and identify a group meeting location. Once all group<br />
members arrive, the app provides icebreakers to spark conversation. “With<br />
a group, it’s more likely you’re going to hit it off with someone,” Schrader<br />
said. “Individual engagements can be awkward.”<br />
Its creators say Mixtroz increases conference engagement, and thus<br />
provides a more fulfilling experience for the attendee and gives conference<br />
hosts data to help plan future events.<br />
Dawn M. Schenkel, the owner of a wedding planning business and on<br />
the board of the International Life Event Association, showcased Mixtroz and<br />
used the app for one of the ILEA meetings in February. With so many using<br />
ILEA to network, the app was ideal to highlight. “Typically, you’re trying to<br />
walk up to random people, constantly. It gets old,” Schenkel said. “In this<br />
particular case, my attendees didn’t just stand there awkwardly. <strong>The</strong> app<br />
guided us through conversations. People loved connecting with people they<br />
would never have connected with on their own.”<br />
Ironically, mother and daughter want to use technology to remedy<br />
the disconnection that they believe technology is causing. “Technology<br />
is eroding people’s ability to make a true connection,” Schrader said. “As<br />
efficient as it is, it can be ineffective and damaging.”<br />
Schrader even called the phenomenon “the erosion of mankind.”<br />
Admitting what a big statement that is, she emphasized the importance<br />
of body language and necessity of looking people in the eye for effective<br />
connectedness. Mixtroz utilizes technology as a tool, rather than as a<br />
replacement, for connectedness. <strong>The</strong> app prompts actual face-to-face<br />
meetings. That’s true connectedness. That’s quality communication.<br />
“People may have a ton of Facebook connections and LinkedIn<br />
connections,” Ammons said, “but they’re not useful if you can’t go to an<br />
individual. We offer quality connections.”<br />
Schrader, who gave up paying for landscaping services and cut back<br />
on salon visits to fund Mixtroz, was so convinced of the app’s capabilities<br />
that even a health scare didn’t diminish her enthusiasm. She said she was<br />
diagnosed with breast cancer with “zero, zero symptoms” almost a year<br />
after brainstorming the product and was “being rolled into surgery. I<br />
pitched the idea of using Mixtroz at medical conferences in the operating<br />
room. Counting on my faith, family and friends, in that order, Mixtroz was<br />
the next thing that kept me focused and not dwelling on cancer.”<br />
Six weeks of radiation followed, and Schrader never took a day off.<br />
Schrader’s and Ammons’ laser focus continues daily at their Franklin<br />
home, a city they believe makes it easier to make their mark. Ammons hopes<br />
to eventually travel for pleasure, but for now the business takes priority. “If<br />
you’re going to be involved in a startup business,” she said, “there is no<br />
part-time to it. Your startup is your boyfriend. Your life. Your everything.”<br />
Interestingly, Mixtroz connected the mother and daughter in a way<br />
they’d never before been connected. Now business partners, they believe<br />
they’ve got an ideal work relationship in hand.<br />
“You have to find a co-founder you love and trust,” said Schrader. “I<br />
had to create my own.”<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 19
COVER STORY<br />
24 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
COVER STORY<br />
SPIRITUAL MASTERMIND<br />
DEEPAK CHOPRA<br />
ON HOW TO CREATE AN EXTRAORDINARY WORLD<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON<br />
Deepak Chopra Has a Special Message For Every Questioning and Suffering Heart<br />
THE YEAR WAS 1993. A 46–year–old Dr. Deepak Chopra<br />
was cozied in a chair next to Oprah Winfrey on the set of<br />
her television show, guiding her through an experiment<br />
as she dangled a string from her thumb and forefinger.<br />
<strong>The</strong> goal was to expose her mind’s ability to control the<br />
direction and movement of the metal pendulum on the end of the string.<br />
As it circled and swung from left to right, he coached her, saying, “Your<br />
expectancy determines outcome.” As the audience offered up a choir of<br />
faint gasps and chuckling in response to Winfrey, Americans watched<br />
from their living rooms, also accepting the invitation for the potentiality<br />
of taking reign over their own minds and – ultimately – their lives. “This<br />
is living proof that every cell in your body is eavesdropping on your<br />
internal dialogue,” said Chopra.<br />
Shortly thereafter, the India–born doctor, who arrived to the United<br />
States as a newlywed with only $8 in his possession, and whose<br />
disenchantment with western medicine had lured him to a path of<br />
alternative medicine, became a worldwide superstar. His first book,<br />
“Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: <strong>The</strong> Quantum Alternative to Growing Old”<br />
began vanishing from bookstore shelves. In the years that followed, he co–<br />
founded <strong>The</strong> Chopra Center, a wellness center in Carlsbad, Calif., authored<br />
more than 80 books (many of which are New York Times best–sellers),<br />
won an Ig Nobel Prize and become known for his ever–growing celebrity<br />
clientele and collaborations – including Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson,<br />
Madonna and many others.<br />
If all of the world is a bounding main of opportunity and Chopra is in<br />
the deep, spiritual enthusiasts across the globe are casting their nets, hoping<br />
to draw from his fluent wisdom. But, in his most recent book, “You Are<br />
the Universe,” he says the transformation process you desire not only<br />
emanates from you, but actually is you.<br />
What if all of nature as you perceive it – from the sunlight coming<br />
through the trees by day to the stars lit up against the blackness by night –<br />
is your own reflection waving back at you? From the disk–shaped structure<br />
of the Milky Way to the innumerable galaxies that overwhelm you to<br />
imagine. With Earth’s abundant wonders – from its volcanic–sand beaches<br />
in Santorini, painted deserts in Arizona, coral reefs in Belize and rain forests<br />
in Bali. Where the squirrels are at play, the ocean is swallowing and the<br />
blades of grass dance in response to the breeze. Where you are stunned by<br />
the jaw–dropping sight of an amber–painted sky.<br />
This Universe you call home – with its broad strokes and short stops,<br />
the goals you achieve and the ones you fail miserably at. <strong>The</strong> love that<br />
can never be encapsulated or defined, the hope that carries you and the<br />
inspiration that tugs at you. But also the vices you wrestle, and the aches<br />
and ailments you medicate. <strong>The</strong> light and the darkness – what if you are<br />
not of it; you are authoring it? Which is also to say you are the co–creator<br />
of that which you choose to experience and see. What if you are not a<br />
helpless victim being shuffled and spun through its frames, but the director<br />
of a participatory movie?<br />
Continue reading for my intimate Q&A with the incomparable author,<br />
speaker and healer, where the veil of our human constructs are lifted, and<br />
truth and beauty know no confinements, no defiances and no notions<br />
of contrast. Where you, too, may silence the chatter of your limitations,<br />
magnify your heart’s most impassioned reveries and create for yourself an<br />
extraordinary world.<br />
ON CULTIVATING PEACE VS. CHAOS<br />
JOHNSON: What do you believe creates for a person either a life of<br />
peace or one of perpetual chaos – whether it be in career, health or<br />
personal relationships?<br />
CHOPRA: Peace is everyone’s ground state of being. When the ground state<br />
of being wants to have an experience and know itself, it has to be disturbed<br />
– into thought, feeling and perception. So everything we call an experience,<br />
whether it is an experience of the world, of your own body, of your<br />
personal relationships or social interactions, these are modes of knowing<br />
that arise through our ground state. Depending upon how you interpret and<br />
respond to an experience, it can either cause chaos in your life, or a greater<br />
and more beautiful awareness and discovery of self. But, you choose.<br />
JOHNSON: What, then, is the direct cause and remedy<br />
for stress in our lives?<br />
CHOPRA: Stress is just the perception of an experience that is threatening.<br />
Whether you perceive being physically, emotionally or psychologically<br />
threatened, it disturbs the spontaneous expression of your ground state,<br />
which is always moving effortlessly in the direction of perfect harmony,<br />
joy and flow. That flow is only impeded when one resists an experience.<br />
JOHNSON: Do you believe resistance is the cause of all ranges of<br />
discomfort – from mere annoyance to crippling grief?<br />
CHOPRA: Resistance is when anticipation overshadows being present or<br />
regret overshadows acceptance. Ninety–nine percent of people are in chaos<br />
or feel stressful about certain situations because of thoughts and perceptions<br />
that overshadow their true being, which is never anything but peace and<br />
the awareness of joy.<br />
JOHNSON: How can we begin to see ourselves as more than our<br />
circumstances and emotions?<br />
CHOPRA: What we feel is nothing more than a state of consciousness.<br />
What we call the world is just you and I experiencing. It is not the same<br />
universe for me as it is for a dolphin or a crocodile or a bat. If I showed<br />
you a book, you would tell me it was a book. If I showed you my<br />
hand, you would tell me it is a hand. But all of these things are human<br />
constructs. <strong>The</strong>y are not the same thing to an animal as they are to you.<br />
Anything that you can describe or define – from human bodies to<br />
galaxies – those are human constructs. But, those concepts are not the same<br />
to another species. For example, the dog in the White House doesn’t know<br />
he is in the Oval Office – or even that its label is “dog.” <strong>The</strong> word is a human<br />
attribution. And, going deeper, you don’t even know what you look like to<br />
the dog. To it, you have a completely different perceived biological structure.<br />
JOHNSON: I subscribe to the idea that everyone lives in their own dream,<br />
yet we often think that others live in that same dream. We are then<br />
surprised when others don’t understand or perceive things as we do. But<br />
what, do you believe, is the fundamental nature of this world we live in?<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 25
