Matter Summer/Fall 2023

D O YO U BE L IE V E IN MERMAIDS?

S U M M ER / FA L L 20 23

Welcome to Matter, the first edition of our Livano journal.

TH E LI VA N O J O U R N A L

E V E R Y T H I N G M AT T E R S

One of Livano’s core beliefs is that everything matters. We work intentionally every day to make that belief transcend into truth. This truth manifests in the thoughtful, beautiful design of our properties; the lives lived in these spaces are always at the forefront of our minds. It manifests in the innovative amenities and experiences we provide, in Livano’s communitycentric programming, and in exceptional service. We hope this intentionality enhances our residents’ lives — emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

The word “matter” is a verb meaning to be of importance or significance. Matter is a channel through which we share stories that inspire, nurture, connect, and unite us. Within our Livano family and the communities where Livano lives, there is an abundance of life-giving, perhaps life-changing, stories. We intend to find and share these stories.

We hope you enjoy the stories in this inaugural issue of Matter — some will make you laugh, others will make you think, or maybe inspire you to try something new. We hope they all make you smile.

And we hope Matter encourages you to look for the exceptional in the everyday, in your communities, and in yourselves.

Welcome to Matter.

Robb Crumpton CEO, LIV Development

LIV Development’s biannual publication, Matter, is exclusively published for the residents of Livano. Livano is a collection of dynamic multifamily communities created by LIV Development that are intentionally designed to help residents live richer, deeper, and fuller lives.

For more information about LIV Development, please visit livdev.com.

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Keck Kick

JAN VAN IJKEN | The Power of Seven LOUIS FORT | Food for Thought

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Do You Believe in Mermaids?

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TAYLOR BANNER | Keck Kick YANA LIPKAN | Livano Cats and Dogs CASSIE PALI | Do You Believe in Mermaids?, Cover

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Livano Cats and Dogs

WORDS

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ROSALIND FOURNIER Keck Kick, Do You Believe in Mermaids?, Made With Love, On Her Own Terms

Matters of the Heart PAG E 25

Design Matters PAG E 28

On Her Own Terms PAG E 32

The Power of Seven PAG E 36

Food for Thought

CASSIE CONDREY Matters of the Heart, Food for Thought

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H A N N A H K E C K , A C H A R LOT T E - BAS E D L I VA N O R E S I D E N T, I S A M O N G T H E NAT I O N ’S TO P TA E K WO N D O C O M P E T ITO R S

Growing up in Plano, Texas, Hannah Keck took ballet and poured into it the heart and passion she brings to just about everything she undertakes. Nonetheless, at the tender age of 11, she started to question whether ballet was the right fit for her. “If you see a picture of me, you’d know I never fit into the ballet dancer’s body image,” Keck says. “I wasn’t overweight, but I was a bigger kid and I got bullied a lot for it.”

The bullying eventually drove her to consider a new pursuit, and she found it, as it happened, right across the street from her ballet school — in a taekwondo studio.

“My mom saw it and said, ‘Martial arts. That should help her,’” Keck laughs.

Trying taekwondo — the traditional Korean art of self-defense — turned out to be an auspicious move for Keck, who is now a 21-year-old Olympic contender, regularly competing around the globe at the highest level of the sport.

Even as a child, Keck took to taekwondo like a natural.

The flexibility she brought from ballet served her well; only now she was better able to channel her strength and size into a sport for which it seemed she was born. “I had done karate when I was a lot younger and really liked that,” Keck says. “So taekwondo clicked.”

She started with a focus on poomsae, which is usually associated with the study of forms and techniques — the performance aspect of taekwondo. But a few years later, she was ready to get in the ring.

“All of a sudden, I got really lucky in a match and decided to start fighting,” she says. Her taekwondo school connected her with a new coach, Tony Cabrera, to help her transition to competitive sparring. By high school, she was training twice a day, with the second session often lasting until 10 p.m. Many weekends, she left home on Friday evenings to travel to competitions, returning home on Sunday just in time to get ready for school again on Monday. “It was crazy, especially for a 17-year-old,” she says.

Cabrera, her coach, saw in Keck a young woman with rare talent and momentum.

