17th South October 2016 by 17th South Magazine

Authentic Living in the Heart of Atlanta OCTOBER 2016 ISSUE 4 FREE n

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN MEET 11 SMART AND SAVVY WOMEN BEHIND SOME OF ATLANTA'S MOST ESTABLISHED BUSINESSES

Andreia Guilmet

Founder/owner, Brazilian Wax by Andreia

Stunning style and flavor at Ryan Smith's Staplehouse

Inside a Bondworthy bachelor pad at 1065 Midtown Grown-up cocktails to improve your tailgating game

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Photos: 33 & 18. Sara Hanna; 30. Lia Picard; 12. Sandra Platten; 28. Andrew Thomas Lee

12 33

30 18

CONTENTS OCTOBER 2016 7 Editor’s Letter 9 LATEST

The newest restaurants, shops and other spots to arrive on the scene

Living 12 Shelter

Inside a well-styled bachelor pad at 1065 Midtown

16 Style to Go

Playing with patterns on the campus of SCAD

17 Wellness

East meets West at Atlanta Integrative Medical Center

18 People

Floral and event designer James Hurley

20 Out of Town

Low-key luxe defines Amelia Island, Florida

22 In-Town Escape

Fun, frights, walking tours and wine in Dahlonega

Culture 24 Comedy

Dad’s Garage celebrates its 21st birthday

26 Movies

Videodrome thrives in an all-streaming era

Indulge

Happening

28 Restaurant Review

41 Events

30 Liquids

44 CAPTURED

Staplehouse stuns with artful execution and fierce flavors

Grown-up tailgating tipples for game day

What to see and do when you’re off the clock

Dusk over the Atlanta skyline

32 Fresh Bites

What’s new and notable in the world of food and drink

Cover Story 33 A League of Their Own

Experts in everything from tech and retail to PR and film, these 11 women are taking Atlanta’s business world by storm

41 OCTOBER 2016

4th ANNUAL

P.O. Box 11633, Atlanta, GA 30355 n 17thsouth.com For advertising rates call: 404.538.9895 or email: advertising@17thsouth.com

ATLANTA

OCTOBER 2016 | ISSUE 04

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Publisher and Founder

Joanne Hayes

Chief Financial Officer Andreia Guilmet, founder/owner, Brazilian Wax by Andreia Cover Photo: Sara Hanna

Lindsay Lambert Day

CONTRIBUTORS Karina Antenucci WRITER

“My home’s sitting room is called “The Buddha Room” for the life-size Burmese Buddha who hangs out there. He’s pretty chill, so the space has also become my meditation room! Outside of my walls, I love the vigorous classes at Tough Love Yoga in Candler Park, Pure Barre in Inman Park or hiking Atlanta’s many trails with my husband and two dogs.”

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Cheryl Isaacs

cheryl.isaacs@17thsouth.com Account Executives

Kyle Wilcox Garges kyle.garges@17thsouth.com

Bill Garst bill.garst@17thsouth.com

Tracy Johnson tracy.johnson@17thsouth.com

Alyson Myerson alyson.myerson@17thsouth.com Director of Audience Development Website Development Management

WRITER

Donate at acfb.org

Alan Platten

Bill Garst

Malika Bowling

You can help.

Editor-In-Chief

Creative Director

Benefitting the North Atlanta Rotary Foundation. Service above self.

1 in 4 Georgia kids faces hunger.

Sonny Hayes

“I love to go on a hike with my husband, Glen, at one of the nearby trails such as The Leita Thompson Trail in Roswell or Kennesaw Mountain. Getting back to nature after spending so much time cooped up in an office is my favorite way to escape without leaving the city.”

Lia Picard WRITER

“I love watching televised games at restaurants that can get a bit rowdy, so the Vortex in Midtown fits the bill. There are TVs everywhere, and the bar food is over-the-top delicious. Win or lose, I wash the Mac ‘N’ Cheesy-Changa down with a Vortex Skull Crusher. Go ‘Noles!”

BHG Digital Contributing Writers

Karina Antenucci Jill Becker Sarah Blackman Malika Bowling Cathy Burroughs Lauren Finney Sarah Gleim Kate Parham Kordsmeier Lia Picard Laura Raines Mary Welch Photographers Sara Hanna sarahanna.com

Sandra Platten Lia Picard Scott Reeves

Graphic Designer

Gwantsa Giorgini Copy Editor

H.M. Cauley Legal Counsel

Scott I. Zucker We welcome all contributions, but we assume no responsibility for unsolicited material. No portion of this publication can be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. Copyright © 2016 by 17th South®. All rights reserved. Printed by Walton Press, Inc. Distributed by Distributech and Distribution Services Group.

hroughout the dozen years I spent working as a writer and editor for various magazines, I often wondered what it would be like to cut the corporate cord and go out on my own as a freelancer. Working from home (in my pajamas, if I cared to). No commute. No asking permission to make a doctor’s appointment or take a vacation. It sounded like a sweet setup. But for all of the liberties freelancing would afford me, going out on my own just wasn’t a risk I was ready to take. How would I find work? When would I get paid? Would everyone in my network forget about me? Intimidated by what a future in freelancing might look like, I banished the idea to the back of my mind. Until the spring of 2015, that is, when my senior-level editorial job at a fancy national publishing company fell victim to a second round of layoffs in as many months. Suddenly, I was flailing around in the proverbial deep end with nary a floatie in sight. By no means do I consider myself particularly brave, but in that moment, rather than panic I thought, This is it! It hadn’t happened as I’d imagined it might, but my opportunity had arrived. Fast forward nearly two years, and I’m still a happy, home-based freelancer running what is, essentially, a one-woman business. When I’m not busy working on 17th South, I’m networking, marketing myself, interviewing story sources, writing, bookkeeping, traveling and enjoying the independence that I’d craved for so long. The risk, albeit forced, was worth the reward. Given that harrowing experience, I’m excited to introduce you to 11 women who are forging their own paths in our city’s business community (“A League of Their Own,” page 33). Whether in the entertainment, retail, beauty or manufacturing industries, the depth of knowledge that these women possess knows no bounds. When our team first planned to feature Atlanta businesswomen in this issue, we didn’t set out to focus solely on entrepreneurs. But as we narrowed the field, it’s one characteristic that they all shared. And considering that these women are responsible for not only their own livelihood but also that of their staffs, I’d say they’re plenty brave, to boot.

Lindsay Lambert Day EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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OCTOBER 2016

FOOD

FASHION

LIBATIONS

SHOPPING

A sophisticated evening celebrating world-class food and fashion Hosted by

October 16th · 7:00pm

Beneﬁtting the

Kevin Rathbun Steak Abbey Glass Designs 154 Krog Street NW, Suite 200, Atlanta, GA 30307

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We’re celebrating Atlanta’s most

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Your perfect palate includes

talented chef, most talented fashion designer,

featuring Kevin Rathbun Steaks and includes

world-class food from Kevin Rathbun,

and supporting Atlanta’s most important

a ﬁrst-ever runway show showcasing Abbey

premium cocktail selections, and

urban renewal project.

Glass Designs and the Atlanta BeltLine.

pop-up shopping.

Latest OPENINGS & ARRIVALS

Photo: Adam Davila

| STORIES: Laura Raines |

AIRSTREAM EATS Basecamp Provisions is Atlanta’s latest take on the food truck trend

asecamp Provisions, the newest restaurant concept from Park Tavern owners Paul and Angela Smith, opened about the same time as the 2016 Olympics, and it’s already winning gold with Atlanta BeltLine and Piedmont Park crowds. The Smiths parked an Airstream in the roundabout driveway of Park Tavern at the corner of 10th Street and Monroe Drive and began serving tasty snacks and beverages to BeltLine bikers, joggers and pedestrians.

The tiny eatery was inspired by the couple’s love of travel and healthy food, but also their desire to reach a different audience, according to Paul Smith. “Atlanta is a more walkable city now, and Basecamp Provisions gives us a way to expand our hours and services,” he says. “The response has been incredible. Some patrons grab beverages and snacks on the go, but more often they’re stopping to eat, relax and do a little people-watching under the shade of the big trees.” Not a typical food truck, Baseline Provisions serves smaller snack

portions of chef-prepared items, including Korean, Tex-Mex and Thai curry tacos; the BeltLine grilled cheese sandwich with avocado, thick-cut bacon and fresh jalapeño; açai bowls and salads. Basecamp offers 32 beverages and 20 smoothies, including the strawberry-banana Slim, Backpacker Protein and Base Camp Berry. “We’re learning as we go,” says Smith. “We’ll be expanding hours to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Right now we’re only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but as the temperatures go

down and foot traffic picks up in the fall, we plan on being open seven days a week year round.” Basecamp Provisions may be the Smiths’ best idea since The Rink at Park Tavern in 2010. Located in the Garden Tent, it offers day and night skating on an 85-by-40-foot rink that has become a favorite holiday tradition, and in recent years, a popular spot for “Frozen”-themed birthday parties. The Rink opens at Thanksgiving and closes on Presidents’ Day. n parktavern.com/ basecamp-provisions

OCTOBER 2016

Latest OPENINGS & ARRIVALS

Prime Position

mazon moved into the Technology Square neighborhood on July 26 with its first pickup location in Georgia. And it turns out, they’re a pretty nice neighbor to have around. The new facility provides Georgia Tech students, faculty and staff, as well as the Midtown community, with a safe, convenient place to receive and return Amazon packages. “The feedback from customers has been very positive,” says Ashley Newman, campus business manager at Amazon. “People don’t have to worry about deliveries sitting on

Photo: Courtesy Amazon

Amazon opens its first pickup location in the state at Technology Square Amazon’s new pickup location at Technology Square

their doorstep while they’re at work. They can just pick them up.” “Amazon is a wonderful innovator and has a great supply chain process,” adds Rich Steele, senior director of auxiliary services at Tech. “They’ve added a whole range of services for Prime members, and our community is showing significant interest.” Students can receive a six-month free trial of Student Prime and an annual subscription rate of $49. Prime members receive free, same-day pick up for orders placed by noon. “Tech Square is known as a hub of

innovation and entrepreneurship. We met Amazon at a higher education conference and began talking about this agreement. We’re pleased to be the first in the Southeast,” says Steele. Amazon has opened pickup locations on 12 college campuses since 2015. “From an innovation and technology standpoint, we thought we fit well with the Georgia Tech culture,” says Newman. The facility is located at 86 5th Street NW, and is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on weekends. n georgiatech.amazon.com

Creative Kids’ Club

“W

e have always had an affinity for working with children” says Laura Flusche, executive director of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). “They see the world through fresh eyes, they love wacky ideas and they are brave enough to think that anything is possible.”

