57 minute read
HABITAT
A VIEW WORTH Sharing BY EMILY CRISMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHELE WINTER JOHNSON
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While she technically lives alone, there’s always someone coming and going from Sharon Fussell’s Lookout Mountain home, whether that be one of the Pilates instructor’s clients coming for a workout in her home studio, or a Covenant College student heading to class while staying in one of her spare rooms for the semester.
It’s not uncommon for Fussell to have a full house around the holidays, and she loves to host visiting artists performing with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera. “It’s just fun to have a big enough house that you can do that,” she says. “It’s something I will miss if I ever size down.”
Sharon and her late husband David Fussell moved from Missionary Ridge to Lookout Mountain when they purchased the house next door to where their dream home now sits in 1998. They updated the existing house, which was built in 1952, but it was the land — four and a half lots overlooking Rock City on Gnome Trail in Fairyland — that really attracted them to the property. “My father was in real estate and always had a value for land, and he instilled that in me,” she says.
She and David had always envisioned eventually breaking apart and selling pieces of the property. So after living in the existing house for almost a decade, they decided to sell it and build the home in which Sharon currently resides on the adjacent land. “I have absolutely the most
Upper level bedroom suite wonderful street,” she says, adding that most of the residents are very friendly with one another and sometimes host neighborhood parties.
One of those neighbors, Beth Soloff, had recently built on her own property, inspiring the Fussells to craft a dream home of their own.
Like most people who love to build and remodel homes, Sharon had a thick file full of cutout magazine photos of her favorite design elements awaiting the start of her next project. She worked with architectural designer Nancy Underwood, owner of Signal Mountain-based Residential Designs, to incorporate those elements into a space that fit the couple’s needs and lifestyle.
At nearly 7,000 square feet, the cottage-style home has four bedrooms, each with its own bath. An open floor plan is highlighted by 10-foot ceilings on the main level, which includes a formal dining area, sunken living room and eatin kitchen, all tied together with oak flooring and a red-and-black color scheme throughout. The moody palette is brightened with natural light from the floor-toceiling glass-paned doors facing the bluff, topped with unique diamond-pattern transom windows, an architectural detail used throughout the home that’s among Sharon’s favorite features.
She’s also a huge fan of the exterior, made of Hardie board and mountain stone, as well as the colors she selected for the interior with the guidance of local decorator Marsha Yessick. “I chose colors that I like to wear,” Sharon says, adding that she loves the “especially yummy” color chosen for the great room and front door, Raspberry Truffle, a warm red with tones of orange and chocolate.
Pilates studio
Kitchen
Lower level rec room
The kitchen features a Sub-Zero refrigerator, Wolf range, wine storage, island and pantry. The Key lime green of the terrazzo-style tile flooring is echoed in the window treatment, backsplash tiles and flowers on the wallpaper. The black background of the wallpaper design complements the black granite countertops and island, contrasting nicely with the white WoodMode cabinets. Skylights help bring in natural light and highlight the twin chandeliers suspended from the vaulted white tongue-andgroove ceiling.
The home’s stellar view can be enjoyed from two large screened porches, one of which is located off the kitchen and living room on the main level. The other sits off the upper-level bedroom suite. Sharon says she loves a cozy fire, which she can enjoy in the master, the great room or the screened porch off the kitchen — and which is perfect for entertaining guests. When she finds herself alone, she can linger over a cup of coffee in the master without ever heading to the kitchen, using the master’s hotel-style beverage station.
Each of her grandchildren has at one point slept in the nursery, which is attached to one of the guest rooms on the second level. The bedroom connects via a bathroom to a separate seating area featuring hand-painted scrollwork to match the room’s window treatments and the bathroom wallpaper pattern.
Another aspect of the home Sharon adores is the landscaping, which, like when she and her husband lived next door, was all planted by David Fussell, including weeping cherries, corkscrew willows, Japanese maples and rhododendrons. “It was his passion and his hobby,” she says of her late husband, who passed away suddenly from an aortic dissection in 2014.
Added in the spring of 2015, the spacious recreation and media room on the lower level was a space he had envisioned their grandchildren using when they came to visit. It features a ping pong table, entertainment center, plenty of storage behind red barn-style sliding doors, built-in bookcases and a guest room with private bath that’s currently occupied by a Covenant College student. A telescope beckons stargazers near the bench seating along the bay windows overlooking the bluff.
Playful gnomes are scattered throughout the property, and one can imagine the mischievous little men escaping from nearby Rock City to find a permanent perch on Fussell’s front stoop, hanging in her magnolia tree or holding an exterior light.
A NEEDLE AND A NEWFOUND LIFE
How one local tattoo artist is drawing a new future for himself
BY GABRIELLE CHEVALIER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN HENRY
As Anier Fernandez crossed the U.S. border for the first time in his life, he knew only three things: He had never left his home country of Cuba before, he had only $300 to his name, and he had no other choice.
An artist by trade, Fernandez was originally headed to an art show in Mexico City, but the artwork he’d carefully and excitedly packed to ship to meet him — much of which was pre-sold and would cover the cost of his return ticket — never arrived. He had paid a $2,000 fee to participate in the show, and with his art missing and the authorities unable to do anything aside from filing a report detailing the 10 pieces, hopelessness consumed him. That was March 8, 2014.
Three years later, the 28-year-old Fernandez is making a name for himself as Main Line Ink’s accidental apprentice. He is a gifted artist, tattoo shop co-owner Jennifer Edge is quick to say — unless Fernandez is listening, in which case she’ll tell him to “get back to practicing” and toss him a knowing grin.
“We can’t let his ego get to him,” she laughs. “But the kid has been tattooing for two months, and look at his work. It’s incredible.”
Fernandez simply tucks his head back down and refocuses on his work, asking for Edge’s critique.
Is the pressure with the needle enough? Too much? Are the lines clean enough?
“I still have a lot to learn,” he says.
Anier Fernandez wasn't supposed to end up in America, but now he can't imagine it any other way.
Fernandez graduated from the premier Oscar Fernández Morera Academy of Art in Trinidad, Cuba, a widely respected and intensive art school.
“I’d been drawing and doing art since I could pick up a pen,” he says.
Though he recalls an idyllic youth — Cuba is an exceptionally safe place to grow up in regards to crime rates, which are very low, he stresses — a government-manipulated currency, widespread poverty, lack of fresh produce and the knowledge that leaving was largely forbidden shaped his teenage years and drove his frustration and artistic passion.
Much of the allure of obtaining an art degree was also his fascination with a rare promise: the opportunity to leave his sheltered country. The ability, as an artist, to easily obtain a visa and experience a world otherwise shuttered to Cubans called to him.