“She progressed very fast,” he remembers. “Hannah is very, very talented, focused, and stubborn, if you will.

She hones in, she wants it, and that’s it.”

TAEKWONDO 101 For the uninitiated, taekwondo — which became an official medal sport at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia — can be difficult to understand. Taekwondo

can be translated as “the way of foot and fist”; Keck describes it as “fencing mixed with karate, but more kick.”

Competitors wear foot gear with magnets inside, a chest guard, and a head protector with sensors that register when a competitor makes a hit to score points.

THE P O INT SYSTE M

1.

One point for a punch.

2.

wo points for a regular bodyshot, T such as a sidekick or roundhouse kick.

3.

Three points for a regular headshot.

4. Four points for a spinning bodyshot.

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Five points for a spinning headshot.

Penalties incurred also give one’s opponent points, and five penalties automatically result in losing the round.

Keck says she’s long past needing to remember the scoring system; she enters the ring on autopilot. She’s a skilled puncher, and one of her best moves is delivering a punch followed by swinging her leg around for a hit to the head — a four-point shot.

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“I like being in the ring, the energy it gives me,” she says. “I like the adrenaline rush. I also like fighting as an art form just as much as I do as a sport, so I still go into training every day with the attitude that I’m trying to make art.”

AT 21, A SERIOUS CONTENDER Now training with the elite USATKD National Academy at the United States Performance Center in Charlotte, N.C., Keck has already won gold medals at international tournaments, including the French, Canadian, and Korean Opens, and many more medals and honors from major competitions globally and domestically. Keck has been named an All-American Taekwondo Athlete at both the junior and senior levels. She also recently had the honor of making the National Team for the World Taekwondo Championships for the second time. The tournament was held in Baku, Azerbaijan at the end of May. Along with the coaches in Charlotte, Keck has also continued to work remotely with her home coach, Cabrera, who helps her develop strategies for upcoming competitions. He also provides moral support on the rare occasion her spirit flags.

“What Hannah is doing is demanding from the athlete perspective and from a life perspective, too,” Cabrera says. “A lot of times, you have to put your dream ahead of family gatherings and other events that are important in order to travel to events that are important for your athletic career. But she is an amazing athlete, very talented, and one who has a very high level of grit and perseverance. She is very, very focused on what she wants and continues to amaze me every time.”

Keck says that when others express that kind of faith in her, it helps her to push through the hard days. “I’ve been very lucky that the general population of USA Taekwondo has been very kind to me,” she says, adding that the support meant even more to her last year, when she didn’t make the National Team. “The whole community rallied around me, and I think that’s the biggest honor.” She wrote more emotionally about the support she’s received in an Instagram post after she learned she was headed back to the World Championships: “I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past year. …That kid just wanted to be seen, but she’s gained so much more than that. That kid got her fight back.”

LOOKING AHEAD Keck feels great going into the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships. This is her second time to compete in the event (she was only 17 the first time) and considers it both an honor and a thrill. “It’s an exhilarating atmosphere,” she says. “They send you out with music, the lights are on, and there are people yelling and shouting. I think that’s the addiction that keeps me coming back into the ring.”

Her confidence level is high. “I’m honestly banking for a medal at this World Championships,” Keck says. Having hit the prime age for taekwondo competitors, she also feels good about her chances of making the team for the Paris 2024 Olympics. There, anything could happen.

Still, Keck says it’s never too early to start thinking about life beyond competition. Though her training schedule is demanding, she makes time when she can to visit a local farmer’s market, and she finds peace reading and spending time with her cat. She is also currently a part-time remote college student and plans to eventually go to medical school and study infectious diseases.

“Realistically, taekwondo athletes don’t compete past their early 30s,” she says. “It’s a sport where you have to be really flexible but also swing your legs in such a violent manner that people get injured like crazy. So I’m very lucky that this isn’t my end game. Now, I’m in this chapter of my life and enjoying every second of it, but when I decide to retire, I know there are things beyond it. I’m excited for that too, because I live for science. That’s another thing I can see myself waking up and being equally excited and passionate about.”

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Do You Believe in Mermaids?