OCTOBER 2016

Georgia State welcomes a new location of Highland Bakery on campus With Highland Bakery locations at Georgia Tech and Emory, founder/ owner Stacey Eames knows how to thrive on college campuses. “The best thing is that you have a captive clientele and lots of repeat customers,” she says. “I think we served some of Georgia Tech’s architecture students for their entire college careers.” Eames suspects that her newest location on Georgia State University’s campus will see lots of student customers. She’s acquiring permits and plans to open Highland Bakery in the former Sun Trust Bank Building across from Woodruff Park this month. Now owned by Georgia State, the skyscraper houses many of the departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. “An added plus is that we’ll be in the heart of downtown, with lots of buildings around, in the middle of a vibrant business community,” she says.

Museum of Design Atlanta welcomes kids to the world of design

MODA has run successful summer camps, but its staff realized that the programs weren’t affordable for everyone. “We see design as a really important 21st century skill for people to use in meeting their day-to-day challenges,” Flusche says. “So an important first step was to tell Atlanta kids that they are welcome here.” MODA’s Design Club offers kids up to age 17 free admissions to

Back to School

The two-story, 2,900-squarefoot space is being remodeled to include quick counter service and indoor and outdoor seating. “It’s a beautiful space with a mezzanine and lots of glass,” says Eames. Besides the bakery’s signature pastries and breads, Eames plans to offer some vegan, paleo and gluten-free options, similar to those she introduced at Press and Grind in Virginia-Highland.

exhibitions, free admission for an accompanying adult, monthly newsletters with design challenges to try at home, and special activities. Kid-friendly activities in the gallery that explore conductivity, or the logic of coding through making music on a Tune Table are there

to introduce youngsters to the power of design. “We want to make sure that the next generation will be involved in the arts and culture,” says Flusche. Kids can only sign up in person. Learn more at museumofdesign.org/ design-club. n

There will be smoothies, too, and, says Eames, “We also have some new coffees and elixirs to introduce to the campus. We want to do what we can to help students be more productive, or just stay awake in class.” n

highlandbakery.com

Living

SHELTER n STYLE n WELLNESS n PEOPLE OUT OF TOWN n IN-TOWN ESCAPES

12 SHELTER

RISING TO NEW HEIGHTS

Photos: Sandra Platten

Inside a bachelor’s stylish condo at 1065 Midtown

OCTOBER 2016

Living

SHELTER

Rising

Above: Wells’s furnishings add warmth to an otherwise contemporary living room. Right: Wells with his beloved dog, Pico.

to New Heights An Atlanta pathologist trades in his North Buckhead home for an intown, high-rise condo

fter 20 years in his North Buckhead home, Stephen Wells decided it was time for a change. The pathologist had put a lot of work into that house, but, after two decades, he was done with home maintenance and upkeep. He also wanted more than just a new home; he wanted a new lifestyle. “I always wanted to live in a place where I would not have to get in the car [but could] walk to whatever it is that I have to do,” Wells says. “And there are not that many places in Atlanta where that’s realistic.”

OCTOBER 2016

| STORY: Karon Warren | | PHOTOS: Sandra Platten |

Wells found that lifestyle at 1065 Midtown, a 52 high-rise condominium that occupies the top 11 floors of the Loews Atlanta Hotel building. The residences went on sale in 2015 as the units were under construction; Wells’s home was a model he toured during an open house that summer. In January 2016, he began the process of downsizing from a twostory house to his new condo. “I had some hesitation about making the move because it’s a big change,” Wells says. “But I felt I needed to shake up my life a little bit. And if I was going to make a change, I decided I wanted to make a pretty dramatic one, to have a total change of lifestyle, to go from living

in a house to living up in the sky in this condo, and just really give a different rhythm of life a chance.” The 2,300-square-foot condo includes three bedrooms and three bathrooms with an open layout encompassing a living room, kitchen and dining room. Wells opted to use the third bedroom as a home office. “This is plenty of space for me, and the floor plan worked for what I needed,” Wells says. And, obviously, “The views [of Midtown Atlanta, Stone Mountain and Piedmont Park] were killer,” he adds. One must-have for Wells was finding a home with enough wall space to display his collection of contemporary photography. “That

was one of the biggest challenges of changing things up. I have tons and tons of photographs; it’s been a bug of mine for awhile,” he says. “For a condo with windows on three sides, there’s good internal wall space.” Even so, the displayed art is just a portion of Wells’s collection; he loaned out some pieces to friends, and the rest remains in storage. Since moving in, Wells hasn’t made many changes to the home’s interior other than furnishing it. “The biggest challenge was trying to transition the pieces from a traditional house to what should be a very contemporary feeling place,” he says. With its high ceilings, Brazilian wood floors and stainless steel appliances,

Left: The dining room provides breathtaking views of downtown and Midtown. Below: The interior walls provided muchneeded gallery space for Wells’s contemporary photography collection.

the home is quite contemporary, but Wells’s furnishings add quite a bit of warmth to the environment so it doesn’t feel starkly modern. In fact, many of his existing furnishings fit quite nicely in Wells’s new home. For instance, his dining table was built for him about 10 years ago by John Henson of WelbornHenson to fit a small space. Based on a Leonardo da Vinci bridge design, the table features softly rounded edges, layers of wood pressed together and intersecting parabolas for the table legs. It looks perfectly at home in the condo, accompanied by breathtaking city views and a colorful Stephen Rolfe Powell blown-glass sculpture aptly titled “Cheeky Blue

Moons,” thanks to its resemblance to a person’s large behind. Wells worked with interior designer Suzanne Williams to decide what pieces to keep and where to place them, and also to choose elements such as new light fixtures. “I knew I wanted to change the lighting in here, but there is no room above [due to the high ceilings] so you don’t have a million options,” Wells says. He worked with Williams and Steve Leonard at R Hughes at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center (ADAC) to find some choices he liked. Working together, the trio chose some fixtures to provide ambient lighting, which included pieces by Australian company Christopher Boots in the office,

Above: Brazilian wood floors run throughout the open floor plan, adding additional warmth to the condo.

living room and dining room. Wells also replaced the fixture in the guest bedroom with one from R Hughes. In addition, Wells installed motorized blinds on all the windows, both for privacy and to protect his art collection from the effects of daily sunlight, but he kept all the existing window treatments, which consist of sheer curtains in the living room, kitchen, dining room and office,

with privacy panels in the bedrooms. He does have plans for the kitchen, which he hopes to turn into a very functional, yet quieter space that doesn’t compete with the artwork on the walls. Currently, the space contains black cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and black and white granite countertops.

Living SHELTER

“I love the view and the sense that I’m in the middle of the city.” STEPHEN WELLS

Left: Wells turned the third bedroom into an office, but warmed up the space with colorful pillows and a plush area rug.

Left: Motorized window blinds provide privacy throughout the condo, including the master bathroom. Right: Wells left the master bedroom largely untouched after the purchase. Below: A new light fixture from R Hughes adds ambient lighting to the guest bedroom.

He hasn’t decided yet about the wallpapers that were in the model home, but, for now, he likes the gray and slate textured patterns on the walls. Moving into a home located above a hotel also raised questions for Wells, but those have been answered. “I wasn’t sure about it, but I don’t even know that it’s there,” he says. Homeowners have their own private entrance, parking garage, rooftop pool and clubroom, plus they can take advantage of some of the hotel’s amenities, such as housekeeping, room service and the gym, which is nice, Wells says. Overall, Wells is satisfied with his new residence and the chance he took

OCTOBER 2016

to experience a different rhythm of life. “I love the view and the sense that I’m in the middle of the city,” he says. “There’s so much going on, and I can sit here and watch it all happen.” Wells wasn’t initially sure if choosing an intown high-rise would be a temporary change or evolve into something more permanent, but as he settles in, he is becoming more comfortable. “There were moments when I felt like, ‘Why did I do it?’” he says. “There’s been a transition period of figuring things out, but I don’t regret it. I hope as I go on here I’ll find myself taking even more advantage of what’s around, because that’s why I came here in the first place, to get out in the world and out in the neighborhood.” n

GET THE LOOK Interior Design

Suzanne Williams Designs suzannewilliamsdesigns.com Dining Table

John Henson of WelbornHenson

welbornhenson.com Lighting: Living/ Office/Dining

Christopher Boots

christopherboots.com Motorized Blinds

Synergy Multimedia

synergymultimedia.com

Living

STYLE

STYLE TO GO

n r e tt a P

y a l P

On the Atlanta campus of SCAD, good style means mixing things up. | STORY: Sarah Blackman | | PHOTO: Sandra Platten |

What do you love most about what you’re wearing right now? My shirt. I wear it all the time because it goes with so many different things. It’s a very practical wardrobe item. Pairing with this skirt, I tried to complement the colors in the print. Mixing prints is a fashion statement seen a lot in magazines but not so much on the street. What inspired you to mix prints? Mindy Kaling! She wears and mixes a lot of loud prints that are fun and eyecatching. Yet with the silhouettes she chooses, she always looks perfectly put together. It’s a great juxtaposition.

Amanda Hauther AGE: 24

OCCUPATION:

Director of Community Engagement for SCAD

NEIGHBORHOOD:

Midtown

Where did you get the pieces you put together? My top and skirt are from J. Crew, my shoes are by Steve Madden and my bracelet is a David Yurman piece. Are you an outfit planner, or do you dress by how you feel? I’m more of a planner. I think about my week and figure out what’s going to work best in both fashion and function for what I have going on. If I’ll be having external meetings, I’ll raise the bar a bit. If I know I’ll be sitting at my desk all day, I’ll choose something more comfortable and casual. Is anything you’re wearing vintage or a family hand-me-down/heirloom? No heirlooms, but a dear friend brought me this wooden bracelet

OCTOBER 2016

from South Africa. It shows up in a lot of my outfits. Where is your favorite place to shop intown? I love the shops at Ponce City Market. I’m a regular at Boogaloos Boutique. I also covet Frye boots. They’re pricey, but I like their relaxed style, and the quality is on point. Where do you go for a great bargain? Zara. I find a lot of pieces that mix nicely into my existing wardrobe, and they have such reasonable price

points. For shoes, I go to the Steve Madden outlet in Woodstock. They have great styles that are deeply discounted. Do you consider yourself a trendsetter? I wouldn’t call myself a trendsetter. If I see something that inspires me, I try to recreate it. I’m all about following other trendsetters and making sure I know what the thing of the moment is, but I’m definitely not the one setting the trends. Who are your style icons?

Mindy Kaling, of course! I also follow Damsel in Dior and Happily Grey on Instagram. They have an ease to their style. I went through a Mary Kate and Ashley phase during their tween years. Whatever they were wearing, I would copy. Glad that’s over. Where do you find fashion inspiration in Atlanta? I really love walking around near Westside Provisions. There are so many galleries and boutiques, and everyone is so stylish. The Westside is just bursting at the seams with homegrown Atlanta style. n

Living

Photos: Jamie Annarino

WELLNESS

Dr. Tim Nguyen walks a patient through AIMC’s InBody Analysis process.

person. So I might send you to see our in-house nutritionist to discuss getting your weight down. Or if it looks like you have dietary or environmental allergies, you might need a simple blood and skin test to determine severe, moderate and mild allergies. If you were not absorbing antioxidants well, we’d want to do a complete metabolic test to check out your kidney and liver function, metabolism and electrolytes.