However, he says, he didn’t expect to leave so soon — or so suddenly.
How Fernandez made his way to a tattoo shop in Chattanooga is as improbable as his unexpected and unplanned new life in America. In tears, he called a friend from that Mexican airport; a friend who had made his way from Cuba to Chattanooga several years earlier. That friend was willing to buy him a plane ticket to join him and, due to improving relations between the United States and Cuba, a same-day visa was available to Fernandez.
That was the first in a serendipitous domino effect. Fernandez calls his visa a “privilege” of belonging to the artistic community, as such specialty skills often open doors that harsh travel regulations around the world would otherwise keep closed. The vast majority of people don’t have such speedy options available, he says.
But that doesn’t mean Fernandez hasn’t faced hardships. Arriving in Chattanooga on March 11, 2014, he spoke no English. He had no job. His art was gone. And the love of his life, a woman named Elizabeth, was still expecting him to return to Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, clueless as to how drastically his existence had changed.
“I sent her an email,” he says with a laugh, looking down at the tattoo shop’s floor. “I didn’t have the balls to call her.”
Now, the couple talks every day — “every single day,” he emphasizes — and Elizabeth is his wife, though they have only seen each other once since the wedding. A visit to his home country to see her in 2016 afforded the opportunity for a whirlwind ceremony. The couple is
Fernandez tattoos Main Line Ink co-owner Jennifer Edge for the first time.
working to attain a visa so she can join her husband and the new future he has been passionately working to create.
Cuba has no future for an aspiring artist, Fernandez says, and he hopes everything will line up for his now-wife the way things did for him. Though she was in medical school, she dreams of the land of opportunity he describes during their daily conversations. First, however, her visa must be approved. Pending that, she will have to redo her schooling on another continent, in another language.
But Fernandez has faith — and hopefully a little luck left.
“I just hope to get her here this year,” he says.
For eight months following his arrival, Fernandez worked at Amazon. Then came the second domino in his fortuitous new life. He landed a job as an artist for the now-completed M.L. King AT&T mural project, allowing him to return to the career he loves and paint the depictions of the people and landscape that now adorn the building.
The third domino, which fell about a year ago, came
— Anier Fernandez
via the same friend who’d purchased Fernandez’s plane ticket to America — and who had a connection to Main Line co-owners Edge and Danny Siviter.
“We never planned on having an apprentice,” Edge says. “Unless I decide to have a child, he’ll be the only one I ever have.”
But when Fernandez sent his artwork to the studio, which has steadily been making a name for itself since opening several years ago on Main Street in the Southside, Edge says she felt compelled to meet with him. It was more than just the artwork in his portfolio that drew them together.
“When I heard his story, I knew,” she says. “I had goosebumps.”
Fernandez had gotten a few tattoos from his friends in Cuba but never really felt connected to the alternative art form. And he definitely never envisioned becoming a tattoo artist himself. Then he realized painters and tattoo artists can share the same underlying mission.
“You paint on people. They’re walking around with it,” he says, pausing as he searches for the words to fully articulate his newfound passion in English. “You become a walking gallery,” he clarifies, “and that’s incredible. It’s beautiful. I dream about it every single day.”
Technically, tattoo shops are illegal in Cuba, though the stigma is starting to disappear, he says.
“No one says anything,” he says. “I even see police [there] with tattoos.”
As he’s become more versed in this new field of art, Fernandez has looked to blend the surrealism concepts he used most in his painting days with the watercolor style favored by Edge and the clean linework for which Siviter is known, forging a style all his own. Previous to his move out of Cuba, he preferred tattoos with a traditional style, characterized by solid black outlines, a muted and limited color palette, minimal detail and a focus on precision of lines.
“Now it’s realism, but I want to put a little bit of watercolor, a little bit of that bulk line on it,” he says. “It’s going to change a lot more. … When I moved here from Cuba, my concepts shifted. I’m just trying to consume it all.”
The same sense of despair that haunts him from those initial three days in the airport also inspires him, he says. It’s the reason he strives to be the first artist in the shop in the morning, and he’s frequently the last to leave.
Sometimes Fernandez forgets about all the dominoes that perfectly lined up to give him a new life. It often takes a road sign or the sight of an American flag to remind him he’s not going to wake up back in that Mexican airport with tears in his eyes and seemingly no way to move forward.
In October, Fernandez will be a fully licensed tattoo artist with the shop he now views as his second home. Hopefully, he will do so with his wife Elizabeth by his side. And in two years, he will apply to exchange his permanent U.S. residency for full-fledged American citizenship.
“This is more than an apprenticeship for me,” he says. “It’s everything.”
PHOTOS: CONTRIBUTED
Three tattoos Fernandez says showcase his evolving artistic style.
I KNOW WHY THE SONGBIRDS SING
SONGBIRDS GUITAR MUSEUM LETS THE INSTRUMENTS TELL THEIR STORIES
BY MYRON MADDEN
In 1967, after stunning a crowd at the Monterey International Pop Festival with his unique sound, rock legend Jimi Hendrix knelt down onstage and did the unthinkable:
He set his guitar aflame.
The stunt, immortalized on the cover of Rolling Stone, won the young artist the nation’s attention, but it also helped to save what is now considered history’s most popular electric guitar from extinction.
The guitar he torched — then subsequently smashed to pieces — was a Fender Stratocaster, and Hendrix could make that bird sing higher and sweeter than any other musician before him.
Artists who made the “Strat” their instrument of choice, such as Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, sent thousands running to stores to purchase a guitar whose production had been reduced due to a lull in popularity. By 1969, the Strat was a top-seller, and its dual-horned design was on its way to becoming the most copied of all time.
This Gibson Flying V is one of the many rare guitars on display in The Vault, which houses Songbirds' most historic guitars.
PHOTOS: DAMIEN ROGERS The Fender Stratocaster is now one of the most iconic vintage guitars due to rock legends like Jimi Hendrix, among others.
Songbirds boasts a large custom-color collection of Fender guitars — a complete rainbow of color.
But those glory days of rock have passed, and while the guitars of old are still just as impressive as they were at their peak, the icons who once thrust them into the spotlight have all but disappeared.
That’s why Songbirds Guitar Museum has taken on the responsibility of preserving timeless guitars like the Stratocaster while inspiring the next generation to savor the craftsmanship of an age not yet forgotten.
Every instrument has a story to tell, and Songbirds Guitar Museum has been inviting all to hear the tales its guitars recount since opening in the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex on March 10.
The pop culture museum houses the largest private collection of rare and vintage guitars in the world, with 550 on display at any given time and a total of 2,000 (and counting) currently in its possession.