J U S T F O U R M I L E S AWAY F R O M L I VA N O NAT U R E C OAST, T H EY E X I ST

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W hen she was a child, Catherine Williams’ parents took her to see the Mermaids of Weeki Wachee, women who had been mesmerizing visitors for generations with their performances of underwater ballet in the famous Weeki Wachee Springs.

“They were extremely glamorous,” says Williams, today an art conservator in Austin. “I remember they smiled the whole time while underwater. After seeing them, I would try and try to teach myself to do that.”

Visitors have been cherishing memories like this for decades, ever since a man named Newton Perry had the idea for a new kind of show — synchronized swimming (think Ethel Merman in “Neptune’s Daughter”) that would be performed entirely underwater.

Perry, an accomplished swimmer and coach who had trained Navy Frogmen to swim underwater in World War II, established the park in 1947 and opened it to the public as a tourist attraction. Located just north of Tampa on U.S. 19 — only four miles from Livano Nature Coast — the park boasts one of the deepest-known underwater cave systems in the country, with springs fed by 117 million gallons of clear, fresh water bubbling up from the limestone of the Florida aquifer system every day.

Perry believed the underwater performers (always known as mermaids, though the original swimmers did not wear tails) would be a perfect fit for the already breathtaking beauty of the site. He invented a special breathing apparatus that the mermaids still use to this day. He built a subaqueous theater for audiences to watch the mermaids through a giant glass window, and the show has been drawing visitors to the park ever since.

“We have people from all over the world descend on Hernando County to see this unique and charming attraction,” says John Athanason, tourism marketing specialist for Florida’s Adventure Coast Visitors Bureau. The most famous visitor, he adds, was Elvis Presley, who in 1961 paused production on a film he was making nearby to come see the mermaids perform.

Athanason’s personal history with Weeki Wachee — today a Florida State Park — dates back to childhood. A native Floridian, he remembers coming to see the show as a kid. In 2001 (prior to his current position), he became the marketing and public relations manager for Weeki Wachee Springs and says returning to the park brought memories flooding back.

“When I started working at the park in 2001, it was like stepping back in history and reliving my childhood,” he says. “That’s what makes the park special, because it provides that for people.”

BEFORE THERE WAS DISNEY WORLD Part of that nostalgia, Athanason notes, comes from the fact that Weeki Wachee predates by far today’s bigger-name Florida attractions, like Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. “A lot of the major parks now have rides that are 3D or virtual reality,” he says. “And they’re great — don’t get me wrong. But there’s something special about the Weeki Wachee Mermaids, because you’re 16 feet below the surface of this pristine spring, and it’s the only theater of its kind in the entire world. It doesn’t need any special effects. Regardless of your age or gender, to see these beautiful people perform underwater ballet is magical.”

Charles Buchanan, a writer and visual artist in Birmingham, Ala., had heard about the park for years but never had a chance to visit as a kid. A few years ago, he got his chance when he took his family to Sanibel Island for vacation; on the way home, they decided to take a detour to Weeki Wachee. “Our daughter at that time was four, very much into mermaids, and still straddling that line between what’s real and fictional,” Buchanan remembers. “But we could tell she was going to lean on the side of, ‘These are totally mermaids.’”

For Buchanan, the sense of history was tangible. “It’s a quirky, interesting, authentic old-Florida tradition, and I love the idea that generations of people have driven that way to watch these performers.”

A SORORITY OF SIRENS Athanason says over the years he’s gotten to know many of the underwater performers, who engage in four to six months of intense training before officially joining the elite group known as the Sorority of Sirens. Many are simultaneously attending college or graduate school or training for a career as an EMT or firefighter and have earned the privilege of performing as a mermaid to put themselves through school. Athanason says he sees how hard it is for

VINTAGE WEEKI WACHEE POSTCARDS. IMAGES COURTESY OF FLORIDA’S ADVENTURE COAST VISITORS BUREAU AND STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF FLORIDA.

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ONE OF WEEKI WACHEE’S FIRST MERMAIDS, NANCY TRIBBLE, IN 1947.

