MY FATHERLY MENTORS

It’s June, the month to celebrate all of the wonderful men in my life… and there are many. Immediately, I have my wonderful husband, Doug; my two very handsome and loving sons, Michael and Matthew; my dad, Jerry; and my two four-legged sons, Myles and Mason. They all mean so very much to me. To say that I am blessed to have them in my life is an understatement.

While I could go on and on about the men I mentioned above, I would like to tell you about two other extraordinary men in my life. I will start with Mike Stegall, aka The Hammer. I met Mike in 2004 at a business expo; he was there representing my competitor. He came over to my booth and introduced himself. Mike was handsome, polite, and boy, was he a smooth talker! I knew he was there to check out the competition — certainly not to make friends. But I couldn’t help but be drawn to his animated personality. At that moment, I had no idea Mike would become one of the most important men in my life. Eventually I left the company I was working for and joined forces with Mike. I can honestly say it was one of the greatest decisions of my life. Mike mentored me. He taught me all the tricks of the trade, and we became best buddies — completely inseparable.

At the same time I met Mike, I met my other partner Tim McRae, aka Timbo. I can remember my first impression of Tim being that he exuded integrity and was a complete southern gentleman. My relationship with Tim didn’t develop as quickly as it did with Mike, perhaps due to the fact Tim was my immediate supervisor and when Tim is working, he is all business. However, our relationship eventually evolved, and he became extremely important to me, especially after I gained a best friend in his daughter Jenny. The more time I spent with the McRae family, the more our lives became intertwined.

After the years passed and time made us much closer, our jobs began to change. We were facing the possibility of no longer working together. The thought of separation was devastating because we weren’t just coworkers anymore. We had become family.

Desperate to hold the “family” together, my husband and I decided to start our own company and created the concept of Healthy Living magazine. After a couple of discussions with Mike and Tim, they felt it was a great idea and jumped on board.

Since the start of Akers Media in July 2008 and the launch of Healthy Living magazine in October 2008, I don’t let a day go by without acknowledging my blessings and the trust and friendship I share with these two men. They believed in me, trusted me, and placed their faith and livelihood in my hands and Doug’s. Both of them took enormous pay cuts, rolled up their sleeves, and got to work. And still to this day, they have been the driving force behind our very successful company.

Mike and Tim, I want to thank you for believing in me, loving me, and always being there for me. You have lifted me up many times over the last seven years. You are both my beacon in the night and my ray of sunshine every day. I consider you both fathers to me. I love you dearly.

JAMIE EZRA MARK chief creative officer jamie@akersmediagroup.com

EDITORIAL // DESIGN

TINA MORRISON editorial/community relations director tina@akersmediagroup.com

MARY ANN D ESANTIS editor-at-large maryann@akersmediagroup.com

SHEMIR WILES copy editor/writer shemir@akersmediagroup.com

JAMES COMBS staff writer james@akersmediagroup.com

HEATHER TOOTLE office manager heather@akersmediagroup.com contributing writers

TABATHA ARCARO-ORTIZ

RICK BOSSHARDT

RICHARD BURGUET

RUTH ANN BYRD

TRACY DRAPER

MARY EDWARDS

FRED HILTON

DAVE RAMSEY

GAYLE TEERMAN

STEVEN C. VANGELDER

STEVEN J. CODRARO associate creative director steve@akersmediagroup.com

CIERRA CHAPPELL production manager cierra@akersmediagroup.com

JOSH CLARK senior designer/advertising josh@akersmediagroup.com

ANTHONY CASTO senior designer/editorial anthony@akersmediagroup.com

CALEB WAYNE JENSEN graphic designer caleb@akersmediagroup.com

FRED LOPEZ chief photographer fred@akersmediagroup.com contributing photographers SHAENA CHASTAIN STARK BRUMLEY-MARTIN

SALES // MARKETING TIM MCRAE vice president of sales and marketing tim@akersmediagroup.com

MIKE STEGALL senior marketing representative mike@akersmediagroup.com

LORI STRONG marketing representative lori@akersmediagroup.com

HEIDI RESSLER marketing representative heidi@akersmediagroup.com

TERRI GORDON sales coordinator terri@akersmediagroup.com

DISTRIBUTION SCOTT HEGG distribution manager scott.hegg@akersmediagroup.com

ra Happy Father’s

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

Kendra Akers publisher

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