Visitors can tour the exhibits to get a full picture of the guitar’s evolution from the 1920s to the 1970s, but the most captivating part of the experience for many is learning what each individual instrument has witnessed and all the places each has been.
Before finding a place in the collection, many of the guitars were dragged from bar to bar, concert to concert and studio to studio with little thought about the value they would one day hold, says David Davidson, museum curator and chief operating officer. They had beers spilled on them and drinks rested on them, were dropped, battered and bruised. But save for a few battle scars, the sturdily built guitars, many now more than 50 years old, have seen it all and survived.
“They’re a living testament to the durability and the quality of the craftsmanship and workmanship of the American worker during the golden age of vintage guitar building,” Davidson says of the pre-1970 guitar industry, before cheaper wood and machine manufacturing robbed the world of such masterpieces.
Several of the guitars have been strummed to life by famous hands of yesteryear — from early country-western artists to jazz musicians to rock idols. Others were handled only by small-town dreamers, nameless garage band rockers and casual music-lovers who never made it home from Vietnam. But all carry the stories of these unique people and places, and Songbirds is now part of that story.
Here is just a sample of the stories the museum’s rarest guitars have to sing.
1958 Fender Telecaster
THREE-TONE SUNBURST
FOR SOME, VINTAGE GUITARS ARE MORE THAN JUST RELICS OF A NEARLY FORGOTTEN AGE OF MUSIC. THEY’RE A FINAL CONNECTION TO LOVED ONES LOST.
Guitars imbued with such sentiment are often the hardest to ask families to part with, Davidson says. But few were as difficult to acquire as the twin Telecasters permanently displayed in the museum’s ever-changing collection.
The instruments belonged to twin sisters Bertha and Esther Friedlich, members of a now little-known band called the Tweedledees.
When the duo traveled to Santa Ana, California, to buy guitars from Fender Sales Inc. in the late 1950s, they were presented with a left-handed and right-handed Telecaster to match their individual preferences.
Esther, the thinner of the two, was happy with the left-handed guitar she tested, but her heavy-set sister was miserable. The right-handed guitar she sampled was too heavy and didn’t fit her body well, she told sales representative Don Randall — the marketing mastermind who named the Stratocaster and helped bring Fender to fame.
Randall brought the problem to George Fullerton, vice president of production, who was somehow able to convince company founder Leo Fender to craft a special guitar, a feat in and of itself since Fender was notorious for never wanting to make anything custom for anyone.
“He figured if he did it once, he’d have to do it for everyone,” Davidson explains, adding that would mean buying more materials, hiring more employees and building more than one spray booth to meet the resulting demand for variety.
Fender begrudgingly fashioned a guitar for Bertha with an arm contour and a body cut to fit her frame. The modifications took 2 and a half pounds off the instrument and thrilled the young woman, who went on to play for her band, which was signed by a label but never recorded.
Her Telecaster became the only early model in existence with that cut — the company made sure of it. Fullerton was even required to sign an agreement stating he would never ask for such modifications to be made again, Davidson says.
“That’s a pretty interesting story. But that’s not the story,” he promises. “It gets better.”
When Davidson learned of a left-handed, three-tone guitar about five years ago, he traveled to Clear Lake, Iowa, to meet up with an elderly Esther, who was ready to sell. After the transaction, she mentioned her late sister’s guitar and told the guitar buyer it was special.
Intrigued, Davidson reached out to Bertha’s daughter, Anne, to ask about it. The first words out of her mouth were, “It’s not for sale.”
The guitar was her mother’s, she told Davidson, and though she was hesitant, he convinced her to at least let him take a picture of the twin guitars side by side. The two met up in Anne’s home outside Boulder, Colorado, and sat at the dining room table. When Anne opened the case, Davidson nearly lost his mind.
“I just absolutely freaked,” he remembers. “I had never seen a guitar cut like that.”
He immediately tried to buy the instrument from her, and she immediately said no. The guitar was her mother’s, she repeated, holding her ground even after Davidson pulled out a knapsack filled with $100 bills.
“No joke,” Davidson interjects. “These guitars are expensive. You could buy houses for the prices of these guitars.”
The collector went home empty-handed yet determined to get his hands on Bertha’s old guitar. He sent
Fender American Professional Stratocaster Lefty
Artists and their guitars
Jimi Hendrix burns his Fender Stratocaster — or the one he switched out with his own, rather — at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. Jimmy Page plays a double-neck guitar at an A.R.M.S. Concert in 1983. Eric Clapton plays his favorite Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed Blackie. In 2004, Blackie was sold for $959,500 at a Christie's auction to support the Crossroads Centre, a drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation center founded by Clapton.
1959 Gibson EB2 Tenor Electric
CHERRY
1978 Fender Telecaster Deluxe
Anne a Christmas card at the end of the year and for every year that followed. Each card held only his phone number and a short message: “Call me last.” It was his way of promising he’d pay the highest price whenever she was ready to sell. After three years of Christmas cards, Davidson got a call from Anne, who wanted to know what would happen if she sold him her mother’s guitar. She was worried the instrument would just be passed from one buyer to another and that her mother’s legacy would completely disappear, so Davidson pitched an alternative.
He told her he was building a museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a vault that would house the most historic guitars of all time. Then he promised that if she sold him the instrument, he would give both Friedlich sisters’ Telecasters permanent residence in that vault and tell every single person who tours it the story of her mother, her aunt and what it took to get their guitars.
Finally, she agreed, but when Davidson asked her how much she wanted for the instrument, she surprised him.
“You can have the guitar,” she said. She was only interested in preserving her mother’s legacy. And so far, Davidson has. The twin Telecasters have their own special case in The Vault, and every staff member learns the story of Bertha and Esther Friedlich so they can pass it on to visitors.
“Sometimes it’s all about dollars and cents. If you pay them enough, they’ll sell it,” Davidson says of buying guitars. “But for some people, there’s not enough money in the world.”
GUITARS LIKE THE EB2 TENOR ELECTRIC WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN FOUND IN ANY CATALOG.
That’s because one-of-akind variants like it weren’t made on assembly lines during regularly scheduled business hours. They were built in secret after the lights were shut off, the boss went home and history’s anonymous craftsmen were left free to let their imaginations run wild. They toiled through the night, building guitars with ridiculous or masterful designs just to see if it was possible.
This EB2 has earned a place as one of Davidson’s favorites in part because of its whimsical nature. The instrument has the large body of a bass guitar, but it is paired with the slim, tiny neck of a tenor guitar. From the looks of it, the seemingly disproportionate guitar should have fallen apart years ago.