COVER STORY<br />
CHOPRA: <strong>The</strong> fundamental nature of the universe is just consciousness. It is<br />
the state of being aware and observing. In the deeper reality, there is no mind,<br />
no body and there are no human constructs. <strong>The</strong>re is only consciousness<br />
modulating itself through various modes of knowing, which we then created<br />
civilizations out of and science out of and technology out of that. <strong>The</strong> human<br />
universe is created in human consciousness, and mine is not the same as<br />
yours. <strong>The</strong> world as you know it is not quite the same world as I know it.<br />
Reality cannot be a system of thought, whether religion or philosophy,<br />
because they are only systems of thought. Reality can only be that which is<br />
right to the thought itself.<br />
ON BEING FREE FROM THE TRAPS OF NEGATIVE<br />
HABITS & LIMITATIONS<br />
JOHNSON: In your current book, “You Are the Universe,” you<br />
state that paradigms are “self–fulfilling.” This resonates with me,<br />
as I see limiting beliefs as somewhat of a fun house that distorts our<br />
perceptions, yet we sort of trap ourselves in. If this is true, it also means<br />
the only way out is radical change as a result of being angered or ruffled<br />
in some way – the sort of “jumping out” process you discuss in the<br />
book. How does one “escape” a paradigm that is creating the perception<br />
of lack or suffering?<br />
CHOPRA: This is where self–reflection and self–inquiry must come in. This<br />
is also where the desire for transcendence comes in. Through this, you can<br />
gradually begin to loosen the hold of your conceptual frameworks, which<br />
are programmed through your conditioning. This conceptual framework<br />
comes from literally centuries of conditioning, which are formed through<br />
the repetition of prior conditioning processes. <strong>The</strong>y come from parents,<br />
religion, culture, economics and personal experiences.<br />
JOHNSON: If our paradigms are products of our conditioning and<br />
we are gliding along in our behaviors and acting out through them<br />
and because of them – not knowing we are creating frustration<br />
and limitations for ourselves – how does one stop the madness and<br />
recondition themselves?<br />
CHOPRA: <strong>The</strong> first step is to challenge your habitual certainties. And, you<br />
have to continue doing this throughout every moment of your life. You<br />
have to question everything you believe to be true. Every thought you<br />
have is a reflex of another thought. Rumi talked about how one will stay<br />
in a prison when the door is wide open. But the door and prison are both<br />
invisible, so they only stay in prison because of their conditioning –<br />
a prison that never was at all.<br />
ON ENRICHED LIVING VS. MERE EXISTING<br />
JOHNSON: You speak about the dangers of anticipating and always<br />
living in a place of planning for the future. In a world that is always<br />
inviting us to build and plan, how do we remain fully in the “now”?<br />
How do we silence the rushing surge of energy that is always yanking at<br />
us to achieve and attain more?<br />
CHOPRA: You just have to be here now, all of the time. It starts by simply<br />
asking yourself, in every moment and wherever you are, ‘Am I aware? Am<br />
I here?’ Otherwise you die not having lived.<br />
JOHNSON: What was your inspiration for writing “You Are the<br />
Universe”? Why did you feel the world needed this book?<br />
CHOPRA: I have been jousted by scientists for much of my life. I have<br />
been called a pseudo–scientist, a charleton and all kinds of names. At one<br />
point, I stopped taking it seriously. But then I met Menas Kafatos, who is<br />
a quantum physicist, a cosmologist and a professor of physics, who also<br />
understands consciousness. I told him, “I want to write a book about<br />
consciousness that includes science in such a way that no one can attack it.”<br />
I knew that if I alone wrote it, some people would discredit it. I wanted to<br />
make sure the science was correct in the book, while also creating a book<br />
that takes the reader beyond science. <strong>The</strong>n, I sent it to a few others, making<br />
sure the science was so correct that it could not be questioned. But my goal<br />
was to go beyond the science. Reality is not something that can be accessed<br />
through science. It can only be accessed through self–awareness.<br />
ON HONING THE POWER OF WHO YOU REALLY ARE<br />
JOHNSON: What do you believe is humanity’s greatest hang–up in<br />
regard to living successfully?<br />
CHOPRA: Success has become sort of an overrated term because a lot<br />
of people who are perceived as being successful are unhappy. When I<br />
was practicing medicine, this was true for me, as I was struggling with<br />
stress and cigarettes and occasionally alcohol. It was non–stop with<br />
patients who were also unhappy and, being a student of philosophy and<br />
meditation, I was unfulfilled and knew I had to create a shift. Money and<br />
certain occupations are frequently interpreted as success, but I think it is<br />
more important to shift your focus to the pursuit of excellence and joy,<br />
day–to–day. <strong>The</strong> experience of success will follow.<br />
JOHNSON: What steps can one take to anchor excellence?<br />
CHOPRA: To begin, you should find harmony with the rhythm of the<br />
Universe. This can be achieved through proper sleep, meditation, yoga,<br />
good nutrition, spending time in nature, healthy personal relationships and<br />
experiencing emotions such as love, joy, gratitude and compassion. <strong>The</strong>n,<br />
you must remember that you are a field of pure potentiality. You do not<br />
have to force anything at all. <strong>The</strong>re is infinite power and the ability to fulfill<br />
all desires imbedded in your consciousness.<br />
JOHNSON: If you could make a blanket statement speaking directly to<br />
every suffering heart in the world, what would you say?<br />
CHOPRA: <strong>The</strong> only solution to your suffering of any kind is to become<br />
acquainted with your true self – the one beyond your ego mind. You are<br />
not your thoughts. You are not your fears. You are not your adversities.<br />
Those are just a part of your conditioned mind, which is not you at all. You<br />
are the consciousness behind all of it. Once you know this, it is powerful<br />
because you can begin to choose whichever thoughts and perceptions you<br />
desire. <strong>The</strong> entire world as you perceive it will follow.<br />
26 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
COVER STORY<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 27
NASHVILLE<br />
IS CHANGING.<br />
LEAD THE<br />
WAY WITH US.<br />
Belong to a network that shares your values.<br />
Engage in opportunities you’re passionate about.<br />
Lead on issues critical to your future.<br />
Prosper as a region.<br />
nashvillechamber.com
ART<br />
CEIBA ART GALLERY OFFERS STUNNING<br />
CELEBRATION OF LATIN AMERICA & BEYOND<br />
T<br />
O CALL THE newly-opened, Latin-inspired Plaza Mariachi in<br />
Nashville, Tenn. “stunning” would be the understatement<br />
of the decade.<br />
Simply walking through the “streets” (which are<br />
actually hallways named like streets) of the establishment<br />
is a rare cultural experience to be had in Nashville. <strong>The</strong> décor borrows its<br />
style from traditional old Mexico marketplaces.<br />
Patrons who visit Plaza Mariachi experience interesting varieties of<br />
art, culture, history, live entertainment, fashion and retail - all under<br />
the confines of a single roof. <strong>The</strong>re is an assortment of restaurants and<br />
shops, as well as a stage and two radio stations. It’s quite an upgrade for a<br />
building that was once a Kroger grocery store.<br />
Among the cool and eclectic things to be found at the plaza is the<br />
small, elegant Ceiba Art Gallery, which serves as a temporary home for the<br />
works of local and international artists.<br />
Jorge Yances serves as the curator and director of Ceiba. Yances is a visual<br />
artist from Colombia, who arrived in Nashville as a 13-year-old in the 1960s.<br />
When the gallery opened in May <strong>2017</strong>, it launched with an exhibit<br />
of Yances’ Colombia-inspired architectural paintings that pay homage to<br />
his home city, Cartagena, as he fondly remembers it as a child. <strong>The</strong> year<br />
1966 specifically makes multiple subtle appearances in his work to mark<br />
the year he came to Nashville. A depiction of ropes and cables also play<br />
significant roles in this collection, which ultimately represents how all<br />
human beings are connected - our stories all roped and tied together.<br />
<strong>The</strong> collection, which is used for teaching about Colombia, has traveled all<br />
over the world and been shown locally at the Parthenon and Fisk University.<br />
WRITTEN BY: SHAWN WHITSELL<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: DEVIN WILLIAMS<br />
Aside from his own art, Yance is armed with a mission to show the<br />
best art Latin America has to offer, with plans to bring in pieces from<br />
Colombia, Mexico, Cuba and Argentina. However, Yances makes it clear<br />
that, though the main concept is to share Latin American culture, the<br />
gallery will have a broad reach. <strong>The</strong>re are plans for expanding to other<br />
countries and cultures next year, in fact.<br />
Yances says running an art gallery isn’t easy, but running a good art<br />
gallery is even harder.<br />
“Artists are everywhere. Finding the right art and the right people to<br />
share the work of the culture, that’s the challenge,” he says.<br />
After running two art galleries and curating more than 200 shows in<br />
the past, Yances seems like the man for the job. It’s no mystery why the<br />
Plaza Mariachi owners chose to partner with him.<br />
“I’m passionate about arts, about culture,” says Plaza Mariachi owner<br />
Diane Janbakhh, “and I wanted to make sure people in the Nashville<br />
community got a different take on art. I wanted Latino art and Latininspired<br />
artists to celebrate and expose their work so that it would be a<br />
part of the larger artistic community.“<br />
Janbakhsh says she wants to use the gallery to tell stories and inspire<br />
the artist in all of us.<br />
“I think everyone is an artist,” says Janbakhsh, who is also a<br />
musician and dabbles in painting. “<strong>The</strong>re should not be hidden artists.<br />
I think everyone should get time to exhibit their work and teach others,<br />
and inspire that love of art.”<br />
For Janbakhsh, this also means teaching children and “raising that<br />
ceiling of awareness.”<br />