East Meets West Atlanta Integrative Medical Center customizes its approach to wellness

o extreme is ever good for your wellbeing. Whether it’s a strict juice diet, a weekly meal plan of tripledecker burgers, heavy pill popping or abstaining from any medication, extreme scenarios aren’t going to do a body good in the long run. Dr. Tim Nguyen, founder and boardcertified physician specializing in integrative (a blended Eastern and Western approach) and holistic medicine at Atlanta Integrative Medical Center (AIMC) on the Westside, believes the same goes for medicine and that there’s room for both. “An Eastern approach is to look at the full picture, including lifestyle choices and diet, and to get back to nature wherever possible. A Western approach is very strong when you are sick and need medication or surgery,” he explains. Here, we chat with “Dr. Tim” about his practice that combines modern-day, cutting-edge methods with centuries-old, holistic therapies to assess patients’ health.

| STORY: Karina Antenucci |

Did your family background influence your approach to medicine? I was raised in Saigon in an Eastern culture that promotes disease prevention. I learned from my mother about growing food in the garden, cooking meals with lots of vegetables, eating in moderation and staying active outdoors. These are baseline, healthful practices for everyone, no matter where they live. What inspired you to open AIMC? One big thing I learned at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, and after, during medical training at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, is that Western doctors are giving out too much medication. What about thinking why someone needs blood pressure medication, for example, and working on ways to prevent patients from taking more and more medication down the road? I want to help people live a better life. We offer disease prevention, allergy testing, medical treatment, weight loss programs, yoga classes,

acupuncture, massage and meditation all in one location. Tell us about your high-tech initial health assessment. In my initial consultation with a patient, we use the InBody Analysis. The patient stands on a machine similar to a scale that uses an eight-point tactile electrode—like the heart EKG. It can precisely measure individual body components, including fat and muscle, water levels and metabolic rate, as its current moves from one area to the next. We also test antioxidant levels through a biophotonic scanner. This uses a laser to scan the skin on one hand to determine carotenoid and antioxidant levels. The information collected can be helpful in assessing if you are getting enough antioxidants in your diet. What would the next step be if there were a red flag on the health assessment? My recommendations are all individualized. What’s right for you isn’t necessarily what’s right for the next

Who’s an ideal candidate for your immunotherapy treatments? Our immunotherapy supports people who have chronic diseases, immunodeficiency and autoimmune disorders, such as chronic irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Seventy percent of your immune system comes from your bowel and gut health, so we work with a compound pharmacy to put together custom, immune-boosting IV treatments to get a patient’s vitamin levels up. What’s next for AIMC? We have been working with manufacturers to provide our own vitamin supplements in house. Since you never know what you’re getting when you buy vitamins off the shelf, we want to provide a pure supplement with very little additive. n ATLANTA INTEGRATIVE MEDICAL CENTER 1891 Howell Mill Road, 30318 404.698.3807 atlantaintegrativemedical.com

Living

PEOPLE

“We really just want to give concierge-level service to our customers.” JAMES HURLEY

g n i d d u B y t u Bea Floral and event designer James Hurley expands his Ansley Park shop and branches out into interior design.

or anyone who’s kept upto-date on the cinematic goings on in this city, James Hurley’s designs have most likely crossed into view. In the eight years he’s been here, Hurley has become a fixture on television and movie sets, such as Garry Marshall’s Mother’s Day featuring

OCTOBER 2016

Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and more. (In the movie, Roberts plays a character on a shopping network, and Hurley’s flowers are prominently displayed in several of the network set backgrounds.) “I also was the floral designer for “The Vampire Diaries”,” laughs Hurley, “and to do this huge arrangement, they put me in a room full of caskets!”

| STORY: Lauren Finney | | PHOTO: Sara Hanna | The son of a florist, Hurley has lived in Paris, London, New York City and Los Angeles, and moved here from his native Nashville in 2008 to work with an interior design firm. “When I got here, the recession hit. The firm closed six weeks after I started,” laments Hurley. A tenacious entrepreneur, Hurley broke out on his own as a freelance florist. Several recommendations from his happy brides and clients led to his foray into the movie and television world, and he’s kept the momentum going ever since, opening his first shop in 2013. In the last three years, he’s been able to quadruple his business thanks to his brick-and-mortar, and a recent remodel has helped the shop see a 60% increase in walk-ins. He’s since done flowers for many discerning companies in town, such as the Mandarin Oriental, Van Michael Salon and the Four Seasons,

where he was the florist for many years. His style is recognizable by the texture he brings into the arrangements, his traditional French pave bouquets (tight, clean and full) and his exceptional service. “We really just want to give concierge-level service to our customers,” he says. “That means we’re open six days a week in summer and seven days a week in winter. We’ve got no time limitations—we can make special arrangements to deliver early or late.” That policy has also helped him score coveted VIP clients from some of the movie and television sets he frequents. For example, after Mother’s Day, he was hired to send flowers to the cast as a thank you from the studio. Together with business partner and best friend Ed Tooker, Hurley has grown the business into one of the most sought-after shops in town, and the demand has led to an expansion of the Ansley Park location. “We’re now doing all the event production at a different location; we went from 800 square feet to 1,500 square feet,” he says. Along with florals, expect to find a mix of consignment and new furniture pieces and sundries such as products from The Laundress. Hurley has also begun to dip his toes back into interior design, with one ongoing project in Ansley Park and another in neighboring Morningside. Both require three-room renovations that are keeping him busy but happily back in the industry in which he originally intended to be. If his success with florals and events is any indicator, expect Hurley to be extremely busy in his newest venture. n

James Hurley Designs 1425 Piedmont Avenue NE, Suite A, 30309 404.935.6361 jameshurleydesigns.com

atlantaeats.com

Living OUT OF TOWN

Kicking Back on the

Coast

hen Atlantans want to escape to the beach, the usual destinations come to mind: Destin, Tybee Island, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head. Of course, all are perfectly viable options, but if you haven’t yet checked out charming Amelia Island, Florida, then you need to put it on your vacation radar. The quaint resort area is located just north of Jacksonville, about five hours southeast of Atlanta, and has a more laid-back, small-town feel than its touristy coastal cousins. It is roughly the same size as Manhattan, but while that island has some 1.6 million residents, Amelia has fewer than 20,000. Only about two miles across at its widest point, it features 13 miles of beaches that even on the holidays aren’t all that crowded. But don’t let its small size and easygoing vibe fool you, because there’s plenty to see and do here. An ideal way to get an overview of

OCTOBER 2016

Sizing up waves ahead of a standup paddleboarding adventure on the Atlantic.

The Florida beach town so breezy and bewitching we almost don’t want to tell you about it. | STORY: Jill Becker | the area is aboard one of Amelia River Cruises’ sightseeing tours. If you’re lucky, you’ll get Pajama Dave as your captain; he’s a local character known for always wearing pajama pants, and he makes the trip both educational and entertaining. If you want to get out on the water yourself, rent a kayak, canoe or paddleboard from an outfitter like Kayak Amelia. Or mosey over to the Kelly Seahorse Ranch, one of the few places in the country where you can still ride horses on the beach. The island also boasts 40 miles of bike trails, 6.2 miles of which are part of the East Coast Greenway that runs all the way from Key West, Florida, to Calais, Maine. For something a little more leisurely, take a horse-drawn carriage ride through the 50-block downtown district that is listed on the National

Register of Historic Places. You might want to stop into the Palace Saloon, where patrons have been bellying up to the bar since 1878, making it the oldest bar in Florida. Amelia Island Lighthouse, the state’s oldest, is less than a 10-minute drive away, as is Fort Clinch State Park, where you’ll find a 19th-century garrison used, in part, as a refuge for blockade runners during the Civil War. Today, costumed interpreters depict what life was like at the fort back in the day. Also boasting a unique history is the Williams House B&B, one of the top lodging options in town. Dating back to 1856, the lovingly restored Victorian mansion features a secret room that once served as a stop along the Underground Railroad. On the more modern end of the accommodations scale is The Ritz-

Carlton, Amelia Island, a fivediamond beachfront resort with every luxury imaginable, from an adultsonly pool with private cabanas to one of the largest spas in the entire hotel chain. (If you do visit the spa, consider having the Heaven in a Hammock massage, in which you’re cocooned in the hammock and sway gently back and forth as a therapist works on you with their forearms, hands, knees and feet.) Just down the road is the Elizabeth Pointe Lodge, a 25-room boutique property that looks like it’s been plucked straight off the shores of Nantucket. When contemplating where to eat on the island, you’ll naturally want to take advantage of its coastal setting at a spot like Timoti’s Seafood Shak, a no-frills walk-up with outside seating that serves wild-caught seafood

Welcome to Atlanta! Bill Gilmore Above: Soak up some history with a visit to the Amelia Island Lighthouse, the oldest in all of Florida. Right: Trot on horseback along the shore with a Kelly Seahorse Ranch ride.

Wade Weeks, Atlanta Office Managing Partner, Grant Thornton LLP, pictured with his wife, Lisa

Above: The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island offers everything from golf to water sports with a prime oceanfront location.

in dishes from the crab burger to blackened shrimp tacos. Also popular is Gilbert’s Underground Kitchen, a soulful barbecue-and-more eatery helmed by Kenny Gilbert, who competed on season seven of “Top Chef.” But no trip to Amelia Island is complete without trying the tasting menu at Salt, the award-winning dining room at The Ritz-Carlton. Choose from starters such as the potato-wrapped tuna with pickled radish and tempura pearls; the “steak and eggs” entree of beef tenderloin served on a Himalayan salt block; and the honey-rosemary soufflé with lavender ice cream for dessert. After supper, scurry over to the Fernandina Harbor Marina, and join the folks who line up each night to watch the sun go down. It’s a fitting end to a perfect island day. n

VISIT WHERE TO STAY Elizabeth Pointe Lodge elizabethpointelodge.com The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island ritzcarlton.com Williams House williamshouse.com WHAT TO DO Amelia River Cruises and Charters ameliarivercruises.com Kayak Amelia kayakamelia.com Kelly Seahorse Ranch kellyranchinc.net WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK Gilbert’s Underground Kitchen undergroundkitchen.co The Palace Saloon thepalacesaloon.com

Congratulations Wade & Lisa Weeks

on your new home at 1010 Midtown! 1-828-526-8128 - Office 1-404-455-5712 - Cell www.highlandscoverealty.com 404-455-5712 - Cell 404-876-4901 - PHP Office William.Gilmore@comcast.net

Salt at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island ritzcarlton.com Timoti’s Seafood Shak timotis.com

Living

IN-TOWN ESCAPES

Left: Back Porch Oyster Bar’s dining room is a colorful spot to enjoy a Georgia brew and freshfrom-the-ocean oysters. Below: Artfully presented ahi tuna at Back Porch Oyster Bar.

