What a great Sunday! Big white flakes of snow are falling outside my window, the Christmas tree is lit and our baby is napping upstairs. I mention the baby napping for two reasons: first, it's amazing having a baby in my life; and second, it gives my wife and me a few minutes off.
In these few minutes before our baby wakes up, I'm excited to tell you that TheExpressive is re-launching. Instead of focusing on the law, this blog will highlight the incredible entrepreneurial and community spirit we have in Nashville.
People hear "Nashville" and they think Grand Old Opry, HCA, Vanderbilt/Fisk/Belmont or the Titans. (Well, they think of the Titans when they're playing well, which isn't lately.) But that talent is in so many other places, too. It's in restaurants like
Burger Up, the coffee beans of
Drew's Brews, the books by
Alice Randall, and the businesses like
Emma and
Griffin Technology. That spirit is also in our non-profits like
Conexion Americas and
Community Food Advocates; in our art galleries like
Zeitgeist; and our drop-in clinics like
United Neighborhood Health Services.
A year and a half a go, I started something called
WaterCooler with a friend,
Renata Soto. We meet once a month to hear from young entrepreneurs. We've had a lot of fun, and met some inspiring people: Chris Ferrell of
SouthComm spoke on the changing media landscape; Nashville Captial Network's
Sid Chambless spoke on the availability of venture capital funds;
Laura Creekmore spoke on social media; Linus Hall gave us a tour of
Yazoo Brewery; and Becca Stevens introduced us to two women who graduated from her program at
Magdalene House after surviving on the streets as prostitutes.
Tomorrow, we're headed to
Olive & Sinclair to tour Nashville's own chocolate factory and hear the story of founder/chocolatier Scott Witherow. Olive & Sinclair is a great example of all of the above: people with a vision who take a risk, enjoy great success, and benefit their communities in many different ways. Their stories are inspiring to me and I hope you find them inspiring, too.
Stories like these are the ones I plan to highlight in this blog. I hope to feature a different entrepreneur or community leader each week. Hopefully, by finding what inspired and motivated them, we can learn something to apply to our own jobs, neighborhoods and community groups.
I hear the baby -- she's awake and I've had my break. Back to my most important job and favorite pastime... fatherhood.