30 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
ART<br />
Janbakhsh admires Yances for his ability to create powerful, thoughtprovoking<br />
art, and his strength for bringing ideas together to “create a<br />
space where people are free.”<br />
Of the gallery and vision she shares with Yances, she says, “You<br />
leave the world behind and you’re transported into such a peaceful<br />
place, where you are free to dive into each painting, each work of art<br />
and let your imagination run wild.”<br />
“Art is freedom,” she says.<br />
Yances, who is responsible for making the magic happen at Ceiba, has<br />
a long love affair with art that started even before he came to Nashville.<br />
Though he never received what would be classified as “formal” art training,<br />
Yances claims to have been molded by the special, unique and talented<br />
artists that were put in his path. This includes an aunt who painted with her<br />
Included in the installation are bags, boxes and suitcases that represent<br />
moving. <strong>The</strong> boxes are red, white and blue, which represent the American<br />
flag. <strong>The</strong>re are also hanging pieces of red, white and blue glass that<br />
represent the blood, sweat and tears of those who have inhabited the land.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is a mirror so that those looking at the installation can see their<br />
reflection, thus making them a part of the piece.<br />
Additionally, there are green, black, yellow, blue and red rings that<br />
represent the continents. <strong>The</strong>n, there are chains that represent the enslaved<br />
Africans, who Yances notes are the only people who were forced to come to<br />
America. <strong>The</strong> piece itself is a glorious representation of the American story.<br />
Of the gallery, Yances says his vision is expansive, as he plans to<br />
continue showing meaningful art and telling powerful stories on an<br />
increasingly broader scale.<br />
ARTISTS ARE EVERYWHERE.<br />
FINDING THE RIGHT ART AND THE RIGHT<br />
PEOPLE TO SHARE THE WORK OF THE<br />
CULTURE, THAT’S THE CHALLENGE.<br />
hands and made brushes out of her hair. She taught him how to mix colors.<br />
Recognizing that he comes from a family of artists, “Somehow, maybe<br />
it’s in the blood,” he says.<br />
An installation that sits in a corner of the gallery is a particularly<br />
eye-catching piece that was originally inspired by Yances’ journey from<br />
Colombia to his current life. However, the work morphed into something<br />
more universal, becoming about everyone’s journey in America.<br />
“We are all immigrants, even those we call “natives,” he says. “We all<br />
come from somewhere else.”<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 31
EMPOWERMENT<br />
THE 6 WORDS<br />
That Changed<br />
My Life<br />
WRITTEN BY: GRAHAM HONEYCUTT<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: JAMES BANKER<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s a problem with the brain.”<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s a problem with the brain,”<br />
she repeated.<br />
YES, THOSE ARE the ones: <strong>The</strong> six words that changed<br />
my life - spoken by our ultrasound technician during<br />
our daughter Mikayla’s 20-week ultrasound. And, they<br />
would send us on a journey to further ultrasounds and<br />
a battery of tests that would ultimately lead us to a<br />
heartbreaking diagnosis.<br />
<strong>The</strong> words the doctor uttered when she delivered the diagnosis are<br />
forever emblazoned upon my memory: “Your daughter has a condition<br />
called Dandy Walker Syndrome. She has excessive fluid that has built<br />
up in her brain and has formed a cyst. It is a rare congenital brain<br />
malformation. Your daughter has a one in four chance of surviving this<br />
pregnancy to full-term. If she does survive the pregnancy, she will most<br />
likely have significant special needs. It is my legal obligation to inform<br />
you of your right to terminate this pregnancy.”<br />
As soon as “terminate this pregnancy” left her mouth, the room<br />
fell dead silent. <strong>The</strong> moment had swallowed up all of the meaningless<br />
pleasantries and polite conversations we had on a daily basis. Every word<br />
that followed was exponentially important. Everything had new meaning.<br />
Miraculously, my wife and I had the clarity of conviction through prayer<br />
to decide that we were going to keep this child. No matter the challenges,<br />
we were going to give this child her best chance at life. We called the doctor<br />
back in and told her, affirmatively, “We are keeping this baby.”<br />
But, the story doesn’t end there.<br />
Looking back on this day, I am still certain it was the most<br />
frightening of my life. I have never been struck with the feeling of<br />
devastation I felt that day, nor have I since. I was delivered brand new<br />
reality - never again would I be the same.<br />
But, what I thought would be the worst day of my life turned out<br />
to be the best thing that ever happened to me. In the weeks after the<br />
initial diagnosis, I knew I had a choice to make: I could either view my<br />
daughter’s life as a blessing or as a burden. I chose the former.<br />
My daughter Mikayla did survive the pregnancy, and I resolved<br />
to continually view her life as a blessing - no matter the trials. It was<br />
a decision I would later coin as the “blessing choice,” which is the<br />
decision to view something that most people would view as a problem,<br />
rather, as an absolute blessing.<br />
Her life has sent me on a journey of seeking more meaning and<br />
purpose in my own. Her life is a testimony to possibility, and her<br />
progress is a testament to the refusal of giving up. Most of all, it attests<br />
that comparison to the lives of others’ is the grandest thief of joy.<br />
My daughter’s happiness and joy are innate despite her “special<br />
needs” - not because ignorance is bliss, but because she doesn’t pursue<br />
anything outside of herself to make her happy. Her success lies in<br />
her significance to others instead of her personal achievements. She<br />
has taught me that real humility comes from recognizing my own<br />
brokenness - something I can’t fix on my own - and that my beliefs<br />
will limit my potential if I let them. Life happens through me; it doesn’t<br />
happen to me.<br />
Traditionally, blessings are viewed as gifts given or bestowed, but<br />
I have come to believe that blessings also come from the choices we<br />
make in our perceptions. Making this “blessing choice” has allowed<br />
my life to expand in its richness. I launched a new business and career,<br />
embarked on a health journey of dropping 40 pounds, found deeper<br />
faith and better relationships - amongst other positive changes. Living<br />
successfully, I have learned, is a matter of shifting your perceptions and<br />
adopting the “blessing choice” for all areas of your life.<br />
Starting today, what will you resolve to look at differently? What<br />
change in perception can propel you forward into new and positive<br />
changes - in your life and business? What obstacles are you allowing to<br />
remain in your way to achieving personal growth and development?<br />
<strong>The</strong> answers to these questions may have surprising and positive<br />
consequences for your life. Be open to them.<br />
Graham Honeycutt is a life coach<br />
& motivational speaker from<br />
Nashville, Tennessee.<br />
He helps solopreneurs launch<br />
and grow their personal brand.<br />
You can find out more about him<br />
and his business at<br />
www.grahamhoneycutt.com.<br />
32 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
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TRAVEL<br />
WHAT NEW YORK CITY TAUGHT ME ABOUT<br />
Love & Humanity<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON<br />
THE FIRST TIME I landed in New York City, it was a<br />
shivering Monday in January 2002. I was a curious and<br />
wide-eyed 21-year-old from Nashville, Tenn., tagging<br />
along with my attorney father who was there to meet with<br />
Jessie Jackson - “Reverend,” as my dad called him - about<br />
a case they were collaborating on. My perception of the city - in all of its<br />
cosmopolitan and frenetic glory - was as green as it was glittering.<br />
We took a train in from Long Island to Grand Central Station,<br />
and then a cab to Rockefeller Center for lunch. Upon finishing our<br />
sandwiches, we zipped ourselves into our coats and boarded the subway<br />
for the site of what - only months prior - had been the World Trade<br />
Center. I wanted to offer up my veneration to what had provoked so<br />
many episodes of sobbing in front of my television.<br />
But, what we arrived to find was more than a harrowing image - one<br />
that transcended the visual evidence of ruin.<br />
I could feel the residuum of unanswered questions hovering over<br />
those bulldozers as they combed through the wreckage. My father and I<br />
gazed out - both speechless - at the jagged stacks upon stacks of rubble -<br />
piles of cement, dust and steel, now home to a graveyard of stories.<br />
I imagined all of the feet swarming those grounds on that clear, blue<br />
morning just months before. Many suited up, briefcases and cups of<br />
coffee in hand with opulent dreams they presumed would stretch on far<br />
into the future. Some fresh to American soil - still learning the language<br />
and wondering where their aspirations would take them. Strategies<br />
made, never to be executed. Evening dinner plans never to be fulfilled.<br />
Apologies they had yet to make, but planned to.<br />
It stirred me so painfully and poignantly. I was spooked by thoughts of<br />
Manhattan’s force of bustling ambition suddenly melting into the percussive<br />
cry of nonstop sirens and the terrifying sight of billowing smoke.<br />
We wandered across the street from the wreckage and took notice of<br />
the countless signs taped everywhere. <strong>The</strong>y were spread like quilts across<br />
fences, brick walls, lampposts and parking signs - collages upon collages<br />
of faces and names marked “missing.” Many were stained and tearing in<br />
corners. Some were accompanied by withered bouquets of flowers.<br />
“Please call if you see...” the words pleaded - urgent desperation<br />
bleeding through all of them. I noticed splatterings of melted red and<br />
white wax along the sidewalk - lingerings of the candlelight vigils held in<br />
the weeks and months prior. I remember my cold tears hitting my gloves<br />
as my hands clutched a fence railing. That moment was like a “crossing<br />
over” - the moment I fell in love with the resilient spirit of New York City.<br />
Later that day, I fell even harder when a store clerk in Midtown<br />