“[It’s] almost like a spoof,” Davidson says with a grin, “like a joke.”
But the concept is nowhere near as impressive as the design behind it. Despite the apparent maldistribution of weight, the guitar is well balanced by various elements in its makeup, such as a special cut-down bridge built to accommodate the four pole pieces (for four strings) on a guitar that would normally have six. “Somebody really took their time,” Davidson says.
“This is major engineering.
It’s like a feat to make this guitar.”
The EB2, like many other variant creations, never graced the fingers of stars. In fact, it was probably barely played, Davidson says. Its creator, whose name has been lost to history, simply built it to see if he could, and that ingenuity has landed his handiwork a spot among the rarest guitars in the world.
1954 Gibson ES-175
Neil Young plays his guitar, Old Black, at a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Concert. Old Black is allegedly a heavily customized 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop. Woody Guthrie with his Gibson L-0. Joan Jett with her signature white Melody Maker in the 1980s. Chuck Berry with one of his favorite Gibsons.
1951 Fender Nocaster
OLYMPIC WHITE
WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF ELECTRIC GUITARS, THEY PICTURE THE VIBRANT SPLASH OF COLORS THAT BECAME STANDARDIZED IN THE 1960S. BUT THE FIRST CUSTOM-COLORED GUITAR FENDER EVER BUILT WAS NOT A BOLD SHADE OF RED OR AN ELECTRIC BURST OF BLUE; IT WAS A CREAM-COLORED WHITE. AND IT WAS SPECTACULAR.
In 1951, a custom color for the young company was anything that diverted from the standard honey blonde, but it wasn’t just the shade that made this guitar eye-catching. The Olympic White instrument sported gold-plated hardware and a clear pickguard varnished with gold leaf paint.
The beauty now in Songbirds’ collection landed in the lucky hands of swing jazz artist Oscar Moore, who played alongside Nat King Cole before the latter became one of the first African-Americans to host a national television variety program, “The Nat King Cole Show.”
Some speculate that Leo Fender presented the guitar to Moore during a push to make his instruments seen in the hands of performers from many genres of music, and the gold plating may have been a lure for Moore since the style was more common in the archtop guitars favored by jazz players.
The most interesting part of this tale, however, is that Moore received a guitar without a name.
When the Nocaster was originally introduced in 1950, it was called the Broadcaster, a play
on the term “broadcast radio,” which was the media giant at the time. After a few months of production, however, Fender received a telegram from fellow instrument manufacturing company Gretsch. The message notified the guitar company of its potential copyright infringement on Gretsch’s trademarked Broadkaster drum series, forcing the guitar-maker to change the name.
Fender instructed factory workers to snip the word “Broadcaster” off the guitar’s decal, and it wasn’t long before the employees started referring to it as the “Nocaster.” Weeks later, the model was renamed the Telecaster after the new up-and-coming media format, television, but the Nocaster name has stuck as an amusing nod to Fender’s first days.■
Photo: William P. Gottlieb / Library of Congress
Wesley Prince, Oscar Moore and Nat King Cole perfrom in Zanzibar, New York, N.Y., circa July 1946.
A Fender American Professional Stratocaster in Olympic White
FLYING SOUTH TO CHATTANOOGA
Songbirds has already seen visitors flying in from all around the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, but Davidson is hoping the museum will attract more locals as it continues to make Chattanooga its home. With a collection vintage guitar aficionados travel halfway across the globe to see, the masterminds behind Songbirds could have established the museum anywhere, but Davidson says they chose Chattanooga because they wanted to help facilitate the city’s growth. Davidson, who has been traveling to and from Chattanooga for business for 15 years, says he has seen the improvements local leaders and business owners have made to the city over the last five years alone, and he hopes the museum will help push the city even further toward its goals. The museum contracted local companies like building design company Range Projects and architectural firm Cogent Studio to build out the space, and Davidson hopes to continue to support local business by drawing tourists to the Southside and its mom-and-pop restaurants and shops. He invites locals to help support the museum in turn by coming out to visit its rotating and permanent collections featuring a little something for everyone.
Hours
Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.
Admission
Individual: $15.95 Includes self-guided tour of Main Exhibit Gallery Family: $54.25 Two adults, two children, self-guided tour of Main Exhibit Gallery All Access Tour: $38.95 per person Includes guided tour of Main Exhibit Gallery, The Greenroom and The Vault
In the Songbirds museum you will find:
■ Over 300 classic
American acoustic and electric instruments.
■ Over 30 Gibson
Sunburst Les Paul guitars from 1958 through 1960, considered the holy grail of electric guitars and a pricetag to prove it.
■ Over 300 custom-color
Fender guitars, many one-of-a-kind.
■ Over 75 custom-color
Gibson Firebird guitars, even rarer than customcolor Fenders.
■ Prototype guitar
models by Fender, Gibson and Gretsch.
■ Much more.
FOR MORE , VISIT SONGBIRDSGUITARS.COM.
Fred Holder, 34
President/CEO/ Co-founder of GreenForm Superpower: Surfing against the tide. I rip it.
SuperHero mentor: Superman, because he can do anything.
miSSion: Help Chattanooga continue to grow and be safe.
Being a SuperHero meanS:
Being selfless and fighting for the greater good.
and aS i alwayS Say... truSt tHe BeSt, Forget tHe reSt!
do tHe BeSt you can.
Marketing and promotions manager for Chattanooga Lookouts
Superpower: Always getting the job done and having fun when I do. I may not always know what to do or feel like I have enough time to do it, but I will always give everything I have to make everything I do the best it can be and have as much fun as possible when I’m doing it.
Sidekick(S): I have an incredible team both at work and personally that help me every step of the way. … The people I work with daily on the Lookouts staff are an incredible group of people that I consider to be my Chattanooga family, and I hope they do too. It takes all of us working together to bring Lookouts baseball to life. In life, my parents and my family could not possibly have been more supportive in everything I have done. When I moved 2,400 miles away from home to start my career in sports, they were the first people to share my excitement, and they were out there in Albuquerque every season cheering us on. They have always been willing to help me and my brothers any possible way they can so we can achieve our goals. I also have an amazing boyfriend who is awesome and makes everything that was once good, great.
arcH-nemeSiS: Rain on game days. But seriously, the unknown can be quite the nemesis. Things can come up all the time and those out-of-the-blue situations can often cause the biggest problems since you have so little time to plan a solution, and that can lead to negative thinking. And like anyone, my biggest arch-nemesis is often myself, and it is unplanned situations that can bring my own negativity to the forefront. But it’s times with unexpected problems that I try to push out negative thoughts and only focus on positive solutions to whatever issue has come up. If you just move forward step by step, it will all work
out.