Autumnal Outing With everything from ghost tours to wine tastings, Dahlonega is a close-to-home hot spot for fall fun. | STORY: Malika Bowling |

ho says big cities have all the fun? Dahlonega, a small town in North Georgia, boasts quality eateries on par with Atlanta’s food scene and, of course, spectacular mountain views. Looking for a fun fall getaway? Then look to Dahlonega. With the Civil War and Trail of Tears, Dahlonega has its share of ghosts, as corroborated by many residents. Will you catch a glimpse of the Colonel at the Humble Candle store?

Above: Tasting whites, reds and rosés at Montaluce Winery.

OCTOBER 2016

Or will you fall prey to the mischievous woman who haunts the Connor Storehouse? Find out on a ghost tour with Dahlonega Walking Tours. There’s even a Boos and Brews pub crawl for the big kids. Spectacular seafood might seem unlikely in the middle of a mountain town, but you’ll find it here. At Back Porch Oyster Bar, fish is flown in daily to ensure the freshest quality. Their catch of the day changes according to what’s fresh, but standouts include Maine oysters, with their slightly sweet finish, and the tuna tartare, marinated in a secret, threesauce blend. And the chef does double duty as a sommelier, so let him pick your wine. The restaurant’s expansive selection of wines (over 200) earned it a Wine Spectator award. What happens when a chef from New York moves to Atlanta and tires of city life? He takes his talent to Dahlonega. That’s what happened when chef Nick Alicea left downtown Atlanta to move north and landed at Yahoola Creek Grill. Alicea’s resume includes studies in Europe

and stints at high-end restaurants in New York City, experiences he draws from to create dishes such as Rainbow Trout with bacon wild rice cake. For a taste of the French Quarter, visit the Bourbon Street Grille. You can’t go wrong with the Frenchalatte, a spin on the classic muffaletta, served open faced. What’s especially enticing about this restaurant (besides the food) is the second-story patio. Each seat is positioned to overlook the quaint, tree-lined, town square. Be sure to make a reservation for evenings as they are quite popular and fill up fast. The restaurant features some local wines and has a unique selection of craft beers you won’t find at most restaurants, such as Dogfish Head Namaste and Dixie Blackened Voodoo. It’s not just food that impresses in Dahlonega, but wine, too, so much so that Dahlonega has been dubbed the Wine Tasting Capital of Georgia. Montaluce Winery is one such destination. It’s part of a planned community that was designed to replicate a Tuscan village, so plan to spend two to three hours wandering amid

the estate’s 400 acres after a tasting. But the real gem is Le Vigne restaurant overlooking the vineyards. The food is every bit as inventive and creative as you’d find in a bustling metropolis. Looking for a little culture? Get the wine tasting passport that includes tastings at downtown galleries all within walking distance of each other. Pick up your passport at the Dahlonega Visitors Center (open daily) for $25. It features a sampling of four wines at each location (a $15 savings). Several wineries are represented on this self-guided tour, each offering its own distinct varietals. n

VISIT Back Porch Oyster Bar backporchoysterbar.net Bourbon Street Grille thebourbonstreetgrille.com Dahlonega Walking Tours dahlonegawalkingtours.com Montaluce Winery montaluce.com Yahoola Creek Grill yahoolacreekgrill.com

Culture COMEDY n MOVIES

Handmade pasta, perfectly cooked steaks & fresh seafood expertly prepared using the �nest ingredients.

26 MOVIES

RENTAL REDUX Movie buffs find a rental oasis in the Videodrome

Photo: Scott Reeves

For reservations please call 404.844.4810

OCTOBER 2016

Culture

COMEDY

l a g Le Status The unpredictable improv troupe Dad’s Garage turns 21—and has plenty of reason to celebrate | STORY: H.M. Cauley |

hey’ve probably had their fair share of beers before, but another round is in order, now that being 21 makes it officially legal. The gang at Dad’s Garage Theatre is hoisting more than a few to celebrate arriving at adulthood, a milestone not often reached in the whimsical world of improvisational comedy.

They’ve weathered being homeless for three years, when they shared stages with other area arts groups that took them in. They held on through the economic downturn, when things weren’t as bleak as they could have been, since “beer and comedy do rather well during a depression,” says Managing Director Lara Smith. And they’ve continued to thrive, gradually increasing the audience draw while giving classes at various venues around town, buying and rehabbing an old church and constantly being on the lookout for corporate gigs and grants. Co-founder George Faughnan says the idea to launch an improv company “started from sheer hubris, not because it was something most people do directly out of art school.” The Florida native was part of a nine-person team that launched Dad’s in 1996. “We were at Florida State and doing

OCTOBER 2016

improv in bars,” he recalls. “We were pretty popular on campus. One day, someone asked, ‘Why not open your own theater?’ So we started saving money we earned from improv to put a down payment on a space.” And the name? “Well, as an artist, you’re not going to get anywhere without the support of your family,” he says. “Since most of us were males, we’d had a lot of freedom playing around with tools in our dads’ garages, so it was an homage to their patronage.” With Atlanta then gearing up to host the Olympics, the city seemed an ideal location for a budding business. At the time, there was no operating improv theater with its own space, and Faughnan and friends were able to secure the area’s theatresports franchise, a copyrighted improv format. They spent the next 18 years on Elizabeth Street in Inman Park until the building morphed into Inman Quarter, and they were kicked to the curb. “We were experiencing exponential growth, so we would have been looking for a new home anyway,” says Smith. “In 2007, our budget was about a half million. As of August 1 this year, it was $1.3 million. Our class sizes have nearly doubled, and we’re doing five to seven scripted shows a year with improv in between. And we run corporate workshops on team-building, public speaking and collaboration. Our strength comes from the diversity of revenue.” It also comes from having very funny people who keep audiences and corporate clients coming back. The ensemble group of professionals has 20 members; the general company of less seasoned performers has about 40. Ages, backgrounds and reasons

Above and left: Dad’s Garage ensemble members perform scenes from “Scandal,” an improvised soap opera that ran in the company’s 21st season.

for doing improv vary wildly, but everyone gels, says Artistic Director Ed Morgan, who quit a day job in advertising to be part of Dad’s 11 years ago. “We have people in their mid-20s, people like me in their 30s, and founding members who are still improvising in their 50s,” he says. “I think that shows there’s the potential for a life in improv. The right amount of dedication and practice can make anyone good, if they need to approach it with an open mind and a willingness to listen. I tell students being funny is the last thing they should worry about; it’s about responding to your partners.” Members hone their responsive and often witty skills through ongoing workshops where the focus is on one aspect of improv. “We’ll take two hours to, say, work on movement or to improvise exclusively in the manner of Shakespeare,” says Morgan. “It’s less about ‘rehearsing’ for a specific show than learning a format.” Since improv is always a one-night stand, Morgan has few memories of specific shows that were runaway hits. “Well, I remember a lot of great nights, but I’ve also trained

my mind to get past bad shows by understanding it’s only one hour of my life that won’t happen again, so I tend to forget the good ones, too. But that keeps you humble.” In early 2014, Dad’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to buy a permanent home and raised more than $150,000—one of the most successful theater campaigns in Kickstarter memory. The funds went toward the purchase of a former church on Ezzard Street that cost $2.05 million, with another $850,000 tacked on for renovations, including a bar area, classrooms and two performance areas. The future is rosy, thanks in some part to the surging popularity of TV comics and Georgia’s burgeoning film industry that’s making careers in the arts more viable. But even with a milestone birthday to mark, it’s still not enough for Faughnan, now 37, to quit his day job with TBS Properties. “I’ve always had Dad’s Garage another job,” he 569 Ezzard St SE, admits. “Part of me 30312 doesn’t trust the 404.523.3141 dadsgarage.com business model of artistic endeavor.” n

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Culture

MOVIES

“If we miss something, customers let us know quickly; they’re pretty knowledgeable.”

l a t n Re x u d e | STORY: H.M. Cauley | | PHOTO: Scott Reeves |

With 22,000 DVDs to choose from, Videodrome is an oasis for film aficionados in an all-streaming era

he slightly psychedelic bald head and movie-reel eyeballs painted on an exterior wall, the neon “We Rent Movies” sign and the bright red movie poster of “Blow Up,” a film from 1966, might mislead anyone passing by Videodrome into thinking this store at the corner of N. Highland and North avenues is a dusty relic of a by-gone era. A video era, that is—one in which the weekend kicked off by wandering a rental store’s aisles trying to find a movie everyone could agree on watching. One where a videotape was viewed on a VCR, and customers were chided to be kind and rewind before returning their selections. So much for first impressions. Step through the double doors of this 18-year-old Poncey-Highland shop, and it’s immediately clear: No vid-

OCTOBER 2016

eotape here. Instead, visitors are surrounded by shelves several tiers high packed with Blu-ray and DVD discs that comprise an astonishing collection of more than 22,000 titles. Missed Michael Moore’s last documentary? Want to see “The Lobster” in your living room? Fancy a French-language film for a Friday night? It’s all here. Despite the current craze for streaming and online viewing, Videodrome has no shortage of customers willing to pay $4 for three nights of entertainment. Owner and Cabbagetown resident Matthew Booth has been catering to them since 1998, when he and a partner took over an old framing shop and got into the rental business. The partner moved on after three years, but Booth has kept going, successfully making the shift from tape to DVD and steadily increasing the selections. “Back then, it was cheap to open this kind of store,” he recalls. “I worked in another video store and

saved up to open this one. And I ran it like a corporation: I got to know the people in the neighborhood, the different clientele, and what they wanted.” During the days of “Ghostbusters” (the 1984 original) and “Die Hard,” Booth worked at a Kroger video counter before heading off to UGA, where his enthusiasm for movies blossomed. He fell hard for foreign films, a passion reflected in his store’s selection. “When we started, we had a lot of foreign and independent films— documentary, art-house styles,” he says. “We still do, and we’ve added a big selection of Japanese animation, Asian and Italian horror, Hong Kong movies—fringe genres that were just taking off and were less mainstream.” While having those selections is one of the reasons customers patronize the store, just as many come in for the newest releases, the classic they overlooked or something that’s just not available online. “We definitely have the non-technical crowd and a younger crowd that can’t afford Comcast; it’s cheaper to come to us,” Booth says. “But we also have a high-functioning movie crowd not satisfied by streaming because they can’t get what they want. A lot

MATTHEW BOOTH

of people want to see all the other stuff—director commentary, behindthe-scene extras—you don’t get online. The core of our customers is people who live close by and come here because we’re convenient.” And with almost 20 years in the business, Booth has established relationships with movie distributors that often give him an edge. “I do sometimes get things directly from the studio, but I only get movies based on whether they’re good or people want to see them. And if we miss something, customers let us know quickly; they’re pretty knowledgeable.” In facts, it’s the ability of Booth and his small staff of four to cater to customers that has kept the store going. “That’s the whole thing,” he says. “There’s something tactile about coming in, talking to the people who work here and discovering new things. Amazon tried to design a program that can make recommendations, but it’s hard to teach a computer how to do that beyond actor, Videodrome director or genre. 617 N. Highland For our customers Avenue, 30306 it’s not just renting 404.885.1117 videodromeatl.com a movie; it’s an experience.” n