Manhattan chased us three blocks in rush hour, waving his arms and<br />
announcing, “Sir, sir! You left your credit card on my counter!”<br />
And, again when we wandered over to Hell’s Kitchen after the sun fell<br />
below the skyline and I was served a slice of cheesecake and a cappuccino<br />
that arrested my tastebuds in such a way that it forever tainted my opinion<br />
of any confection or coffee sip I’ve had or will have since.<br />
In the years that followed, I became a writer and returned several<br />
more times for my own business trips. I again wandered over to what<br />
had been that pile of rubble, admiring and offering up my reverence to<br />
a gorgeously-constructed memorial site. And, still, with every visit, my<br />
admiration only continued to form new branches - hovering over the<br />
city’s skyscrapers and twinkling lights.<br />
I would swoon with fervor over and over.<br />
I fell for its nooks of literary camaraderie, especially the ones<br />
inviting essay and poetry readings. For the darling charm of Chelsea.<br />
For the ornery grump handing me a delicious slice of greasy pizza<br />
in Greenwich Village. For the cobblestone streets of TriBeCa. For the<br />
eclectic vibe of Soho. For the rooftop views. For the clusters of teenagers<br />
on the subway and their feats to simultaneously applaud yet trump one<br />
another’s performances. For the collective brilliance and eccentric history<br />
contained within the Museum of Modern Art.<br />
But, as much infatuation as I formed for all of those things, none of<br />
them compare to what I grew to love most - what I grow to love still.<br />
I continue to fall in love not just with New York City itself, but with the<br />
city’s ability to challenge the depth of my relationship with being human.<br />
Because, whether it be a deli in Soho or a market in Chinatown, I<br />
know I can find rare and magical forms of beauty hanging out in corners.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y are always there - waiting to be marveled at or arrested by or dined<br />
upon. <strong>The</strong>re is always a treasure unfamiliar to me - present to awaken a<br />
new part of me, expand my view of humanity while confronting privileges<br />
I didn’t know I had or biases and bigotries I was unaware of harboring.<br />
34 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
TRAVEL<br />
NEVER FORGET 911 IN NY<br />
Where I can be stimulated by fresh perspectives on art or feminism, and<br />
where I step into pockets of diversity - all spread out like a smorgasbord of<br />
knowledge that promises to peel away at my walls of ignorance and evoke<br />
a new sociological or spiritual muscle to awaken.<br />
I am captivated by its electrifying pulse - its blood that pumps<br />
chaotically in some corners and unceremoniously in others, but most<br />
all of them as if to say, “All variations of weirdness present here. No<br />
explanation required.”<br />
I love that inspiration is omnipresent: lurking in every street corner,<br />
wooing the creatively-charged and waiting for an able body to attach<br />
itself to. It’s in a myriad of interesting forms, taking an infinite number of<br />
names, creeds, races, stances and shapes - both illustrious and obscure.<br />
In the winter, it tugs at my coat sleeves, flirting with me and<br />
informing me of another book or essay that must be written. It finds me<br />
in the faces of lost pedestrians. It’s in the breath of the lovers as their<br />
whispers meet the chill of the night air. It’s in the shoe prints that shape<br />
the snow and in the stacks of sandwiches prepared to feed the homeless.<br />
In the summer, it’s in the mob of tourists with their selfie sticks. It’s<br />
in the drops of hot rain sliding across clusters of street-bought umbrellas<br />
and landing in puddles. It’s in the choir of conversations - all in different<br />
languages, blending and blurring together - overheard on the city’s very<br />
heartbeat: the subway. It’s in the lushness of Central Park - so abundant that<br />
the backdrop of the city in its usual towering fashion is partially hidden.<br />
It’s in Times Square’s collective blend of energy from all over the<br />
world. It’s in the child’s expression, lit up by seeing its mob of flashing<br />
lights for the first time. It’s in the photographers snapping compulsively<br />
and frame-by-frame. It’s in knowing that most everyone who has ever<br />
touched down in New York has been drawn there at some point - whether<br />
they are visiting their cousin in Queens or their old friend in Williamsburg<br />
or studying abroad or auditioning for the Opera. No matter their reason<br />
for having landed in New York City, most everyone gravitates there to<br />
climb those stairs and bathe in its energetic nucleus - at least one time.<br />
It’s the familiar look in a man’s eyes I pass on the street - a man I<br />
may never speak to or know, but with a gaze that demonstrates a blend<br />
of hope and despair I recognize and even wrote about once. <strong>The</strong>re, we<br />
share a silent moment of knowing. A look that says, with a motionless<br />
nod, “I see you, fellow human. And, by the way, me too.”<br />
Because isn’t that what the human quest for love is, after all? <strong>The</strong><br />
beautifully complicated search for evidence that we are all the same. <strong>The</strong><br />
knowing that we are all “out of place” somewhere - having experienced joy<br />
and suffering in vagarious ways. That everyone is grasping for something<br />
they think they want, but that the value is not in what we are grasping<br />
for, but in the reaching. That life can be seen through a number of lenses<br />
- perhaps all bumping up against one another on the sidewalks and in the<br />
subway - and each of them having something valuable to reveal to us. Each<br />
deserving of opportunity. And of celebration. And of being loved.<br />
<strong>The</strong> original version of this article was published to <strong>The</strong>DailyDoll.com,<br />
brainchild of Managing Editor Lacey Johnson.<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 35
TECHNOLOGY<br />
HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BRAND<br />
ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITHOUT FEAR<br />
WRITTEN BY: ZACH WATSON<br />
<strong>The</strong> word “entrepreneur” may have French origins, but it also<br />
has deep roots in America’s business traditions. It’s fitting then<br />
that social media, a technology of American invention, has given<br />
entrepreneurs an unprecedented platform to advertise their<br />
business and share their ideas.<br />
Yet, taking advantage of this opportunity isn’t always straightforward.<br />
It’s often easy to speak enthusiastically about an idea in private<br />
conversation or over a whiteboard, but when it’s time to promote the<br />
endeavor on social, uncertainty creeps in.<br />
How can you be sure your network wants to hear about your<br />
business? What type of content will be most effective? How do you<br />
find the right voice for your business on social?<br />
At JumpCrew, we hear these questions all the time. <strong>The</strong> truth is that<br />
if a business’s content lacks conviction, it’s sure to fail. All those cute<br />
puppy photos and exotic travel videos are stiff competition, and if<br />
you’re too timid, you won’t be able to grab anyone’s attention.<br />
<strong>The</strong> good news is there’s a method for overcoming social marketing<br />
anxiety. It goes like this:<br />
REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED<br />
Shyness about advertising your business or idea on social media is<br />
driven by fear of rejection. This is completely natural. No one wants to<br />
have their idea shot down or ignored.<br />
However, the reality of being an entrepreneur means you’re going to<br />
face adversity – whether that’s moving past your apprehension about<br />
going social or creating a business plan for investors.<br />
In these moments, reflect on why your started this venture in the<br />
first place. What made you believe in this idea? Use that spark - that<br />
original confidence - to carry you through the tough times. This is the<br />
most difficult part of this method, for it relies solely on your mentality.<br />
Remember: studies have shown that grit is the personality trait most<br />
closely correlated with professional success, so if your idea is going to<br />
take off, you’re going to need some mental fortitude.<br />
RESEARCH WHAT OTHER BRANDS HAVE DONE<br />
Once you’re in the right frame of mind, it’s time to decide what,<br />
specifically, to post. This problem can easily be solved with a<br />
little research. Just look around at what some of the professionals<br />
you admire are posting. Even if they aren’t working in the same<br />
niche as you, it’s tremendously useful to observe what other<br />
people are using to drive results.<br />
By observing the success of others, you can use data to inform<br />
your content strategy instead of starting from scratch. This tactic<br />
will give you a great deal of confidence in your social marketing,<br />
because you’re taking ideas that have already worked for others<br />
and using them for your business.<br />
KEEP IT PERSONAL<br />
We’re often counseled to separate our work and personal life, but<br />
social media has blurred the lines between who we are at work<br />
and who we are in our leisure time. When you’re introducing your<br />
new venture to social media, it’s beneficial to blend your marketing<br />
content with more casual posts.<br />
I know it sounds counterintuitive, but consider this: no one wants you<br />
to do a 180 degree turn and completely change who you are on social.<br />
At the start, your personal network, the people who support you<br />
the most, will care about your enterprise because it’s something<br />
that you’re doing.<br />
Even when you’re more established, people will want to engage<br />
with stories about other people. That means the behind-thescenes<br />
moments will always resonate, because they create an<br />
emotional connection with your audience.<br />
<strong>The</strong> caveat here is that you should always use good judgement.<br />
Rants of any kind are never a good idea.<br />
STAY CONSISTENT<br />
Above all, stay consistent with your social marketing strategy.<br />
If you go silent for a couple of weeks, your network won’t know<br />
what to expect from you. At the start, things might be slow, but<br />
continuity is the key to building a foundation. It’s natural to feel<br />
a certain amount of anxiety when you’re introducing a new idea<br />
to your social network, but having a plan is intrinsically tied to<br />
success. Be bold, use the tactics I’ve described, and feel secure in<br />
the knowledge that you can succeed.