Source oF
StrengtH: Right or wrong, I find strength in not wanting to let other people down, and that drives me to try to do the very best I can in everything I do.
Being a SuperHero meanS: Trying to do the best job you can to give everyone you interact with the best experience possible. You can affect people in so many little ways and I always try to be a positive spot in someone’s day rather than a negative.
Bart rolen, 37
Executive vice president and head of private client services with Atlantic Capital Bank; Managing director of Southeastern Trust Company Superpower: Negotiating. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you I can make my way sound like it’s good for everyone. VillainS Faced: My own selfish desires. What I want is not always what’s best for me. Thankfully, God’s providence prevails. Sidekick(S): My wife. She knows me better than anyone, and yet still supports me in everything I do — which sometimes means holding me back when I have crazy ideas. She balances me out perfectly.
Being a SuperHero meanS: Helping others uncover, develop and fulfill who God created them to be. miSSion: Reconciliation of the “two” Chattanoogas. On the one hand, Chattanooga is a beautiful city with wonderful natural assets and economic growth, while on the other hand, violence is rampant, schools are failing and hope is absent. SuperHero mentor: My dad. He is the most generous person I know, with both his money and his time. He always puts others first. And I have yet to encounter anyone with a better work ethic. He was a great example to me growing up on how to balance work and family. arcH-nemeSiS: Pride. It can take you to some bad places and help you rationalize bad decisions.
peter woolcock, 31
Director of Chattanooga Football Club Foundation’s Operation Get Active; Co-host of CFC Radio
Superpower: My good nature. Living all over the world — Australia, Namibia, China, the UK, India — has taught me to get along with all sorts of people, to always have a good attitude and to adapt to change quickly.
catcHpHraSe: “Chalo!” It’s a Hindi catch-all term basically meaning “Let’s go!” uttered all the time in India, and it reminds me to be open to opportunities and to live life like I mean it.
arcH-nemeSiS: Anyone who downplays sport’s ability to have real, meaningful impact. The field I’m in (sport for development) is fairly new in the States but I’ve worked on sport development projects all over the world and am always blown away by the simple power of sport to transform lives.
Sidekick(S): My water polo team in university. It’s what got me through college, what taught me the power of sport, and what set me on my career path of using sport as a tool for positive change in communities around the world.
SuperHero mentor: Bananaman (he’s a 1980s British superhero), because he has a healthy message. And I love bananas.
Source oF StrengtH: My wife, Stephanie, and my family. It’s tough to always be so far away from my parents and sister in England, but I’m lucky to live one block away from the greatest in-laws in the world who also support me immensely. And also, the Volkswagen Workers Foundation, which has very generously supported Operation
Get Active from the beginning, in addition to other local foundations.
Being a SuperHero meanS: Not being afraid to take risks when you feel strongly about something.
katie morgan, 26
Employee relations/special projects for Chattanooga Housing Authority Superpower: Dependability. I like to think that I show up, no matter what, for the people that I care about in my life. If there’s a crisis or a problem that needs to be solved, I’ll be there to help you figure it out.
VillainS Faced: I’ve come face-to-face with people that haven’t wanted to see others succeed. I think everyone comes across these “villains,” and you defeat them by keeping a good team by your side to support you and to stand up for you. miSSion: Through my work at the CHA and volunteering for the Grateful Gobbler Walk, which supports the Maclellan Shelter for Homeless Families, I’ve seen families struggle to find a safe place to go when they come across hard times. Homeless families have to grapple with the choice of sleeping on the streets or in their car with their small children so they don’t have to separate to go to a shelter. Some families don’t have the simple luxury of having a roof over their head, and I wish I could change that.
SuperHero mentor: I’ll have to admit that without googling mythical superheroes, I don’t know much about them. I have, on the other hand, met lots of real-life superheroes who “come to the rescue” for people all the time. My superhero-of-a-boss, Betsy McCright, helps people without being asked, she tends to save the day when something goes wrong, and does it while having a lot of fun. Since I arrived in Chatt Town almost four years ago, she has shown me kindness and has been a role model. She is a real-life superhero to many people around her.
Being a SuperHero
meanS: Helping someone when they really need it. Superheroes offer kindness and support to others in both dramatic ways and small gestures.
How doeS SHe do it?
Coffee. Lots of coffee. Also, positive people who genuinely have my best interests at heart. My family, friends and co-workers continuously motivate me to push harder to accomplish my goals.
reginald F. SmitH ii, 31
Executive director of The United Methodist Neighborhood Centers Inc. (The Bethlehem Center) Superpower: Superhuman perception that’s only second to precognition, and a strong sense of manhood.
VillainS Faced: Personally, the pressure to perform in a competitive world while balancing my passion for helping people. By far the biggest villain I face is helping people overcoming uncertainty, doubt, fear, poverty, educational attainment and faithlessness in urban communities.
Sidekick(S): FFF: Family, Friends and Fraternity. All have contributed to my understanding my responsibility and duty to uplift humanity and be a blessing to others. arcH-nemeSiS: The Status Quo and Bureaucracy, which sometimes work as a team. Bureaucracy is the arch-nemesis that never believes it’s the bad guy and supports The Status Quo.
Source oF StrengtH: My faith. A hero’s real power always comes from within, and from God.
miSSion: To share my power of perception with others. They’d be able to temporarily see and feel what others see and feel, the way others see and feel it. This would open the eyes of many to the large number of people who are unseen and whose voices are not heard. Our community is a strong one, and with more empathy from people who just don’t know or understand the of the plight others, we could be the best city ever.
SuperHero mentor: My father, Reginald F. Smith Sr. It was he who taught me the ideal of manhood, the need for scholarship, the sacrifice of perseverance, and gave me the responsibility to uplift those in need. He is also a member of my fraternity, which further reinforces these very ideals and principles.
“iF you don’t do it, wHo will? iF not now, wHen?”
meliSSa Harrington, 32
Doctor of physical therapy and director of rehabilitation services with CHI Memorial; President of Chattanooga Chi Omega House Corporation Board; Vice president of membership for Junior League of Chattanooga; Member and past president of Chattanooga Area Alumnae Association of Chi Omega; Fiancee to Eric
Superpower: Making people smile and passing along a cheerful attitude. and beyond what may be expected of you, pushing yourself beyond what you thought you could do, overcoming challenges and daring to make a positive difference in others’ lives in some way.