Indulge n

REVIEW n LIQUIDS n FRESH BITES

28 REVIEW

NEXT LEVEL

Photos: Andrew Thomas Lee

Staplehouse stuns with artful presentation and unforgettable flavors

OCTOBER 2016

Photos: Andrew Thomas Lee

Indulge

REVIEW

l e v e tL

x e N T

he most expensive dinner I ever had cost me $600. It was at one of the most famous tasting-menu-only restaurants in Napa Valley. Spending that much on a single meal is absurd, I know, but the restaurant had three Michelin stars and nearly every other award under its belt. I thought it would be money well spent. I was wrong. It was one of the most disappointing meals of my life. Sure, each dish was the most beautifully-plated work of art I’d ever seen. But the food was bland, dull and lacked flavor. After all the excess of that meal and others like it, I began to shy away from ultra-fine-dining restaurants. No matter how pretty the plate is, I really only care if the food tastes good. So last year, when I heard that Staplehouse was opening and limiting its options to a five-course tasting menu, I was wary. Slowly but surely, the accolades started rolling in. GQ named Staplehouse the best new restaurant of 2016. Atlanta magazine gave it four stars. The James Beard Foundation nominated it for Best New Restaurant. Now, it was time for me to see what all the buzz was about. A year into the restaurant’s stride, I bit the bullet and booked a table for Sunday lunch, where the dishes are presented in the typical must-use-Tweezers-to-delicatelyplace-edible-flowers-and-precisely-positionfoams-and-powders kind of way I’ve come to expect from white-tablecloth establishments.

OCTOBER 2016

Staplehouse’s intimate dining room feels like a friend’s house.

Born out of a crushing loss, Staplehouse is a temple of inventive cuisine, Southern soul and familial spirit | STORY: Kate Parham Kordsmeier |

But at Staplehouse, there are no white tablecloths, and instead, the flavor of each dish actually surpasses the precision and beauty of its presentation. After ordering everything on the entire menu (there are fewer than a dozen dishes total), I was blown away by how much life, texture, contrast and flavor every dish possessed. Chef Ryan Smith’s velvety chicken liver mousse, served in a delicate tart shell with a burnt-honey glaze, crunchy heirloom corn nuts and seasonal fruits (during one of my visits it was figs; another time, sweet corn) is easily one of the best things I’ve eaten in Atlanta. Ever. My husband, a self-proclaimed mushroom hater, found his favorite dish in a bowl full of, well, roasted mushrooms. The funghi sat atop a mellow bed of farro and peanuts with an aromatic green sauce. And those creamy curls? They tasted just like Parmesan cheese, but in reality were egg yolks, cured, dried and shaved. As accolades poured in for Staplehouse— Bon Appétit named it Best New Restaurant of the Year between my visits—and buzz surrounding the restaurant became louder, scoring a reservation became virtually impossible. (Fortunately, I was able to squeeze in at the bar.) So much so, in fact, that when we requested access to Staplehouse’s kitchen and chefs in order to photograph the dishes featured in this review, we were ever-so-gently refused (a first for us),

with owner Jen Hidinger citing stretched resources and the team’s impending trip to New York to celebrate its recent nod from Bon Appétit. (And who were we to argue? It’s hard to be mad at the hometown restaurateur whose eatery is attracting national attention.) During this time, the Staplehouse team also announced that, come September, its tasting menu would be replaced by an a la carte menu that had been implemented earlier this year as a result of lackluster interest in the prix-fixe. Amid all the excitement, here’s what didn’t change: Flavor continues to trump novelty. Smith’s food is scrupulous, an edible labyrinth of dishes one couldn’t even dream of making at home, which is just what I like to order when dining out. But it is, most importantly, delicious. Smith’s menu constantly reimagines Southern food and does so with vegetables at the forefront of each plate. Meat is a mere garnish. Take the puffs: The appetizer reminded me of Munchos, the dehydrated potato chips loved for their airy texture. But Smith’s are made from root vegetable scraps and served with a side of burnt onion sauce that puts Sour Cream & Onion to shame. As the servers brought more plates to our table, they rattled off the tens of ingredients, each cooked in its own very specific way (dehydrated this, sous vide that), that Smith incorporated into each dish. I could hardly believe I was paying fewer than $20, sometimes $10, for each one.

From left to right: Cauliflower, sake bushi and salmon roe; smoked lamb, root vegetable and celery; Grandma Lillian’s Potato Bread; shrimp, broth, sorrel and aged beef fat.

Kate’s picks

Admittedly, the portions are quite small, so you have to rack up quite a few plates to leave Staplehouse feeling full. No matter; each bite is more euphoric than the last, many drawing on classic flavors from our youths. Take Smith’s potato dish: Voth roasted and chipped potatoes are served with banana pepper relish, pickled chanterelles, dill and tangy cheese, resulting in an exquisite plate that, despite its technical beauty, was reminiscent of a bag of salt and vinegar chips. A look around the cozy and intimate dining room took in smiling faces, laughing and communing, and the chefs creating masterpieces in the open kitchen. It was clear I wasn’t the only one experiencing nirvana. In fact, so much warmth and joy emanates from Staplehouse that it’s easy to forget the restaurant was born in sorrow. In 2012, the original chef, Ryan Hidinger, was diagnosed with cancer just as he and his wife, Jen, were running a supper club and raising money to open their own restaurant. Hidinger passed away in early 2014, but Jen, along with Ryan’s sister, Kara, and Kara’s husband, Ryan Smith

of Restaurant Eugene and Empire State South, opened Staplehouse as a team. During Ryan Hidinger’s cancer battle, friends in the restaurant community banded together to raise funds for his treatment. The first Team Hidi event raised more than $275,000, and the leftover money was the impetus for The Giving Kitchen, a local charity that provides financial relief to restaurant workers in times of hardship. Today, The Giving Kitchen has raised nearly $3 million. What’s more—all of the restaurant’s profits after payroll and taxes go to the charity. It’s no wonder dining at Staplehouse feels more like joining a family dinner. Though the food is meticulous, the decidedly unpretentious space is more akin to hip friend’s apartment, with exposed brick and subway tiles cladding the walls of the long, narrow room, where friendly staff mingle with patrons as if they were old friends. Most probably are, or soon will be. That’s the Staplehouse effect. You come after hearing the Hidingers’ story, stay for the people, and continue to return for Smith’s ingenious comfort food. n

te Parham Photos: Ka

Kordsmeier

From left to right: Peach, chanterelle, basil, Charleston gold rice; chicken liver tart with figs, corn nuts and herbs; potato, Jersey Girl, banana pepper, dill; roasted mushrooms, farro verde, peanut, egg yolk.

STAPLEHOUSE 541 Edgewood Ave SE, 30312 404.524.5005 staplehouse.com Recommended: Chicken Liver Tart ($10), Roasted Mushrooms ($16), Fingerling Potatoes ($15) Bottom line: Chef Ryan Smith’s ingenious comfort food turns fine dining on its head—the food actually tastes as great, if not better than, it looks!

Indulge

LIQUIDS Urban Tree Cidery Urban Tree Cidery is another Atlanta “first,” serving as the city’s first cidery with a tasting room. Urban Tree offers six different flavors of hard apple cider by the glass, but you can also pop in and buy a to-go bottle, too. Owner Maria Resuta says her tailgate beverage of choice is the Inman Park Mimosa because it’s “a refreshing jumpstart to tailgating festivities.”

s e t s Ta e lik

m a e T ir it

INMAN PARK MIMOSA Serves 8 1 bottle (25 oz.) Urban Tree Classic Cider 4 oz. 18.21 Blood Orange and Ginger Syrup 8 oz. Orange juice 4 oz. Simple syrup (search Google for easy recipes) 2½ oz. Lemon juice

This season, ditch those watery domestic brews and up your tailgating game with tasty, easy-to-mix tipples | STORY & PHOTOS: Lia Picard |

all means foliage and cooler temperatures, but to most Atlantans, it really means one thing: football season. With Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State and countless alumni groups in such close proximity, college football reigns supreme. Whether you’re headed to the tailgating lots or a watch party at a fellow fan’s house, swap the watered-down beer you guzzled as an undergrad for cocktails that are a touch more sophisticated—and tasty. We recruited four local, in-the-know purveyors to share recipes for tailgating cocktails with high-quality ingredients that’ll see you through the games’ more stressful—and celebratory—moments.

Combine in a pitcher or beverage dispenser, add ice and serve.

American Spirit Whiskey American Spirit Whiskey opened its doors this summer in the burgeoning Armour Yards area between Armour Drive and Piedmont Road. Its whiskey is “silver” due to a quick aging process (a couple of days versus years) in an oak barrel, followed by a filtration process that removes impurities. This makes for a smooth and very drinkable spirit that’s perfect for cocktails such as the The Labrador. ASW’s Chad Ralston says, “The South has a knack for staying rather warm late into the fall, so we’ve found that a refreshing, easy-sipping adult lemonade is the perfect tipple before the game.”

THE LABRADOR Makes 1 cocktail 4 oz. Lemonade 1 oz. American Spirit Whiskey ½ oz. St. Germain

Second Self Beer Company

Combine all ingredients and serve over ice.

Old 4th Distillery Offering vodka and gin, Old 4th Distillery is Atlanta’s first legal distillery in more than a century. You can visit the distillery or purchase bottles at stores throughout the city. Co-founder Gabe Pilato recommends The Edgewood Bulldog, explaining, “This is a no-brainer tailgating drink because it’s easy to make, easy to drink in the morning and named after our beloved Georgia Bulldogs.”

GOSE-ARITA Makes 1 cocktail 1½ oz. Blanco tequila ¾ oz. lime juice ¾ oz. Triple Sec 1 12oz. can Maverick and Gose

THE EDGEWOOD BULLDOG Makes 1 cocktail 1 ½ oz. Old 4th Distillery Gin 1 oz. Campari 3 oz. Grapefruit juice Grapefruit wedge for garnish Build in a rocks glass (or Solo cup) over ice and garnish with a grapefruit wedge.

OCTOBER 2016

Second Self Beer Company joined Atlanta’s booming brewery scene in 2014 with more than 11 flavors to sample. Beer Architect Jason Santamaria, a Georgia Tech grad, suggests the Gosearita featuring the company’s Maverick and Gose, a sweet yet hoppy gose for a fun beer cocktail. “I love it because it is simple and refreshing,” he says. “And because of its higher volume, I can drink it longer and not get too buzzed. It’s the prefect outdoor beer cocktail, in my opinion.” Maverick and Gose cans can be found throughout the city at various liquor and grocery stores.

Stir the tequila, lime juice and Triple Sec with ice, and strain into a glass or plastic up. Top off with Maverick and Gose, garnish with lime or orange slice.