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FAMILY<br />
<strong>The</strong> Great Juggling Act:<br />
HOW WORKING MOMS STRUGGLE TO BALANCE CAREER & MOTHERHOOD<br />
WRITTEN BY: DAWN MOIRÉ MASON<br />
WE’VE ALL SEEN a juggling act before. <strong>The</strong> more skilled<br />
the performer, the more mesmerized we become at<br />
the talent they possess. Our eyes remain locked on<br />
the orange and red balls as they float through the air<br />
seamlessly, in rotating concert, each landing perfectly<br />
in the performer’s palm only to be thrust into the air yet again.<br />
But then it happens: a green ball is introduced into the routine, then<br />
a blue, forcing the others to find a new, faster circular rhythm in order to<br />
guarantee their position in the order. As our eyes remain fixated and our<br />
hearts beat faster, we find a deeper state of wonder as we nervously await<br />
one of the balls to drop and bring the great feat to an abrupt halt.<br />
For me, this is quite literally what work-life balance is: a juggling act<br />
where all of my hats - from wife to mom to businesswoman to friend<br />
(and let us not forget the “me” hat) - never seem to get equal wearing time.<br />
I once envied that mom in the grocery store with two toddlers in the<br />
cart and a baby on her hip. You know the one: the mom with perfect hair,<br />
looking fresh from the makeup counter and engaging on a conference call<br />
with her marketing firm while gliding along the fresh produce aisle wearing<br />
four-inch heels.<br />
I admired all that she<br />
represented. I felt guilty and<br />
questioned why I couldn’t be<br />
that - whatever “that” was.<br />
But “that” was then. I now<br />
know that wearing my hair in<br />
a bun one hundred percent of<br />
my days and grocery shopping<br />
without kids while donning<br />
flip-flops is not only acceptable;<br />
it’s the norm for us go-getter<br />
professional moms.<br />
While the concept of worklife<br />
balance seems simple and<br />
attainable from afar, I have yet<br />
to meet a working mom with a<br />
personal life that feels they are able to juggle all things, successfully and<br />
in harmonious balance.<br />
I recently sat down with working mom Yolanda Henderson, in order<br />
to better understand what work-life balance means to her and how she<br />
manages the famous juggling act.<br />
A global research study on work-life challenges conducted by Ernst<br />
& Young found that a third of full-time employees say it has gotten<br />
more difficult to manage work and family in the last five years, due to<br />
increased responsibilities at work and home, working longer hours and<br />
having children.<br />
Henderson understands this challenge intimately. She is a busy<br />
working mom who, like the super-mom in the grocery store, seems to<br />
never be out of step. But, being the wife of a successful entrepreneur,<br />
having a career in financial management and event planning, being a<br />
mother and step-mother, an aunt, the daughter of aging parents with<br />
health needs and an active member of several nonprofit organizations<br />
doesn’t allow for a true balance in her work life and personal life.<br />
So, how in the world does she do it? Let us find out...<br />
Mason: How would you define work-life balance?<br />
Henderson: “I define it as feeling fulfilled at work and fulfilled in<br />
your personal life. But this is not easily accomplished. Work can be<br />
demanding and stressful. And, while my work life is one aspect, my<br />
personal life includes many: family, health, personal goals, etc. With<br />
a lot of prayer and meditation I try to lessen the work-related stress,<br />
prioritize my personal needs and feel good about how I approach both.”<br />
Mason: What is the most challenging aspect of juggling being a wife<br />
and mother, and having a personal life with your career?<br />
Henderson: “I would say the fear that I am failing in a certain area. I<br />
often worry that I may not be giving every aspect of my personal life and<br />
my career enough quality attention. I have to remember that I am just<br />
one person and cannot possibly do it all.”<br />
Mason: With knowing that you cannot give everything the attention<br />
it needs, have you found yourself putting your career or personal<br />
goals on hold because of your family obligations?<br />
Henderson: “Yes. As a wife and mother, it’s second nature to put your<br />
husband’s and children’s needs above your own. Women are nurturers<br />
by nature.”<br />
Mason: Putting your spirituality<br />
first and making your husband<br />
and children feel that their needs<br />
are a priority seems to be most<br />
important to you. With what<br />
you’ve learned and experienced,<br />
what advice would you give<br />
working married moms?<br />
Henderson: “First accept and own<br />
that you are not perfect. Second,<br />
appreciate your worth. Third,<br />
maintain your mental health by<br />
taking time out for yourself. Time<br />
to meditate, treat yourself to the spa,<br />
get a manicure, pour a warm and<br />
undisturbed bath - just anything that recharges and revitalizes your spirit.”<br />
More than 22 percent of working mothers bring home at least<br />
a quarter of the household earnings. According to <strong>The</strong> Center for<br />
American Progress: “Women now make up half of all workers in the<br />
United States, with nearly four in 10 homes having a mom that is also a<br />
working mother.”<br />
Work-life balance is best defined as having a career, having a<br />
life outside of that career and finding a way to be satisfied with the<br />
time you are giving both. As working moms, we are accustomed to<br />
being immersed in a world where our work-life and personal-life are<br />
intertwined. Our personal time will be overrun with conference calls,<br />
deadlines and emails, and our work days will be invaded by pediatrician<br />
appointments, dry-cleaner runs and the hope of a lunch date with our<br />
friends or significant others.<br />
What I’ve learned is simple: there is no equal balance. What we must<br />
do is keep our own spiritual, physical and emotional well-being moving<br />
in concert with all that we have been blessed to manage in our work<br />
and personal lives. Multi-task with meaning and prioritize with purpose.<br />
And, please - know that it’s perfectly acceptable to drop the ball every<br />
now and again.<br />
38 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
BUSINESS<br />
THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING<br />
THE INITIATIVE TO HELP THOSE IN NEED<br />
WRITTEN BY: JOE SCARLETT<br />
WHEN WE SEE a professional peer who is behind the<br />
eight ball, our natural inclination is to steer clear.<br />
We don’t dare get involved. I suggest the opposite<br />
approach, however. I believe we should become<br />
engaged to help. Because when you help others become more successful,<br />
everyone wins. You’ll feel better about yourself; the person you helped<br />
will be grateful and others will admire your behavior.<br />
Better yet? <strong>The</strong>y might even pay it forward.<br />
I have spent a vast portion of my career helping, teaching and<br />
coaching others. Sometimes I was teaching leadership principles – and<br />
a few illustrative stories – in a classroom. In Tractor Supply stores, I<br />
connected with retail workers by sharing stories that demonstrated<br />
struggles I encountered in my career that were similar to their own.<br />
Even during meal times, I coached by asking questions, encouraging<br />
conversation and relating universal truths in business.<br />
Today I continue helping others by giving speeches on leadership,<br />
coaching several local business leaders and spending time with younger<br />
business and community leaders who are working their way up the ladder.<br />
However, through these many iterations, I’ve found that real<br />
leadership takes place when more serious issues are at stake. If you see<br />
someone who is having trouble professionally or personally – from a<br />
basic performance shortfall to a serious relationship conflict – take the<br />
initiative to help. Below are tips on how to jump in effectively:<br />
ENGAGE A FRIEND IN NEED. Spend time to let a friend know<br />
you are ready to help. Be proactive. You might share a similar past<br />
experience to show the person that you are sympathetic and concerned.<br />
You may be shocked to learn how much they will benefit from your<br />
willingness to guide them.<br />
LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Ask for an overview of the<br />
situation. Listen and learn. Try to assess your friend’s current<br />
emotional status and begin to think about some appropriate ways that<br />
you can help.<br />
FACILITATE THE RIGHT SKILLS. If the issue is basic performance,<br />
some simple coaching might be in order. You could enlist someone<br />
else in the organization who already possesses the right skills or seek<br />
an outside coach. Hard work, diligence and being coached on the<br />
right skills can usually help an individual rebound from a shortfall in<br />
workplace performance.<br />
COACH THROUGH CONFLICT. A more difficult situation may<br />
arise when your friend has a personal conflict with a peer or boss.<br />
In this case, it’s time to listen, probe and challenge, reopening the<br />
conversation in a calm fashion and in a neutral location. Sometimes<br />
a simple apology can put the issue to rest quickly. If not, you may<br />
want to enlist a human resources professional to work toward<br />
mutual resolution.<br />
<strong>The</strong> challenge is to take the initiative to help someone who you<br />
know needs it. You’ll feel empowered, you’ll earn the respect of others<br />
and you might just become a cultural hero in your company.<br />
Helping others become successful is one of the most rewarding<br />
things you can achieve in your career–and life.<br />
Joe Scarlett is the retired CEO of Tractor Supply Company<br />
For more on leadership, see joescarlett.com<br />
You may contact Joe at Joe@joescarlett.com<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 41
TECHNOLOGY<br />
LAUNCH TENNESSEE MADE AN<br />
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPLASH WITH THEIR<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
WRITTEN BY: TONI LEPESKA<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CAT HAMM<br />
TALL THE HARD work to put Tennessee on the<br />
entrepreneurial map is paying off – and showing off. <strong>The</strong><br />
progress was evident this summer at the Schermerhorn<br />
Symphony Center in Nashville. More than 1,000 people<br />
gathered in a beehive of activity for what is being defined<br />
as the marquee entrepreneurship event in the Southeast. <strong>The</strong> number in<br />
attendance is double the figure for the first conference held five years ago.<br />
Known as the 36|86 Entrepreneurship & Technology Conference, the<br />
event brought innovators and investors together and was attended by the<br />
likes of FedEx founder Fred Smith and Wal-Mart executive Jeremy King.<br />
<strong>The</strong> conference is a production of Launch Tennessee, a publicprivate<br />
partnership designed to promote entrepreneurship and<br />
support the creation and development of high-growth companies in<br />
Tennessee. Launch Tennessee was formed as a spin-off of the state<br />
Department of Economic & Community Development to focus on<br />