VillainS Faced: Losing my father at a young age presented some challenges for me and my family, but we didn’t let that stop us from supporting and loving each other through the hard times into better, brighter days. Learning to balance a social life, philanthropy, work and a rigorous graduate course-load may have had me scheduling time to take a shower, clean my room and get groceries, but it taught me how to prioritize and make time for the things and people that are important to me. Source oF StrengtH: Knowing I have the support and love of friends and family and knowing each challenge I face leaves me stronger and more prepared for the future. miSSion: To treat others as I would want to be treated or how I would want my family treated. Spreading more love, acceptance and respect for each other would impact one person at a time and would make a tremendous difference in our community.
madySon Sloane FoSter, 25
Executive assistant/marketing manager at Capital Square LLC; Dance instructor/choreographer with Tennessee Youth Ballet; Co-chair of Red Shoe Society
Superpower: Healing. It’s in my nature to resolve issues and to help others when they need it most.
Sidekick(S): My … family. I have a smaller family that shows love toward me and others in our community. When I feel defeated, they always seem to show me the light at the end of the tunnel, while still being realistic. They know what makes me tick and how to make me laugh when I never thought I could smile again. They keep my head on straight. VillainS Faced: Villains and negativity are everywhere in this world. Growing up in the pre-professional dance world, there is constant competition — [both] friendly and aggressive. I had to mature quickly and learn to brush off any hateful words that were slung my way. Thanks to these “villains,” I could always treat others the way I wanted to be treated: with kindness and respect. Source oF StrengtH: Kind of an ironic statement to look up to my younger brother, but [I do so] with great reason. His childhood differed from mine, unfortunately, and because of that he had to become the man of the house. His unconditional kindness for everyone he meets and unwavering strength is what gives me strength on the days I want to throw in the towel.
miSSion: Chattanooga is constantly improving and I love my city! We once were considered dirty and average. Now, Chattanooga is one of the prettiest and [most] thriving cities in the U.S. But if I could change anything in our city it would be to leave no child behind. All of our schools deserve the same treatment to give our children the opportunities and tools to succeed. This change is farfetched for one person to achieve, but our community is growing together and we could flourish and be invincible. Our future begins with our youth. SuperHero mentor: Wonder Woman. When I was growing up, I saw a beautiful woman that had brains but could also kick some tail. She was an inspiration to me as a little girl watching her and reading her comic books. She never took “no” for an answer and absolutely, under no circumstances, ever gave up. To this day, I’ve remembered how I felt watching her and applied her characteristics to my life.
SuperHero mentor: Jimmy Neutron. Obviously he’s got great hair that I’ve attempted to duplicate, but also, he’s always looking for solutions to problems through inventing new ideas. I tell people all the time that my goal is to have five ideas a week. Four of those won’t be the greatest, but one of them will be a home run. We can’t ever stop having ideas.
roB HatcHett, 35
Vice president of communications and recruiting for Covenant Transport Superpower: Passion detection. I firmly believe that if you can help people find their passion and purpose in life and encourage them to pursue it, they will be a more fulfilled employee — even if they find their passion outside of work.
Being a SuperHero meanS:
Having the ability to empower others to succeed. One person can only do so much, but one person that can encourage and motivate those around him can accomplish far more.
arcH-nemeSiS: Bad discernment. When you are wired the way I am and you are driven to have new ideas and to do things new ways (and have fun), you are oftentimes asking other people to change. And that’s something I’ve got to be careful about. I have to be able to discern if they will accept it the way I’m hoping they will, or I can end up causing issues. I’ve said enough times, “That didn’t exactly go the way I planned,” but instead of letting that stop me, I just try to discern better going forward.
Source oF StrengtH: Just being able to help someone and make their day a little easier. Luckily there are many opportunities around us all each day to do this.
VillainS Faced: Hopping industries. I switched about five years ago to trucking, and even though my “specialty” remained the same, you immediately walk into the new place knowing you know less about the company and the industry than anyone in the building. But you have to dig in and just play the “new guy” card for six months and power through the change.
aSHia carpenter, 26
Owner of Divine Dance Studio and Creative Learning Academy performing arts preschool
Superpower:
Helping children gain confidence and other important characteristics while mentoring them through the art of dance.
Sidekick(S): My team of fantastic dance and preschool teachers.
Being a SuperHero
meanS: Finding your strengths and using them for the greater good.
VillainS Faced:
Self-doubt.
arcH-nemeSiS: Time, because it moves too quickly.
Source oF
StrengtH: Seeing excitement on children’s faces when they learn new things and gain confidence. miSSion: More opportunities for creative outlets for artists.
SuperHero mentor:
My parents, because they are so hardworking and made it a point to instill that same characteristic in me.
will clegg, 32
Tax manager with HHM Certified Public Accountants Superpower: There are only so many hours in the day. I’d like the ability to clone myself. It offers endless possibilities to make connections, go the extra mile for my clients, and maybe even play golf at the same time. arcH-nemeSiS: The Ever-changing Tax Code!
Source oF StrengtH: The drive to get the most out of each day. I once had a mentor tell me, “If you are bored, you aren’t maximizing your talents and ability.” I try to tackle each day passionately; that way I’m never bored. Sidekick(S): I am very fortunate to have a wonderful team behind me. First and foremost, my family and friends support me through all my endeavors. Without our wonderful team at HHM, I wouldn’t be able to beat those tax and audit villains. Finally, my referral network is a group of folks I can always rely on for sound professional advice.
VillainS Faced: Myself. Laird
Hamilton once said, “Make sure your biggest enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears,” but
I’m a tough critic. I always strive to be the very best version of myself; for my clients, my friends and my family.
Being a SuperHero meanS: Selflessly helping others and giving credit where credit is due. My team wears the cape, I just drive the Batmobile. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful team around me that does an amazing job. Through their efforts, we have been able to accomplish a lot, both professionally and in the nonprofit world. I do not consider myself a superhero.
emily aHlquiSt o’donnell, 38
Vice president of Public Education Foundation, External Relations; Board chair of Women’s Fund of Greater Chattanooga
Superpower: Finding four-leaf clovers. It’s not the most lucrative superpower, but I AM lucky!
catcHpHraSe: Nevertheless, she persisted.
VillainS Faced: Alzheimer’s disease. My mother was diagnosed in her early 50s and I spent much of my 20s feeling sad, angry and lost. The slow decline is agonizing. There were times that I was overwhelmed with grief, but now I have a full and joyful life. I named my first daughter after my mom and I honor her love of public education (she was a teacher!) with my work at PEF.
Sidekick(S): A gaggle of gal pals. I have a huge network of girlfriends that I’ve collected over my life, dating back to elementary school. They are my counselors, my brain trust and my dance partners. I often hear that women are barriers to each other’s success, but I’ve found the opposite to be true. My women friends have always encouraged my growth and success and I look for opportunities to do the same for them.
miSSion: To make Chattanooga’s public schools the best in the world, where all children reach their full potential.