American Spirit Whiskey Distillery 199 Armour Drive NE, Suite C, 30324 404.590.2279 aswdistillery.com

Old 4th Distillery 487 Edgewood Ave. SE, 30312 844.653.3687 o4d.com

Second Self Beer Company 1317 Logan Circle NW 30318 678.916.8035 secondselfbeer.com

Urban Tree Cidery 1465 Howell Mill Road NW, 30318 404.855.5546 urbantreecidery.com

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Indulge

FRESH BITES

What’s New & Noteworthy in Food

Above: AG’s Baked Alaska

| STORY: Sarah Gleim |

Right: Border Springs lamb chops and freshly baked brioche from AG

CHANGE IS GOOD After 17 years of traditional steakhouse service, Atlanta Grill (now AG) in The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta is shaking things up a bit. Don’t worry; they didn’t do anything crazy. You’ll still get a menu of USDA prime grilled steaks and fresh seafood, but Executive Chef Josh Fryer did spice it up a with dishes of roasted bone marrow, a smoked brisket sandwich and a Southern fried chicken doughnut. No steakhouse dinner would be complete without a beverage.

Sommelier Brian White has curated a wine list that’s complex and deep, and Diego Gentili’s new cocktail program is banking on the classics made with the best ingredients and a high-tech ice program with different varieties—think crushed, infused and carved straight off the block. It’s been just shy of a year since the iconic Manuel’s Tavern closed its doors for a major overhaul and renovation. But the beer is flowing again, and doors are open for the first time since December 27, 2015, just in time to celebrate 60 years as a Poncey-Highland mainstay. Regulars weren’t so sure this day

would come after Green Street properties purchased the bar earlier this year from owner Brian Maloof, son of late founder Manuel Maloof. But the long closure was worth it; the muchneeded facelift added new bathrooms, Photo: Sandra Platten

The Ritz-Carlton’s Atlanta Grill rebrands, and Manuel’s Tavern reopens after a months-long refresh

fine-tuned the layout, leveled out the floors and exposed the original ceiling of the 100-plus-year-old building. What remained intact is the charm. Much of the original memorabilia— those signs, paintings, posters and buttons—are all back in their original spots. So are the old booths. And Manuel’s cremains are again behind the bar. For sure, the one thing that will always stay the same is the legacy of this place. It’s a longtime favorite of political junkies and heavyweights such as President Barack Obama and, most recently, Bill Clinton, who stopped by while campaigning for Hillary. It’s as if nothing changed. Almost. n

AG The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta 181 Peachtree St., 30303 404.221.6550 ritzcarlton.com Manuel’s Tavern 602 N. Highland Ave. 30307 404.525.3447 manuelstavern.com

Food News ously head bartender, lead mixologist and manager at Muss and Turner’s hidden bar, Eleanor’s, where he worked for three years.

n Edgar’s Proof and Provision in the Georgian Terrace Hotel named James Wampler (above) as its new head mixologist in early September. Wampler was previ-

OCTOBER 2016

n Chef Deborah VanTrece is moving her Decatur soul food restaurant, Twisted Soul, to West Midtown. The restaurant also is changing its name to Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours when it opens, slated for late November.

n Lure has added a new quick-service “Catch & Release” lunch menu for the busy working crowd in Midtown. Dishes of smoked trout salad with pecan vinaigrette,

shrimp and crab gumbo, the Lure patty melt and skate schnitzel are all $12 and include a soda, tea or coffee. n Just in time for more alfresco-friendly temps,

City Winery’s outdoor patio is now open at Ponce City Market. The laid-back area is available to dogs and their humans after 5 p.m. daily for food, live music and cocktails.

City Winery Atlanta Ponce City Market 650 North Ave., 30308 404.946.3791 citywinery.com/atlanta Edgar’s Proof and Provision 659 Peachtree St., 30308 404.897.5045 proofandprovision.com Lure 1106 Crescent Ave., 30306 404.817.3650 lure-atlanta.com Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours 1133 Huff Road, 30318 deborahvantrece.com

COVER STORY

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN They’re poised. They’re polished. They’re passionate. And they’re proprietors of some of our city’s most successful businesses. Meet 11 accomplished women who might just be your next boss Photo: Anne Simone

| PHOTOS: Sara Hanna |

OCTOBER 2016

“We can compete with the same things you’ll see at Bloomingdale’s...but you’ll come in and pay a quarter of the price for them here.” JAYNA THOMPSON

JAYNA THOMPSON Founder, Alexis Suitcase consignment boutiques

he retail landscape in town has been tricky to navigate for many boutiques, but not for Atlanta native Jayna Thompson, owner of Alexis Suitcase, a group of upscale consignment shops that dot the metro area. “A lot of full-price boutiques have come and gone; it’s really hard these days because everyone wants to be a smart shopper,” says Thompson, a lifelong bargain hunter. What started as a way to segue out of her brother’s e-commerce business has turned into a mini-empire. In 2005, the Georgia Tech grad and former 15-year Midtown resident opened her first location in Sandy Springs, sharing that the women’s clothing and accessories consignment was a smart business move from the get-go: “It’s a smaller start-up cost, and I thought that consignment was going to have a big boom.” Thompson was right. After 18 months she doubled the size of her Sandy Springs store, then opened

OCTOBER 2016

Johns Creek (near her current home) and south Buckhead, and quickly had to double those spaces as well. “Every year we’ve posted growth,” she notes. “We haven’t had a down year yet. Each year, we grow our sales 10-30%, depending on the year and the location.” Thompson, who named the stores after a college friend whose suitcase she “shopped” from while the two traveled together in New Zealand, attributes the rapid, steady growth to realizing early on that the markup on consignment is “not that high. At a department store, it’s four to five times the wholesale price.” With that knowledge, she knew what she had to do to make the stores successful: “Scalability. It was the only way I was going to make a comfortable living, and it’s what pushed me to open the second location. When you open multiple locations, you grow not only in how much sales, and therefore profit, you can generate, but also your customer base grows to different areas and they often start

| STORY: Lauren Finney |

shopping at both locations.” The other part of the equation was hiring and keeping staff—Thompson currently has 30 employees across her stores. “Opening stores is like having kids. It becomes exponentially harder,” she says. “It requires trusting your employees more, and I rely on mine.” As for how retail has changed in the last 10 years, Thompson says that “more people are now knowledgeable about designer brands, and absolutely the number one thing people are looking for from us is designer handbags. We have the largest selection in Atlanta, and for sellers with top designer bags, we offer a buyout program where we’ll pay you right on the spot for them. That’s really helped set us apart from other consignment stores. My management can authenticate handbags, and we offer a lifetime guarantee on authenticity.” Popular sellers include Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Valentino. Shoppers are not only looking to save money, but are looking for the most current clothing as well, at

prices that allow them to change their closets out frequently. “Our customers love contemporary brands, and they love to feel like they’re shopping at the mall,” says Thompson. “We can compete with the same things you’ll see at Bloomingdale’s, such as Tory Burch, Rag & Bone, Rebecca Minkoff, Rebecca Taylor and more, but you’ll come in and pay a quarter of the price for them here. For example, a $295 blouse from Rebecca Taylor might only cost $79 with us.” If you’re looking to stock up on fall essentials, pay attention: Alexis Suitcase is having its biggest sale of the year October 14-16. “The entire store gets marked down, 10-75 percent off everything, with the big sale and festivities happening Saturday, October 15,” says Thompson. “It’ll be fun, with a party atmosphere!” Major sale aside, Thompson has plenty to celebrate. n

Check out alexissuitcase.com for store locations, hours and inventory.

eed a blood-thirsty vampire? A sexy Southern belle? A model who looks good in a maid’s costume? When film and TV directors need help, Cynthia Fritts Stillwell rolls up her sleeves. For 30 years, Stillwell has been casting characters in productions for both the silver and small screens. The Savannah native has done it from her Victorian house in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, the neighborhood she moved to after returning to town three years ago with a hefty resume of credits to her name. Stillwell was part of the city’s production scene in the 1980s, but left 18 years ago when the market dried up. “Then, there were usually four to six shows per year,” she says. “Now, Atlanta is bursting with film and television projects: There are about 42 per month.” Just drive around the metro area, and you’re sure to see what she means. Caravans of trailers from “The Walking Dead,” the Netflix series “Stranger Things” or “The Vampire Diaries” are part of the metro area landscape. After studying film at UCLA, Stillwell broke into casting as a theater owner and producer in Savannah. She purchased and refurbished the Savannah Theater, one of the oldest operating theaters in the country that dates back to the 1830s. “I bought and toured Broadway professional shows throughout the Southeast,” says Stillwell. “I came to know the various stage hands, the transportation business and the venues in the various cities.” She had another edge as well: At the time, her husband was serving as the city’s mayor pro tem, a job that made Stillwell a city insider with access to exclusive clubs and some of the town’s most exquisite mansions and plantations. When film crews came to town in the late 1980s, Stillwell was armed with information to help them do business. From 1985 until 1991, Stillwell was in Atlanta, but the lack of business drove her to New York and the West Coast. A longtime colleague convinced her to give the Georgia capital another go and to cast a new ABC show, “Resurrection.” That was three years ago, “and I’m still here,” she says. Now part of the city’s mushrooming film industry, Stillwell has racked up credits for casting more than 300,000 actors in films, TV shows, regional theater and Broadway productions. She describes that group as “a tapestry of faces” who have appeared in such projects as Remember the Titans, Road Trip, “I’ll Fly Away” and, more recently, the Atlanta-based TV show “Devious Maids.” She also landed assignments as the Georgia

Location Casting Director and Associate Background Casting Director for the Oscar-nominated Selma, the Oprah Winfrey project filmed in various locations around the metro area. “I read more than 600 actors for 60 speaking roles of the 72 roles total before meeting with the director, and I cast more than 3,500 period background, non-speaking extras,” she says. And the job came with a bonus: Stillwell, a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, nabbed a cameo as Lady Bird

Johnson. “I loved being in front of the camera,” says Stillwell. The experience was so positive that she now plans to mount a one-person, autobiographical show, Behind the Moss Curtain, sometime early next year. Currently, Stillwell is casting for Season One of “Daytime Divas” for VH1. She also produces, leads actor workshops and distributes films for Murphy Entertainment Company. In 2015, she launched the MidSouth Picture Car Company, a firm that finds vintage and contemporary

vehicles for projects around town. Though a typical work day might be 18 hours, Stillwell finds time to enjoy living in Old Fourth Ward, where she walks the BeltLine every day, rain or shine. “When I left Atlanta years ago, there was no BeltLine, no North Highland eateries, no real community. Now, I couldn’t be happier about where I’m living.” n

Find out more at cynthiafrittsstillwell.com

CYNTHIA FRITTS STILLWELL

| STORY: Cathy H. Burroughs & H.M. Cauley |

Founder, Cynthia Stillwell Casting

“Then, there were usually four to six shows per year. Now, Atlanta is bursting with film and television projects.” CYNTHIA FRITTS STILLWELL

“I could feel [Atlanta’s] energy all the way from my small home town of Goiania.” ANDREIA GUILMET

ANDREIA GUILMET Founder, Brazilian Wax by Andreia

ince 2001, Andreia Guilmet has made life smoother for thousands of Atlanta women. In those years, Guilmet launched 17 upscale Brazilian Wax by Andreia salons, all around metro Atlanta, including one at 950 W. Peachtree Street in Midtown. With a reputation for exceptional service, Guilmet has

OCTOBER 2016

| STORY: Cathy H. Burroughs |

created a waxing empire noted for its imported, organic hard wax, low pricing and Guilmet’s own proprietary wax removal technique. Each one of her boutiques—some with as many as 12 rooms—is emblazoned with a hot pink sign, a design choice that, together with the company’s four pink VW Beetles that zip from location to location, has helped to establish her brand.