early-stage businesses. Its CEO, Charlie Brock, heralds 36|86 as one of<br />
the five primary reasons Tennessee is a startup-friendly state. <strong>The</strong> most<br />
successful element of the conference, he wrote in a blog after the event,<br />
is the relationships sparked between investors, entrepreneurs, Launch<br />
Tennessee staff and its partners.<br />
That collaboration is one essential element in building the<br />
entrepreneurial spirit regionally. With its partners and the support<br />
of the governor and legislature, Launch Tennessee has created<br />
Entrepreneur Centers to connect startups with mentors and investors,<br />
provided funding in the form of grants to support workforce<br />
development and sponsored pitch events in partnership with 10<br />
universities, providing winners $15,000 each for their budding<br />
businesses. Launch Tennessee also has launched specific programming<br />
to support women entrepreneurs, and statistics indicate the effort is<br />
paying off. In 2016, WalletHub, a personal finance website known in<br />
part for free consumer tools, ranked four Tennessee cities among the<br />
top 15 in the country for female-owned businesses. Tennessee cities<br />
got three of the four top spots.<br />
“Thanks to our collective work,” Brock wrote, “Tennessee has<br />
emerged as a model for states across the country seeking to leverage<br />
available resources to help entrepreneurs.”<br />
To hone the spirit of entrepreneurship is simply a matter of helping<br />
people become successful, Brock said. It’s part skills development. It’s<br />
part helping innovators get access to capital. It is skills development and<br />
mentoring. In Tennessee, local investors are increasingly putting their<br />
risk capital to work, and they’re finding a greater quantity of highquality<br />
deals. Capital investment in Tennessee more than doubled, from<br />
$189 million in 2012 to $428 million in 2016. “We need to continue<br />
to attract individuals and groups seeding early-stage startup growth, and<br />
we have some exciting programs in place to do so,” Brock wrote. “At<br />
the beginning of <strong>2017</strong>, Launch Tennessee set a 2020 goal of bringing<br />
in $2 billion worth of venture investment over a four-year period, and<br />
we’ve met benchmarks that put us on track to hit this target.”<br />
42 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
TECHNOLOGY<br />
More than 100 investment firms were represented at the 36|86<br />
conference, which included a celebration of Southern culture in plates of<br />
barbecue and glasses of Tennessee whiskey. With a focus on early-stage<br />
businesses, Launch Tennessee provided the perfect brew for the more than<br />
500 entrepreneurs who attended – access to people who hold the purse.<br />
A pitch contest featured 13 student-led companies, comprised of<br />
promising young entrepreneurs, who competed for $60,000 in prizes.<br />
Wal-Mart’s executive vice president and chief technology officer, Jeremy<br />
King, was one of the judges. Wyzerr, a Kentucky market research and<br />
survey technology company, won the competition.<br />
One of the highlights was Gov. Bill Haslam interviewing FedEx CEO<br />
Fred Smith. A packed room listened as Smith revealed his strategy for<br />
maintaining a world-leading corporation while facing the evolution of<br />
the technology that drives the business model.<br />
Alan Bentley, director of the Center for Technology Transfer &<br />
Commercialization at Vanderbilt University, attended the conference<br />
with students and other university representatives. He also is on the<br />
board of Launch Tennessee. He called 36|86 one of the highlights of his<br />
summer and praised it as a great place to network.<br />
At the university level, one of the challenges of building an<br />
entrepreneurial ecosystem, Bentley said, is matching science technology<br />
pursuits with investors willing to risk capital in an unfamiliar field. In<br />
this region, investors traditionally seek out health care and information<br />
technology fields, for example, not robotic technology, Bentley said.<br />
However, “we’ve also made a lot of progress in this realm. In the last<br />
five years, we’ve seen investors get more comfortable in fields outside<br />
their usual fields of interest.”<br />
One of the best things the region has going for it, Bentley said, is its<br />
willingness to collaborate and engage. “It’s amazing how many people<br />
give up their time to help companies grow,” he said. “It is amazing.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y really give of their time and energy to help others.”<br />
What’s left to do? Launch Tennessee expects good things from an<br />
Angel Tax Credit, which the legislature passed last year, and anticipates<br />
this fall to launch a new impact seed fund. <strong>The</strong> credit was put into<br />
motion in January and gives certain early-stage investors who back<br />
businesses less than 5 years old a 33 percent tax credit, capped at<br />
$50,000 per investor per year Already nearly $1 million has been<br />
invested into Tennessee startups since Jan. 1.<br />
“Tennessee is now on the entrepreneurial map,” said Launch<br />
Tennessee’s Brock. “We have a unique public-private model that is<br />
working. We need to continue to increase the amount of early-stage<br />
capital sources for the many high-potential startups that are being<br />
developed across the state … Our vision is to make Tennessee the<br />
most startup-friendly state in the country. Everything we do revolves<br />
around helping entrepreneurs succeed so that communities across the<br />
state can prosper.”<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 43
HEALTH & SELF-DEVELOPMENT<br />
WELLNESS EMPEROR DR. JOSH AXE<br />
ON MAKING IMPACT OUT OF PERSONAL TRIALS<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: BARBARA POTTER<br />
INSIDE OF A 7,500-square-foot facility located in a suburb of<br />
Nashville, Tenn., there lies a wellness empire – home to one of the<br />
fastest–growing companies in the United States, and production<br />
headquarters to videos that collect millions of Youtube clicks,<br />
comments and shares from all corners of the globe. In a side room<br />
with cameras, lighting equipment and a large screen set against a rustic<br />
wooden backdrop, there can often be found Dr. Josh Axe, renowned<br />
chiropractor, clinical nutritionist and educator, whose website garners<br />
approximately 13 million unique visits monthly, whose products are sold<br />
in more than 6,000 retail stores and who appears so comfortable and<br />
organic in front of the camera, gesturing with his hands while spilling his<br />
knowledge of bone broth, ketogenesis and turmeric, he may as well be<br />
hosting a juicing party in his home.<br />
<strong>The</strong> space feels less like an office, and more like a cozy summer camp<br />
recreation hall where creative ideas are being tossed around for the sheer<br />
merriment of it. Except Axe and his staff, whose motto is “run to win<br />
the race,” are diligent in their workmanship and – they swear – are on a<br />
rocketing mission to make all of us healthier.<br />
A viral venture that humbly began at his kitchen table, Axe, 35, says his<br />
passion for health took root when he was in the seventh grade – a time when<br />
his life, breezy and peaceful as he knew it, was thrown a hard ball. While<br />
ambling through a hallway in his home after soccer practice one afternoon,<br />
he passed the bathroom where he saw his mother, eyes lowered and comb<br />
in hand, as her hair fell clump-by-agonizing-clump, landing unmercifully<br />
onto the sink. Just months prior, the active 40-year-old mother of two, also<br />
a gym teacher and swim instructor, was shocked by a breast cancer diagnosis<br />
– which, according to a recent report by the American Cancer Society, is the<br />
second leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide.<br />
“I watched her age years and years in a matter of weeks, as a side effect<br />
of the chemotherapy. Her face was sunken, and she looked defeated. Even<br />
as a kid, I remember thinking there had to be a better way than what she<br />
was suffering through in order to stay alive,” says Axe.<br />
Although pronounced cancer-free following a mastectomy and a<br />
round of chemotherapy, for almost the decade that followed, she would<br />
be in and out of her doctor’s office – being pricked with needles, filling<br />
prescriptions and branded with diagnoses ranging from chronic fatigue,<br />
hypothyroid disease to clinical depression. Every day meant retreating<br />
home from work so exhausted that she collapsed onto the sofa or bed,<br />
immobile for hours, while struggling to recharge enough to prepare<br />
dinner for her family. “I could see the overwhelming fatigue,” says Axe.<br />
“It was heartbreaking to watch her so sick and tired all of the time.”<br />
Axe claims that it was during this bleak season that an internal rustling<br />
was given breath – one that called him to commit his life to some facet<br />
of health and wellness. And, as he reached adulthood, this tender rustling<br />
metamorphosed into an unshakeable pursuit.<br />
While attending classes at the American College of Nutrition in<br />
Lexington, Ky., his studies were disrupted by a most formidable phone call:<br />
“Josh, I’ve been diagnosed with cancer again,” he heard his mother say on<br />
the other end of the line. This time it had plagued her lungs.<br />
Axe rushed to the airport to catch a flight home to Ohio. “I was learning<br />
from some of the best chiropractors and doctors of functional medicine in<br />
the country,” says Axe. “I knew it was my responsibility to offer guidance<br />
that could potentially heal her body, naturally and without chemotherapy.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> family banded together, cleaning out their pantry and refrigerator,<br />
tossing all of the processed meats, snacks and sweet confections into the<br />
garbage can. <strong>The</strong>y ventured to their local natural grocery store, spending<br />
almost all of their time combing through the vegetable aisle and filling their<br />
cart with an assortment of colors.<br />
Axe’s mother began feasting on leafy greens and juicing root<br />
vegetables, while flooding her system with turmeric, healing herbs and<br />
probiotics every day. “Four months later, she returned to her oncologist<br />
and, after completing her CT scan, his exact words were: “I have never seen<br />
this before. Her tumor has shrunk in half,’” he says.<br />
In one year’s time, she was in complete remission.<br />
Axe pulled a key lesson from that arduous period – one that opened<br />
his eyes to how daunted and deer-in-the-headlights people become when<br />
they find themselves in the roaring belly of a health crisis. “People need<br />
to be given step-by-step instructions to feel supported and gain a sense of<br />
control in that kind of situation. Teaching is my gift, and so I pride myself<br />
on educating people so that they are armed with knowing exactly how to<br />
care for their health,” says Axe.<br />
Today, seven years after his first Youtube video was uploaded and<br />
since having authored multiple books, unfamiliar faces approach him at<br />
shopping malls and grocery stores – embracing him and disgorging their<br />
private ailments as though he is a lifelong family friend, while announcing<br />