SuperHero mentor: Ruth Holmberg. She was instrumental in creating the two nonprofits in Chattanooga that I love most: PEF and the Women’s Fund. Ruth was a generous philanthropist, but more importantly, a hard worker who lived her values.
wHat iS a wonk?
WonkNoun: a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialized f eld; broadly: nerd
“it’S a cHoice to reSpond witHout Fear!”
mattHew william mcclanaHan, 36
Doctor of osteopathic medicine board-certified in family medicine and neuromusculoskeletal medicine; with a Master of Arts in exercise physiology Superpower: Relentlessness.
Source oF StrengtH: People discovering their own strength, including myself. VillainS Faced: The status quo; greed; laziness; ignorance; fear. And since true advancement or paradigm shifts occur one funeral at a time, I suppose I’m facing the woefully advanced state of pharmaceuticals which keeps old men alive and in power, and the world from growing and maturing, far too long. miSSion: To empower people to accurately see that fear is behind the many ways we’re “stuck” and unhealthy, but that we always have the ability to internally choose how to respond to what’s happening inside or outside of us — which is inherently empowering, the opposite of fear, and is the foundation of resiliency and balance (aka “health”). Sidekick(S): The Pain Team — physical therapist Jason Therrien, DPT, “the soldier”; psychotherapist Tyler Orr, LPC, “military intelligence”; mindfulness and yoga teacher Janka Livancova, “deep covert CIA”; and self-described soft-tissue therapist Tim Russell, LMT, “special ops” — and my biggest teachers in recent years: mind/body medicine specialist Howard Schubiner, MD, and Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, OFM.
Being a SuperHero meanS: On my better days, not that much; it’s just a job. When I can begin to accept myself, my life and others as they are, I can sometimes find a bit of balance between embracing and inhabiting the necessary parts of power and leadership and denying those parts that lead me to scapegoat or feel self-righteous. It means trying to be the best husband, son, brother, physician, “yard guy,” cyclist, etc., I can reasonably be; doing what I can to embrace the freedom we’re all offered and capable of inside ourselves so I don’t make things any worse for myself or anyone else.
liFe BeginS at tHe end oF your comFort zone. Brianne lalor, 32
Chief development officer for Northside Neighborhood House Superpower: Storytelling. Through my profession, I get to share people’s success stories in grant writing and testimonials. It’s incredible to hear such stories of resilience and know you work for an organization that played a part in helping others persevere and succeed. miSSion: This is a tough one because I see firsthand the many struggles community members face. I think affordable housing is a huge issue, so I would harvest my powers to change that by building affordable housing for all. VillainS Faced: I’m super-competitive in everything I do and extremely goal oriented. Fear of failure used to really hold me back. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve adopted the attitude of “It’s better to try and fail than never try at all.” It’s when you really put yourself out there that the best things start happening.
Being a SuperHero meanS: I think every person is a superhero in their own way because everyone has their own unique gift(s). I just wish everyone would use their “powers” for good. arcH-nemeSiS: Time. There never seems to be enough of it in any given day. … Maybe I would want my superpower to be the ability to make clones of myself so they could just handle everything I need to get done and I could spend the day hiking.
Source oF StrengtH: The way this community supports its neighbors in need. I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the most inspiring people who devote their lives to making sure Chattanooga is a great city for all. Whether it’s caring for homeless who are in need of end-of-life care or providing food boxes for hungry families, there are people doing amazing work every day in this city!
daVid martin, 37
Communications director for Briteside Holdings; contributing opinion columnist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press Superpower: Message-crafting and spotlight-shining.
Being a SuperHero meanS:
Using gifts selflessly.
VillainS Faced: “Urgency” gremlins and echo chambers. Squad (fam)
Source oF StrengtH: My wife — the more impressive Martin by far. I routinely play Robin to her Batman. great hair. arcH-nemeSiS: Dr. ADD.
miSSion: Give more acknowledgment to the heroes who are actually in the trenches fighting daily to make this city stronger and more connected.
Being a SuperHero meanS [HaVing] an unBreakaBle commitment to a cauSe greater tHan oneSelF.
By day....
kyle BarelS, 30
Affiliate Broker with Better Homes and Gardens Real
Estate Signature Brokers;
Co-owner/artistic director of Dance Tonight
Chattanooga
Superpower: Inspiration. Whether someone is wanting to reach real estate goals, become a better dancer or become the best version of themselves, I pride myself in being able to help them achieve their desire. catcHpHraSe: Seize every moment!
SuperHero mentor: Batman. He is real, human, and not overpowered. He faces his personal demons every day — as do we all — and he puts the needs of others and his city above his own. arcH-nemeSiS: Myself. I am a firm believer that if I can control my thoughts, then I can control my reality, within reason. Challenges and struggles are stepping stones to success. If you’re able to maintain a positive mindset through the good times and the bad, even your failures will be successes. miSSion: To show how helping others truly is the key to happiness. This city has such a huge heart for nonprofits and helping those in need. If more people would get involved in the many opportunities this great city provides to help others, every Chattanoogan would experience and know that giving is living. 77
lakweSHia J ewing, 37
CEO/founder of Unlearn Everything & Live; Co-owner of Biz Boom App LLC
Superpower: An abundant amount of faith-driven vision.
SuperHero mentor: She-Ra (the 1985 heroine) because she … usually only resorted to combat as a last resort. She often used her wits to outsmart her adversaries. I believe She-Ra may have been the impetus that spurred my “mind over matter” attitude toward life.
arcH-nemeSiS: Doubt. Doubt does not stem from a lack of evidence, but from what we believe about who we are, what we can do and what we can have in life. Many people say “If I just saw it or if I had a direct word from
God, I would believe,” but it doesn’t work that way. Doubt is only present when we don’t believe in who we are created to be in this world. As a woman of faith, I completely despise doubt.
Sidekick(S): Everyone needs a team, and I am fortunate enough to have two. My Board of Directors [is comprised of] individuals both living and deceased who at some point along my life’s journey have poured consistent wisdom and guidance into my life: my grandparents, the Rev. and Mrs. Thomas W. Harris (deceased), who taught me the power of process, patience and prayer; and my professional/spiritual mentors Raymond Swoffard, Shula Yelliott, Bishop James M. Scott Sr., Rhonda Rippy, David Shands and Bryan S.
Harris, who all continue to provide me valuable growth and development support.