As a young woman in Brazil, Guilmet, who has four children and lives in Marietta, dreamed of moving to the United States. She was first drawn to Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. “I could feel the energy all the way from my small home town of Goiania,” she says. “I also had friends here, so Atlanta was a likely choice.” Although Guilmet, who was introduced to waxing as a teenager while

assisting her aunt in Brazil, is now living an entrepreneur’s dream, bringing the business to fruition brought with it some challenges: “When I immigrated to the United States in January of 2000, I saw an untapped market in the beauty industry,” she says. But once here, she had to face Americans’ relatively puritanical position on waxing, as well as master both English and the very different American way of doing business. Though waxing was already mainstream in Brazil, thanks to the prevalence of itsy-bitsy swimsuits worn on the country’s beaches, Guilmet found it was essentially non-existent in Atlanta and saw an opportunity. By the time she opened her first salon in Marietta in 2005, she already had more than 10 years of experience. She was soon flooded with customers who came in for Brazilian, bikini and full-body waxes, as well as other services, including those designed just for men—which was nearly unheard of at the time. Guilmet continued to add new locations as demand built. Her formula was simple: “I am quite certain I was the first to offer a $35 Brazilian wax for women. And there’s a strong probability that I was the first to offer full-body waxing for men in Atlanta and the Southeast. All of this was new, and the demand was tremendous,” she says. Though successfully managing locations around the metro area, Guilmet still has an appetite for expansion and plans to open new salons, in Memphis this month and in Tampa in early 2017. Guilmet’s master plan: to go nationwide, with her eldest daughter, Beatriz at the company’s helm. Guilmet credits her 150-person, fully-licensed staff of aestheticans and salon managers—many of whom are mothers, daughters and friends of friends from Marietta’s Brazilian community—for the chain’s success. Her husband, Chris, and Beatriz help run the company’s day-to-day operations, allowing Guilmet to stay on the front lines, interacting with her clients and doing what she loves best: “Building a base of loyal customers who often become good friends.” n

To learn more about Brazilian Wax by Andreia, including salon locations and hours, visit brazilianwax.com

isa Calhoun’s resume is a formidable one: She started Write2Market, a tech public relations firm that has received many accolades and is one of the top 10 public relations agencies in the country catering to start-ups. She’s also a past president of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Atlanta chapter, is an advisor to Women Who Code and an Atlanta Techstar mentor. She’s also the author of How You Rule The World: A Female Founder’s Survival Guide, and the publisher of online magazine Female Entrepreneurs. But her greatest professional accomplishment to date is one that positively affects not only the city of Atlanta, but also the startup world in general: She’s the first woman to found and run a venture capital firm in Georgia, Valor Ventures. “I feel completely honored and excited [about the milestone],” says Calhoun. Georgia is Number 1 in the nation for yielding women entrepreneurs, and Number 2 for black entrepreneurs, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census, but Calhoun points out that the Southeast still “has too little venture capitalism. For the amount of talent we have, incredible entrepreneurs that aren’t coming to full bloom because they lack access to venture capital. The Southeast currently gets an incredibly small percentage of venture capitalism,” she says. For Calhoun, whose business is based in Old Fourth Ward but who spends a lot of time holding office hours at the Gathering Spot in West Midtown, a huge part of growing the talent in the Southeast means a focus on minority and women-owned businesses. “Here in Atlanta, we’re able to source natively from the minority community,” Calhoun explains. “Valor is collaborative and community-driven. We’ve been welcomed by a lot of players in the community and recognized for the deals we bring to the table.” For example, Brooklyn-based aerial film production company Aerobo is interested in opening a southeastern headquarters in Atlanta, and Valor is assisting with the search. “Access to capital for minority startups is an issue,” she continues, “and it’s not an issue of discrimination: it’s a communication problem. I am a communications entrepreneur.

“The Southeast currently gets an incredibly small percentage of venture capitalism.” LISA CALHOUN

LISA CALHOUN Founder, Valor Ventures This is a problem I decided to solve.” Calhoun’s focus this fall will be on yet another venture she’s helming. Called Startup Runway, it aims to connect women- and minority-owned startups with no previous funding with seed investors. For its first round, only 20 percent of the applicants were invited to join the program. “Our investors want to source from this pool of entrepreneurship,” she says. “The founders of startups like Borrowing Magnolia

| STORY: Lauren Finney |

(wedding industry), Wyzerr (productivity) and Empowrd (politics) come from the black, women, Latino and LGBT communities, which are traditionally under-represented.” Calhoun isn’t just about starting things, either. She makes sure to pick businesses and people she and others can invest in long term. For example, Write2Market’s software developer client, Andela, just got $25 million in funding from Facebook

founder Mark Zuckerberg. As for the future of investing in Atlanta, Calhoun has this to say: “This is all very new for Midtown—it’s exciting.” n

Find out more about Lisa Calhoun, Valor Ventures and Startup Runway at valor.vc.

“I find I’m most effective when I’m able to focus on the elements that will bring the most ROI to the company.” ANISA TELWAR KAICKER

Founder, Anisa International

he beauty industry has many iconic women—Estée Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown and Sonia Kashuk, to name a few. But behind the scenes is a powerhouse working with beauty companies around the world: Virginia-Highland’s Anisa Telwar Kaicker. Telwar Kaicker’s company, Anisa International, designs and manufactures the makeup brushes used by many top companies, including Target, Amway and Sephora. Kaicker has also worked with Smashbox, Laura Mercier, Becca, Elizabeth Arden, Maybelline, Lancôme and L’Oréal. Today, Telwar Kaicker, whose mother ran a successful import/export business in Nashville and taught her the ropes, employs more than 600 people between her company’s manufacturing facilities in China, its headquarters in Atlanta and in its business development branches in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London. Although cosmetics brushes are the “starring role in our business,” she has branched out to include storage solutions for brushes and beauty tools; brush cleaning and care products; and nail tools, eyelash enhancements and body brushes. Telwar Kaicker started her career as a successful cosmetic brush sales

OCTOBER 2016

Photo: Anne Simone

ANISA TELWAR KAICKER | STORY: Mary Welch |

representative and decided that, by using her knowledge, experience and contacts, she could strike out on her own. She worked with a South Korean expert in brush manufacturing to open a factory in 2003 in Tianjin, China, a region that, according to Telwar Kaicker, has a history of brush making. The early days of Anisa International were met with some significant challenges, including a staff strike just four days after opening the Tianjin facility. Telwar Kaicker took control and turned things around, growing the business one contact at a time until she landed some big buyers, such as Target. Since then, Telwar Kaicker’s role has evolved from being a do-it-all entrepreneur to one who trusts her team. “I’ve been able to surround myself with a strong team that allows me to focus more on the things I love the most: customer partnerships, building a strong company culture and focusing on creative and innovative design developments,” she says. “In the beginning, I was extremely involved in all aspects of the business, from finance and operations to HR and marketing. And while I’m still brought in at high levels, I find I’m most effective when I’m able to focus on the elements that will bring the most ROI (return on investment) to the company.” Though Telwar Kaicker was fully

committed to her work, she also craved balance, which she found when she fell in love with her nowhusband, London architect Arjun Kaicker. Although the couple has homes in the U.S. and England, they “have really made a home in [Virginia] Highland, so much so that I modified my travel schedule to allow me to spend more time here,” she says. “My husband and I made a decision to make Atlanta our home base so I could focus on my business. We love to walk in the area and frequent the local shops and restaurants, spend time with our neighbors and friends and experience the BeltLine and Ponce City Market.” As much as Telwar Kaicker enjoys Atlanta, she still has a soft spot for London, too. “When I’m there, I love it. I feel comfortable and relaxed and inspired. We just soak in the English way of life,” which she says includes visiting museums, having tea and taking in London’s shopping scene. Telwar Kaicker recently turned 50 and celebrated with bashes in both Atlanta—a disco-themed party complete with dancing roller skaters— and London’s famed Hampton Court, where party-goers dressed up as if they were meeting Queen Elizabeth I. Having found fulfillment in both business and love, Telwar Kaicker has evolved from a laser-focused entre-

preneur to a happily married businesswoman who delegates important aspects of her company to others. “Personally, I think I have learned to relax and enjoy the process of growing a business a bit more. I can cherish the time I get to spend with my husband and our dogs, and the community we wish to contribute to,” which includes Atlanta’s Lifeline Animal Rescue, for whose board Telwar Kaicker serves as chair. “I truly believe that how we as a people treat living things is a reflection on our overall health as a community,” she says. “The work that they are accomplishing each and every day is something that I am very proud of and will continue to support through our financial and strategic partnerships.” Despite all of her personal and professional successes, Telwar Kaicker believes her best years are still ahead. “My business is growing, I continue to uncover new opportunities, I love my friends and family and the communities where I live. This is such a good time in my life, so while I definitely have focus when it comes to the future, I am also trying to soak up all the beauty and blessings of the present.” n

Learn more about Anisa International at anisa.com

PR POWERHOUSES

Experts in everything from the arts and tech to hospitality and public policy, these six savvy women are taking Atlanta’s PR industry by storm. | STORY: Sarah Gleim | Lalohni Campbell

Elizabeth Moore COO, GREEN OLIVE MEDIA

Anna Ruth Williams

PRESIDENT, PER/SE MEDIA GROUP Authentic. Smart. Focus: Public policy Original. These are all Years in words that describe Business: Three Lalohni Campbell. She’s Staff: Five deeply embedded in the Clients: Colgate, BMW, the Atlanta Atlanta community—her BeltLine Partnership grandparents were some of the first in the ’60s to integrate the historic Peyton Road area, the once all-white suburb in Cascade Heights. But being a dreamer is something she prides herself on. It’s a powerful way she connects with people, such as Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and Councilman Andre Dickens on events such as Caring for Others. And it’s how she coordinated the first Feeding ATL event in August that fed more than 2,000 hungry families. Her philosophy: “Be a dreamer with a shovel in your hands.”