all of the ways his guidance has remedied their aging woes, digestive<br />
disturbances, weight struggles and – perhaps – even extended their lives.<br />
But Axe swears he defines his success not by how many times his face<br />
is recognized, his videos viewed, his newsletters shared or his supplements<br />
purchased, but by the level of impact his efforts make. To him, that is the<br />
ultimate reward. “What I love most about what I do is impacting families.<br />
When parents can teach the foundations of nutrition and wellness to their<br />
44 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
HEALTH & SELF-DEVELOPMENT<br />
kids, it will carry out to further generations. It then becomes way bigger<br />
than me,” he says.<br />
To further propel this mission, Axe and his team are amping up for<br />
their newest endeavor: an education program where individuals can<br />
become certified nutritionists and health coaches. It is scheduled to launch<br />
January 2018.<br />
Although having found his niche in the realm of wellness, he believes<br />
the essential ingredient for any successful undertaking is tapping into the<br />
thing that wakes a person up – where their most impassioned values lie.<br />
Where the “hot buttons” rest in waiting, hidden under all of the vapid<br />
layers of what life and the world and our societal conditionings try to<br />
convince us is important. I think what Axe is trying to convey is this: If<br />
you want to reach your highest potential during whatever stretch of time<br />
you may be granted on Earth, you must find that which gives you the noturning-back<br />
feeling, and then be guided by it unflaggingly.<br />
When his mother received her diagnosis six years ago – one that had<br />
nested inside of her pancreas – he spent countless nights positioning<br />
himself in front of the computer, researching holistic methods for healing<br />
her body. “ I was in desperate search of anything I could possibly do to<br />
help her,” he says.<br />
Ricci’s mother had been given a meager two and a half months to live,<br />
so he put her on a strict raw vegan diet, motivating her to laughingly coin<br />
him the “Food Buddha.” But in an ‘inexplicable’ stroke of fortune, two<br />
and a half months stretched to almost four years. “<strong>The</strong>y did case studies<br />
on my mom at her hospital because they were so dumbfounded by her<br />
progress. I am 100 percent confident that the strict regimen I made her<br />
adhere to extended her life considerably,” says Ricci.<br />
Sadly, unlike Axe’s mother, who recently celebrated her 64th birthday<br />
and spends her days water skiing, relaxing by the lake and educating other<br />
cancer survivors on juicing protocols, Ricci’s mother, who underwent<br />
YOU HAVE TO FIND WHAT MATTERS TO YOU BECAUSE IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO STAY<br />
MOTIVATED WHEN LIFE GETS HARD. WHAT ARE THE UNIQUE GIFTS AND TALENTS YOU ENJOY<br />
SHARING? WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES DO YOU WANT TO ENJOY A DECADE FROM NOW? THOSE<br />
ARE THE QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF.<br />
“I know that I only have one life to live, and I want to give it my<br />
best,” says Axe. “My chief end is to know God and serve people, so<br />
everything I do just flows out of that. You have to find what matters to<br />
you because it’s the only way to stay motivated when life gets hard. What<br />
are the unique gifts and talents you enjoy sharing? What kind of activities<br />
do you want to be able to enjoy a decade from now? Those are the<br />
questions to ask yourself.”<br />
Chris Ricci, supply chain manager for Axe’s brands, knows these<br />
questions intimately. Ricci, 29, accepted the lofty position earlier this year,<br />
leaving behind a job with a major corporation, where his progression<br />
was applause-worthy and rapid. “Looking back at my job in corporate<br />
America, it’s true that I appreciated the security. I was told I was on a fast<br />
path to executive management, but I didn’t find fulfillment in it – not like<br />
a do here. I think it’s extremely important to find purpose in what you do,<br />
whatever it is,” says Ricci.<br />
Like Axe, Ricci knows the gloomy hollows of navigating through the<br />
uncertainties of a mother with cancer.<br />
sporadic chemotherapy treatments in an effort to supplement her eating<br />
plan, was defeated by the disease two years ago.<br />
But Ricci believes she is alive and well inside of the walls containing<br />
that 7,500-square-foot space, fueling her son’s purpose and Axe’s<br />
mission every day.<br />
“My drive to wake up in the morning comes from a deep and personal<br />
passion in me. I have to make sure these customers have the products<br />
they need for their health, when and wherever they need it, every single<br />
day,” says Ricci. “Some people get excited when they get an ‘off day’ from<br />
working. But when you have a job with this kind of meaning behind it,<br />
why in the world would you want to stay home?”<br />
In both Axe’s and Ricci’s stories, a similar and profound concept<br />
appears to be woven throughout: <strong>The</strong> true measure of success is not<br />
what title your Linkedin says you are, what your bank account says you<br />
are or what your number of video views says you are, but the ways you<br />
are anchoring the things that have happened to you in your life, finding<br />
purpose and motivation through them and impacting others as a result.<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 45
TRADING PIG SKINS FOR LEATHER SHOES<br />
WELCOME BJ COLEMAN TO BB&T<br />
MANY PEOPLE KNOW BJ Coleman as a former<br />
quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, but he’s<br />
hung up his jersey and traded it in for a nice suit.<br />
In 2016, BJ decided to make the transition<br />
from football to insurance because he had<br />
developed a large network and wanted to make a name for himself<br />
in the business world.<br />
“I’ve found that there are a lot of parallels in both worlds,” said<br />
Coleman. “BB&T is a company I had connections to through my<br />
football career, and it worked out.”<br />
As William Taylor said, “Coleman has a competitive nature, and<br />
is very personable. I see him as a fresh face; a young person who’s<br />
willing to put in the hours, hard work and sacrifice over the years to<br />
learn the business and grow within the company.”<br />
Taylor is grooming Coleman to take over his role within the<br />
company sometime in 2020.<br />
“I’m very young, and as a predecessor to Willo, it truly is an<br />
honor,” said Coleman. “My job over the next three years is to be<br />
WRITTEN BY: MADISON YAUGER<br />
a sponge; learn, fail, and get back up. It’s all about the people you<br />
surround yourself with, and Willo and Donna at the BB&T family have<br />
been everything.”<br />
BB&T is the 5th largest brokerage firm in the U.S. “BJ and I are on<br />
the employee benefits side of business,” said Taylor. “We work with<br />
employers to control their healthcare costs, enhance the perceived<br />
value of benefits to their employees, and simplify the administrative<br />
process, keeping employers in compliance.“<br />
BB&T hopes that BJ Coleman will lead their office in matching the<br />
growth that has arrived in Nashville. “<strong>The</strong> target for our company in<br />
the next 10-15 years is to leave a large footprint in insurance services<br />
sector, and to be the spearhead for that is a big honor.”<br />
“You can’t get overwhelmed; it goes back to athletics. That’s the<br />
model I use,” said Coleman.<br />
“You have to believe in yourself. People are made, but also<br />
successful companies are made when they invest in people. That’s<br />
how the community is built, and if you can invest in that, you’ve<br />
got a shot.”
PERSONAL GROWTH<br />
GET OFF THE STAGE<br />
AND GET IN THE MOMENT<br />
WRITTEN BY: LACEY JOHNSON | THEDAILYDOLL.COM<br />
HOW ABOUT A round of applause? Or, better yet, an<br />
indication of envy? Or, rather, just tell me how fabulous<br />
my life appears to be in comparison to yours.<br />
If you can relate, I challenge you to take a closer look<br />
at what motivates your social media life, giving yourself<br />
permission to be unfiltered... with yourself. I’ll be unfiltered, too.<br />
Almost every able-bodied human being over the age of a fetus<br />
participates in some form of social media. This includes my definitely-nottech-savvy<br />
grandparents. Likely yours, too. I am on Facebook, Instagram,<br />
SnapChat and Twitter, and am grossly incapable of keeping up with my own<br />
social media overload. And I, like so many, have developed a bad habit as<br />
a result: I am not always living in the moment. Rather, I’m often revolving<br />
about in the social media stratosphere, phone in hand, notifications rolling<br />
in, while oblivious to the value of what is right in front of me - which is<br />
always to say, I’m too preoccupied with documenting my life for others that<br />
I sometimes forget to live it.<br />
One day when I have children, grandchildren and, perhaps, a face full<br />
of wrinkles, I will be grateful for the pictures I have which captured my<br />
wanderlusting freedom and carefree frolicking. But, most of all, I will be<br />
aching to relive those moments in my mind. Pictures, videos and other<br />
means of documentation are valuable because they assist us in preserving<br />
our memories and preventing them from losing their pulse, but what if they<br />
also cripple the making of them - creating a distraction from the beauty and<br />
importance of the actual experience?<br />
WE ARE ALWAYS CONNECTED, YET SO FRAGMENTED...<br />
A couple of years ago, an acquaintance of mine made an extensive effort<br />
to coordinate which one of our mutual friends would be performing the<br />
Facebook “check-in” for the evening. While in route to meet her and a<br />
few others for dinner, she sent out a group text message which read: “I’m<br />
going to go ahead and let one of you guys check us in at dinner because I’m<br />
always the one to do it.”<br />
For real?<br />
I was amused by her request, but it struck me as a bit unsettling. She was<br />
already manipulating and strategizing how she was going to document a<br />
moment she had yet to live. It seemed like such a shame.<br />
In our society, I often feel as though we devote more time to<br />
documenting our ventures and whereabouts, trying to get the lighting<br />
and hashtags just right, than we do actually connecting, conversing and<br />
creating worthwhile experiences. We are rarely ever present where we<br />
are. We may be out with our friends, but are more focused on finding<br />
the optimal window light for our selfies, as opposed to actually engaging<br />
in conversation. We may be physically out to dinner with our significant<br />
others, but instead of locking eyes with them or savoring every flavor<br />
or admiring the decor, we are, instead, making efforts to document our<br />
whereabouts on SnapChat, Instagram and Facebook.<br />
We feel compelled to show up for our audiences but, as a result,<br />
fall short of showing up for ourselves. We are always connected, yet so<br />
fragmented. While stretching for the illusion of connection to the outside<br />
world, we have become disconnected from the point of it all: living.<br />
Time spent among friends is often overshadowed by agendas, feeling<br />
contrived and staged. Social media breeds and feeds shallow connections, and<br />