My second team is my stealth weapon that
I affectionately call my Kitchen Cabinet, a small yet powerful group [of people] who are the forces behind every decision I make: my wonderful husband, Julian Ewing, who continues to teach me the beauty of loving and being loved in total authenticity; my parents, James and
Maryland Massie, who provide a continuous example of what it means to make your life count by serving others; and my one and only sister, Shemeka Tibbs, who through her spirit of resilience and perseverance continues to show me the strength in pressing forward in the face of any obstacle.
Superpower: Pulling an idea out of a client’s mind and turning it into something real. It’s challenging, to say the least, but I’d like to say I’m pretty intuitive, especially when it comes to knowing what clients want. Maybe I can read their mind, or maybe I’ve just been doing this for so long I’ve perfected the art.
Sidekick(S): I have the best team behind me: my friends and family, of course; my co-workers, who make every day better; and designers who have paved the way and offered inspiring advice that lasts a lifetime.
VillainS Faced: Find[ing] new ways to stay inspired [daily]. That may sound silly, but ideas get old and trends grow stale. I’m always fighting to have top-notch ideas for my clients. Those are the people I want to be the proudest of my work.
Source oF StrengtH: Seeing my clients get strength. I love to watch my creative work in action. If it helps them grow their business, get clients, even if it just makes them smile because they love my ideas, at the end of the day, that’s all I need.
miSSion: I’d like to help Chattanooga capitalize on its location and maximize on different cultures. I’d like to bring in more restaurants, more shopping, more music and concerts; things like that. Chattanooga is only getting better and better. I’d like to help the city continue to inspire people.
SuperHero mentor: My mom will forever be my favorite superhero. She’s worked so hard to overcome countless obstacles, and I hope one day I can be even half the woman she is. In fact, I think all moms are superheroes. They have the hardest job on the planet and they wear a number of different capes.
SteFanie manSueto, 37
Relationship executive with Chase Middle Market Banking & Specialized Industries
Superpower: A sense of urgency. VillainS Faced: Intimidation and fear.
arcH-nemeSiS: Sleep.
miSSion: My issue I would like to change is not Chattanooga-specific, but could certainly help in the efforts of Chattanooga 2.0. I would like to enhance the earning potential of our public and private K-12 educators. Many educators are intrinsically motivated. However, I believe the people responsible for molding our children should be compensated fairly for the time, energy, dedication and importance of their role.
Source oF StrengtH:
Children smiling, plenty of exercise and family time. Sidekick(S): My husband, parents and siblings. They allow me to pursue my career, dedicate time to public service and surround my children with love and family.
SuperHero mentor: My grandmother. She is almost 90 years old, has five children, 24 grandchildren, is absolutely beautiful, never complains, always smiles and loves unconditionally.
Being a SuperHero meanS:
Transforming yourself over time into your best self.
“it may not Be eaSy, But it will Be wortH it!”
amanda JelkS , 31
Founder of Jelks Law PLLC; Co-founder and CEO of Women’s Law Collective PLLC Superpower: Problem prevention and problem solving. I’m pretty good at taking a 50,000-foot view of situations to prevent problems from occurring — it’s what I do for a living! — and when they do occur, which is sometimes inevitable, I’m pretty good at finding effective resolutions. Sidekick(S): The Directors. I have always had someone, be it a teacher, family member or friend, who helps me stay focused during challenging times.
VillainS
Faced: Too many to count. Poverty, single-parent household, absent father, being a teen mom and a single mother myself for 10 years (through half of high school, all of undergrad and law school), and more. Each of these issues, and more, was difficult to navigate, but with my faith in God and the support of The Directors, I was able to overcome.
Being a SuperHero
meanS: Doing the impossible and making a difference; standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. arcH-nemeSiS: Naysayers. From the time I started saying I wanted to be a lawyer, to finishing my different levels of education as a former teen mom, to now being a small-business owner, there have always been those people who have told me what I could not do.
Source oF StrengtH: Proving the naysayers wrong. Breaking through societal expectations and statistics.
Investing in the Community, One Family at a Time
H
ammers hit nails repeatedly. The strike can be heard down the street. The whirl of electric drills and saws carry through a neighborhood in Chattanooga’s Alton Park. The percussion of power tools drives late into the afternoon.
It’s loud, but it’s the sound of progress.
It’s the sound of hope. Something great is coming. It’s the sound of a home being built. To a family in need, it’s music to their ears.
Habitat for Humanity has been making places for people to live for decades. In Chattanooga, the construction savvy nonprofit has been in the business of brick-built dream building since 1986. To date, more than 260 of these new homes have been built in the Scenic City.
Dominique Brandt, director of community engagement, has been with Habitat for Humanity for Greater Chattanooga Area for more than four years now. She has seen the direct impact of Chattanooga Habitat’s work. Each of these homes is filled with people she has met and cared for extensively.
“We are setting our families up with a means to provide strength and stability for their children,” Dominique said. “There is nothing more empowering and dignifying than seeing a family who might have had a bad start put in the work, help build a house and begin an established future. At Chattanooga Habitat, we’re about making dreams a reality.”
These dreams are built using materials both great and small. Every nail, screw and detail matters. It’s the little things that raise a house.
The Amish would enlist an entire community to raise a barn. At Chattanooga Habitat, it’s no different. They rely on committed community members to lay futures brick by brick. And not all help comes in a hand to help hammer a nail.
Atlantic Capital Bank has been building futures alongside Habitat for several years, lending aid wherever possible—from financial support to strategy meetings. “Working with Atlantic Capital has been fantastic,” Dominique said. “They have always sought to make their financial partnership as meaningful as possible. They have always asked, ‘How else may we be a part?’ To them, it’s not just about writing the check; it’s about investing in organizations they support.”
Jeff Olingy, senior vice president for community engagement, explained that Atlantic Capital strives to make the places they work better for all—whether that’s in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Charlotte or Knoxville. It’s about being accountable for each other.
“Stewardship means, ‘the responsibility of overseeing and protecting something considered worth caring for’--from our clients to our communities to each other,” Jeff explained. “We do this by protecting and growing our clients’ financial resources, respecting everyone’s time and being there when people need us, and being conscientious and committed.” Atlantic Capital’s commitment to giving back to the community is one of their core values. They also have integrated it into how employees give of their time, talent and resources. It’s a cornerstone of their business.
Together, Chattanooga Habitat and Atlantic Capital are making the Scenic City a better place. Chattanooga is becoming a city where dreams are being built home-by-home.
And it takes a committed team with a shared vision to make this happen.
Make something great together. Partner with an experienced Atlantic Capital banker to help you build out your financial future. Atlantic Capital will do the heavy lifting.
Congratulations to Bart Rolen, Executive Vice President, Private Client Services at Atlantic Capital Bank for Chattanooga’s 20 Under 40 award!