Those who know Elizabeth Moore would probably describe her as always on the go, determined and strategic. But she’s also a driven multitasker who’s downright tough. Let’s just say she can still pull an all-nighter, and she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty when she has to. One weekend you might find her doing just that on a barbecue rig with client Tuffy Stone, who happens to be the winningest barbecue pitmaster in the Focus: Hospitality, world. The next, she’s food and beverage, with clients Fox Bros. restaurants and hotels Years in Business: 18 Bar-B-Q and Taqueria Staff: 18 Del Sol, raising cash Clients: Taqueria for kids with cancer Del Sol, Fox Bros. at the annual Hogs Bar-B-Q, Canoe for the Cause event.

It takes guts to start a company the way Anna Ruth Williams did with AR|PR. She woke up one morning and decided she was fed up with her agency job. So, she quit, budgeted for 90 days sans job, networked with everyone she knew in technology, designed her own logo and made a marketing deck. Then she asked her parents for the money they’d saved for her future wedding, figuring she could pay for it herself when the day came. They gave her an $8,000 loan. She took that, and in three years turned AR|PR into a company that generates seven figures in revenue.

Liz Lapidus

OWNER, LIZ LAPIDUS PUBLIC RELATIONS After dealing with everything from wardrobe malfunctions to false bomb scares, Liz Lapidus knows that getting “in front of the story” is what’s critical. A 2008 tornado put that philosophy to the test. The twister decimated her client, the Westin Peachtree Plaza, and rumors swirled that the hotel was torn off of its foundation and that windows would be replaced with car windshields. Of course, the rumors Focus: Hospitality, retail, real estate, weren’t true. Lapidus’s healthcare, nonprofit team responded with and the arts stories that highlighted Years in the true details of Business: 19 Staff: Six the iconic hotel’s renovaClients: Antico tion and was rewarded Pizza, WonderRoot, with tons of press for Switch Modern the Peachtree Plaza.

Marsha Middleton FOUNDER, M-SQUARED PUBLIC RELATIONS

Marsha Middleton’s not afraid to think outside the box. And that’s helped land clients such as Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, The Kimpton Brice Hotel in Savannah and Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse in Buckhead. She put together an event at Davio’s for Usher’s New Look Foundation and reached out to the superstar singer’s mom, Jonnetta Patton, via Facebook to host. The event sold out, and to Middleton’s surprise, Usher and his brother, J-Lack, showed up. Needless to say, the restaurant owners renewed their contract with Middleton’s firm. Focus: Hotels, tourism, retail, food and beverage Years in Business: Eight Staff: Eight Clients: Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, The Cowfish, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse

FOUNDER AND CEO, AR|PR

Focus: Technology (healthIT, cybersecurity, Software-as-a-Service, mobility and mission critical) Years in Business: Four Staff: 14 Clients: IronScales, PowWow Mobile, Nuance Communications

Caren West PRESIDENT, CAREN WEST PR

“Breaking the internet” is something Caren West can now include on her list of PR accomplishments. It happened when she and her crew threw her dream party—a winter wonderland anniversary for client STK Atlanta and The ONE Group, complete with indoor snow and a white Siberian tiger cub called Delilah. The who’s who of Atlanta in attendance went wild, and The ONE Group donated money to the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve & Zoo in Dahlonega where the adorable Focus: Lifestyle, entertainment tiger was from. And STK and events celebrated its one-year Years in milestone in style. Business: 10 Staff: One business partner, two employees, two dogs Clients: The Frye Company, Jeffrey Fashion Cares, Euphoria Music & Camping Festival

Happening WHAT’S GOING ON AROUND TOWN | STORIES: Laura Raines |

Ronald Lockett (American, 1965-1998), Traps (Golden Bird), 1990, metal fence, branches, cut tin, industrial sealing compound and found plastic bird and berries. Collection of William S. Arnett. Photograph by Stephen Pitken/Pitken Studio.

ARTISTIC HOMAGE

atherine Jentleson first met the art of Ronald Lockett in graduate school, when she worked on the scholarly publication, “Fever Within: The Art of Ronald Lockett (1965-1998).” “I’m thrilled that his work is coming to the High Museum of Art,” says Jentleson, the museum’s Merrie and Dan Boone curator of folk and self-taught art. The exhibit opens October 9 and runs through January 8, 2017. “This show is a perfect fit for our commitment to strongly represent African American and self-taught

Southern artists, and it is his first retrospective and major solo show,” she says. “His talent and vision burned so brightly only to disappear long before his time.” Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Lockett grew up influenced by his cousin, and better-known artist, Thornton Dial. “His training wasn’t academic or traditional, yet Lockett was surrounded by other artists in the Bessemer community who exchanged ideas and techniques,” says Jentleson. Lockett produced an estimated 400 paintings, sculptures and

THE HIGH’S LOOK BACK AT RONALD LOCKETT assemblages by his death at 32. His work addressed themes of struggle, survival and injustice, using the context of historical events such as the civil rights movement and the Oklahoma City bombing. After 1993, he worked in cut metal and mixed media to create haunting, more abstract pieces with animal symbolism. In his series, “Traps,” foundmetal silhouettes of deer are often enmeshed in chain link fencing to express vulnerability. Jentleson is drawn to “Once Something Has Lived It Can Never Really Die,”

with its beautiful metal patinas, rich textures and powerful message. “His body of work is beautiful and bleak, challenging and inspiring, elevated yet down to earth. It is compelling both physically and emotionally. I can’t wait for our viewers to encounter it,” she says. “I know they will connect.” The High Museum plans to put Lockett’s work in greater context with an auxiliary show of other Bessemer, Alabama, artists. n high.org/art/upcoming-exhibitions

OCTOBER 2016

Happening

EVENTS

PHOTO FINISH

Coming up...

RUN LIKE HELL 5-K/RUN LIKE HECK 1K

OCTOBER 27-29

October 15 Oakland Cemetery

Photo: Courtesy 20x24 Studio

Sean Penn sits for artist and photographer Chuck Close in front of a large-format Polaroid camera.

Polaroid cameras provided instant gratification long before digital photography and selfies came along. In 1976, Polaroid built the first functioning prototype of the Polaroid 20x24 camera to demonstrate the quality of its new Polacolor II Film. Polaroid built five of the 225pound cameras, and founded the 20x24 Studio in Cambridge,

Massachusetts, inviting select renowned artists to use the camera and show their work in the gallery. When Polaroid exited the film business, 20x24 Studio purchased the remaining film in 2009. It will cease operations at the end of 2017. “Presidents and celebrities have been photographed with this historic, large-format Polaroid camera, and now you can, too,” says Anne Weems, manager

of the Hathaway Contemporary Gallery on the Westside. “We’re excited to bring this opportunity to Atlanta before it is too late. We are already booking live portrait sessions of about 20 minutes each for October 27-29.” Pricing is two tiered. Sessions shot by John Reuter, photographer and director of the 20x24 studio, will run $1,700 for the initial session and $200 to $300 for additional images. Atlanta’s own Sheila Pree Bright will also operate the camera, and those sessions will cost $2,700. “I’ve heard that there is almost a liquid quality to these prints, and what sets this camera apart from all other large format experiences is that it delivers an instant finished product,” says Weems. For bookings, contact the gallery at 470.428.2061. n hathawaygallery.com

The largest cemetery run in the country, in Atlanta’s oldest cemetery, is back for its ninth year on October 15 at 9 a.m. This qualifier for the Peachtree Road Race will take you through parts of Oakland Cemetery and Grant Park. Wear a Halloween costume and stay afterwards for a complimentary “History, Mystery, and Mayhem” guided walking tour. Learn more at oaklandcemetery.com and register at active.com.

TASTE OF ATLANTA October 21-23 Tech Square “Back in 2002, food wasn’t yet the chefdriven restaurant model it is today, but the scene was starting to change, so we started a festival to treat chefs like rock stars,” says Dale DeSena, founder and president of Taste of Atlanta. “It’s the only time of year you can come to Midtown and have a taste of more than 90 restaurants, 250 menu items and 150 craft beers, wines and cocktails.” This year’s event will see four livecooking stages, cooking classes and the best fare in town. Tickets start at $25, but a VIP Ticket ($75) gets you beer, wine and cocktail tastings and complimentary food.

tasteofatlanta.com

ATLANTA STREETS ALIVE

CHEER FOR CHILDREN

OCTOBER 7

“We’re telling people to get their tickets now for the Cheer for Children Ball,” says Sheila Ryan, CEO of the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. “We generally sell out, and ticket sales are running ahead of schedule this year.” The October 7 gala at The Foundry at Puritan Mill is the organization’s 21st gala and fundraiser. “The theme is Gatsby, so we expect to see a lot of flapper dresses and beads,” says Ryan. The American Culinary Federation, Greater Atlanta Chapter will provide top chef sensations and libations. “We’ve booked a fantastic band, Papa-sol, which plays everything from the ‘50s to today’s music,” says Ryan. The silent and live auctions will feature a variety of destination vacations, dining experiences, spa packages and gifts.

OCTOBER 2016

October 23 Peachtree Street Bring your bike or your skates—but not your car—to Peachtree Street on October 23, from 2 to 6 p.m. An initiative of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, Atlanta Streets Alive will close Peachtree from Edgewood to 17th Street to motorized traffic and open it to pedestrian-friendly neighborhood shopping, eating and activities. Decorate your wheels and show up at the intersection of Peachtree and 16th streets at 1:30 p.m. to participate.

atlantastreetsalive.com

ART BOOK FAIR October 29-30 Atlanta Contemporary Art Center

“People always have fun at our galas, and at the end of the day, we’re raising money for a great cause,” says Ryan. The goal is to raise $275,000. The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy champions the needs of sexually- and physically-abused children, providing

intervention, therapy and training to adults who work with children to help prevent abuse. “We served more than 700 children in DeKalb and Fulton counties last year and have trained 100,000 people across Georgia,” says Ryan. n cheerforchildren.org

As part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP), the display will showcase the best photography books and art/photography magazines for sale. “Both book lovers and photographers like this event,” says Amy Miller, ACP executive director, adding, “There will be lectures and book signings. Keynote speaker Doug Dubois will talk about his latest project with Aperture.” Admission is free.

acpinfo.org

The journey is under way to save children’s lives.

YO U R C H A N C E OF A L I F E T I M E

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Captured

Dreamy Dusk

| CAPTURED BY: Sandra Platten |

The story behind the snap: “I spend a lot of time all over town working with one of my clients. It’s wonderful to see how the city changes throughout the course of the day; each hour has its own personality. Dusk is my favorite time to shoot, and I happened to notice this view on the way back to my car from another location. I love the transition from busy office spaces to quiet homes. It really illustrates the feeling of dusk to me.” | INSTAGRAM: @sandraplatten | CAMERA: Canon 5D Mk II |

If you’d like submit a photo to appear in Captured, please email captured@17thsouth.com with the photo attached (or provide a download link) and tell us: 1) Your name, 2) where the photo was taken, 3) a brief story behind the photo, 4) your Twitter and Instagram handles and 5) what device you used to shoot the photo.

OCTOBER 2016

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