I find myself ravenous for deeper, more meaningful connections now more<br />
than ever. I crave eye contact. I want to see faces light up with epiphanies. I<br />
want to intimately witness a spark of an idea become a blazing inferno - right<br />
before my eyes. I don’t want a picture to prove it; I want to feel it in real time.<br />
<strong>The</strong> truth is: We are starving ourselves while gorging on our incessant<br />
compulsions to perform. Worst of all, it is a viciously contagious epidemic<br />
- one I am not immune to. I have sorely fallen prey to the social media<br />
monster, despite my hunger for what I know it can never, ever satiate in me:<br />
authentic, sanctified connection.<br />
And, I’m not at all alone.<br />
While at coffee shop not long ago, I observed two 20-something<br />
girlfriends as they posed, pouted and clicked - resulting in about thirty<br />
pictures. This was executed in less than 30 minutes, all the while discussing<br />
their social media unravelings. During their time together, I lost count<br />
of how many instances I heard them reference Instagram, SnapChat<br />
and Twitter, for it dominated 80 percent of their conversation. Most<br />
intriguingly, they did not part ways without one of them compulsively<br />
burying her face in her phone and editing their new pictures. I watched as<br />
they sat next to each other in silence, one staring at the other as she edited<br />
like a maniac.<br />
It was as eye-opening and revealing as it was hysterical and<br />
entertaining. <strong>The</strong> obsession was evident, and it was clear that their driving<br />
force and motivation was not so much to capture the time spent with a<br />
friend as it was proving a point to their audience. <strong>The</strong>y were on stage. And,<br />
I cringed to admit having seen myself in parts of it. In fact, with social<br />
media, we are all on stage and are often seeking the most robust, roaring<br />
and ground-shaking rounds of applause. We often sacrifice the authenticity<br />
of our relationships for our delusions of relevance and the false sense of<br />
standing in the spotlight. It’s trickery.<br />
EXCUSE ME; I’M HIGHLY OFFENDED BY YOUR LACK<br />
OF SOCIAL MEDIA INTEREST...<br />
It is difficult to not be offended if your photos do not receive as many<br />
“likes” or comments as the next individual garners. It is difficult to not<br />
compete for more social media admiration than your business competitor<br />
or friend. I think the most unfortunate aspect, however, is simply that our<br />
observers will ultimately receive all of the entertainment out of our lives<br />
because we will have been too preoccupied to enjoy it. We may be living<br />
colorful and whimsical existences for our audiences, but what about our<br />
own fulfillment? What about enjoying that jaw-dropping sunset? What<br />
was the actual experience like to - gasp! - live? Will we even know?<br />
This is what I daringly propose: How about you take my hand and<br />
step off of the stage with me from time to time. We can climb onto<br />
the “Off the Stage and in the Moment” bandwagon together, for at<br />
least a few hours a day on occasion. Such fun it will be actually making<br />
eye contact - no phone in hand and no distractions, while having a<br />
conversation without worrying if the lighting is flattering or if your<br />
mother will find your outfit offensive. Let us breathe, be cognizant<br />
within our experiences and observe the lessons and wonders they may<br />
be offering. Let us marvel at the faces in front of us. Let us actually<br />
live a little, and not worry so much about proving to others how<br />
magnanimously we are living.<br />
I’m just being honest.<br />
#GetIn<strong>The</strong>MomentMovement<br />
<strong>The</strong> original version of this article was published to <strong>The</strong>DailyDoll.com:<br />
the brainchild of Managing Editor Lacey Johnson. <strong>The</strong> site<br />
encourages readers to “Get Real, Get Liberated and Live Boldly”<br />
by serving up beauty, wellness and inner life illumination, woven<br />
through unapologetic truths.<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 47
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION<br />
WHY CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE IS ESSENTIAL<br />
FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO THRIVE<br />
WRITTEN BY: TONI LEPESKA<br />
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CATE BROWN<br />
GERRY FERNANDEZ’S “AHA” moment happened many<br />
years ago. He was an apprentice cook at the Waldorf<br />
Astoria hotel in New York City, and an unusual number<br />
of African-Americans came in for a dinner event. <strong>The</strong><br />
chef was accustomed to cooking the filet mignon<br />
medium rare, but he was warned to prepare it medium well this time.<br />
It’s what his customers would expect, but the chef did not listen. He<br />
cooked some 400 steaks at medium rare.<br />
“Just like clockwork,” Fernandez said, “those steaks started to<br />
come back. That was my earliest lesson on being culturally intelligent.<br />
In early black America, they cooked everything well, to make sure they<br />
didn’t get sick. <strong>The</strong> preference stuck.”<br />
Fernandez culturally identifies not with the descendants of black<br />
American slaves but with the nation of Cape Verde on the northwest<br />
coast of Africa. His descendants came from there, located on the<br />
northwest coast of Africa, but Fernandez also claims ties to the Spanish.<br />
In fact, his father spoke Spanish. At an early age, Fernandez was exposed<br />
to the nuances of nationality and ethnicity. As a man of color, he saw<br />
“the good, the bad and the ugly” of society’s handling of race and class.<br />
But he didn’t imagine that day in the kitchen that he’d become what the<br />
chief financial officer at the National Restaurant Association called “the<br />
leading voice of cultural intelligence for the past 20 years.”<br />
As president of the Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality<br />
Alliance, or MFHA, Fernandez spends his workdays now with some<br />
of the country’s foremost leaders in his industry. He founded MFHA<br />
to help companies discover the economic benefits of diversity and<br />
inclusion and provide information to build cultural intelligence<br />
throughout the industry. Because of his and his team’s workshops,<br />
webinars, conferences and hands-on instruction, cultural intelligence<br />
– the capacity to relate and function effectively across cultures – is a<br />
growing phenomenon.<br />
“Gerry’s going to change the world,” said the National Restaurant<br />
Association’s CFO, Marvin Irby. “<strong>The</strong> word ‘passion’ comes to mind.<br />
You cannot spend time with him and his team and not come away<br />
truly inspired.”<br />
Fernandez found a final bit of inspiration to create MFHA in a trade<br />
journal. It was the mid-1990s, and he was flipping through a magazine<br />
when he saw an advertisement for a women’s foodservice organization<br />
focused on creating opportunities for women in the industry. “Why<br />
isn’t there an organization to increase opportunities for people of<br />
color?” he wondered.<br />
Working for General Mills in Minneapolis at the time, Fernandez<br />
assembled representatives of 17 companies in Chicago to discuss the<br />
concept of creating just such an organization he envisioned. A year<br />
48 THE CONNECT MAGAZINE | SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION<br />
later, MFHA was incorporated, and Fernandez became a “loaned<br />
executive” from GM to run the fledgling organization full time and<br />
pursue the mission of bringing “the economic benefits of diversity<br />
and inclusion to the food and hospitality industry by building<br />
bridges and delivering solutions.” Today, MFHA consists of 60<br />
corporate members.<br />
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still large portions of<br />
companies in our industry that aren’t on board with this,” Fernandez<br />
said. “As long as they’re making money, there’s no motivation.<br />
But millennials don’t have the baggage of boomers. <strong>The</strong>y’re more<br />
inclusive, so, the dial is moving.”<br />
Fernandez urges companies to build a multicultural strategy rather<br />
than wait for a misstep that’s splashed all over social media, bringing<br />
down a business’ reputation and brand. He also urges companies to<br />
include people of color into their workforce at all levels. You can’t get<br />
good talent, he said, if you don’t have people succeeding who look<br />
like the job applicant, he said.<br />
At one company, executives wondered why talented workers<br />
weren’t applying for upper management jobs and queried MFHA<br />
for help. Fernandez clued them in – for some Latinos, especially<br />
those from Central America, a promotion isn’t asked for, it is given<br />
as a reward for good work. <strong>The</strong>se Latinos may feel overlooked and<br />
undervalued and leave the company after they feel they’ve been passed<br />
over. “This is a case of understanding what culture norms are and<br />
going to Hispanic employees and communicating to them, saying,<br />
‘You must apply,’” said Fernandez.<br />
To Fernandez and others who support his cause, cultural intelligence<br />
makes more sense in the foodservice industry than perhaps anywhere. Fiftysix<br />
percent of the workers in the industry are women and people of color.<br />
According to the National Restaurant Association, one out of every<br />
four people have worked in a restaurant, and lots of people are eating<br />
out. “For many of us, it’s where we learned our first job skills,” said<br />
NRA’s Irby, “and everyone has a favorite restaurant.”<br />
More and more companies are adopting cultural intelligence, Irby<br />
said. “It’s probably needed more than ever before.”<br />
Fernandez and his team – their arguments and their workshops and<br />
other instructional opportunities – have been a unifying force, Irby said.<br />
Pepsi and Coca-Cola, for example, are fierce competitors who “don’t<br />
agree on anything, but they both decided to support Gerry. That’s really<br />
a tribute to Gerry,” Irby said.<br />
Fernandez hammers the benefits of diversity inside the workplace<br />
with one primary argument. Money. He believes that for business<br />
people, the color green trumps shades of brown.<br />
He credits the Rev. Jesse Jackson with revealing to him why people<br />
of color have excelled in sports so notably but not as notably in the<br />
upper ranks of other professions. “It’s because the rules are public …<br />
and the playing field is level ... and the goals are clear. We want MFHA<br />
to help people figure out how the game works. It’s about giving people<br />
the opportunity to function at their highest level,” Fernandez said.<br />
If employees aren’t performing or being utilized at their highest<br />
potential “you’re leaving money on the table,” Fernandez said. “That’s<br />
the most respected argument – diversity makes sense.”<br />
PLATINUM MEMBERS<br />
THECONNECTMAGAZINE.COM<br />
SUMMER <strong>2017</strong> | THE CONNECT MAGAZINE 49
Welcoming<br />
Diversity<br />
At Cracker Barrel Old Country Store ® , we think a key to our success<br />
is welcoming diversity in our company, our country stores,<br />
our restaurants, and our communities.<br />
crackerbarrel.com • © 2016 CBOCS Properties, Inc.