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“They showed off all their tricks, like the one who could drink a Coca-Cola underwater, and they were giggling and had such a youthful spirit.” them to relinquish the title of Weeki Wachee Mermaid once they decide to move on to the next phase of their lives, but he’s also had the pleasure of watching them maintain lifetime friendships and later bring their own children to experience the magic of the show.

Many in fact return in earnest, years later, to volunteer as instructors at Sirens of the Deep Mermaid Camp — a weekend-long experience in which women ages 30 and up come to Weeki Wachee for a crash course in underwater ballet, transforming themselves into mermaids, at least for a couple of days.

Erin Street, who is based in Birmingham, Alabama and works in human relations for a tech company, participated a few years ago and describes it as an unforgettable opportunity. “I grew up in Clearwater, Fla., going to see the mermaids,” she says. “When I heard about the camp, I messaged a friend from high school, and we jumped on it.”

She says her instructors that weekend ranged in age from their 50s to an 84-year-old woman she describes as “amazing.”

She says many of these mermaid veterans have become strong advocates for preserving the natural integrity of the area and teaching others to treat it respectfully. After her weekend there, Street says she understands why.

“It’s a very peaceful, beautiful place,” she says. “People tend to forget that Florida has these amazing, natural spaces like this and go right for the kitsch, but this is really a beautiful thing. Even now, if I’m having a bad day, I’ll think about what it felt like, floating on the surface and looking underneath … knowing that I was able to make this dream come true and that I actually became a mermaid. It makes my inner child very happy.”

Tara Cox, a writer and editor in New York City who has also attended the camp, echoes that sentiment. “I remember thinking, this is how it would feel to be onstage at Madison Square Garden if you were a musician,” she says.

“The people who work there have a ton of talent to perform those shows.

They look beautiful, but they’re also magical and special and different.”

Cox adds that meeting the retired mermaids only enhanced her childhood belief that they hold superpowers.

“For a weekend, you learn how to swim underwater and do certain skills and tricks, including a lot of breath control. You want to be graceful and lovely, so they teach you how to open your eyes, smile, and blow kisses while you’re doing flips and various formations. They make it look effortless, but it’s much more physically demanding than you think. The highlight is being able to swim in the underwater theater and see from a vantage point that very few people get to see.”

“They did a show for us during that weekend, and it was just gorgeous. They showed off all their tricks, like the one who could drink a Coca-Cola underwater, and they were giggling and had such a youthful spirit. It was beautiful.

My instructor would also tell stories from back in the day. Not only was she a mermaid, but her daughter was, too.”

Street adds that the instructors also told them about the history of the park, the springs, and the amazing wildlife. They told the campers about the Native Americans who once lived on the land and gave the springs the name “Weeki Wachee,” which means “little spring” or “winding river.”

Cox says that even though she was exhausted, she still wasn’t ready to leave when it was over. “None of us wanted to leave. We said, ‘This is only two days?

I could do this for a week!’ It holds a special place in the heart. Until I die, I’m probably going to go there as my happy place.”

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Made with Love

THE CERAMICIST BEHIND THE PL AYFUL BOOT VAS E S AT O U R L I VA N O P R O P E R T I E S M A K E S H A P P Y ART WITH A HEART AS BIG AS TEXAS

With the sell-out success of her product launches, big-name artistic collaborations, and a huge following on social media, The Coy Collection founder Sequoyah Johnson — “Coy” to her friends and fans — is having the time of her life. From her iconic Smile Mugs to her signature Cowgirl Vases, Johnson’s designs are a little about whimsy, a lot about playful inspiration and, at their heart, a kind of joyful rebellion.

The rebellion part may be a hidden component, but Johnson revels in it. It comes from her doubts in the beginning that people would accept “happy” designs as true art and her willingness to follow her instincts anyway.

“I knew even with all my training,” she says, “I was making work my teacher would not have approved of at all.

Typical ceramics work is more earthy and less vibrant. I don’t think that’s bad. But at the same time, it was a healing moment for me to be able to share simplified iconography that still feels meaningful.”

She also hopes her small, clean designs leave something to the imagination. “For the icons to be so simple, they leave room for you to create how you feel and what resonates with you,” Johnson says, “whether that be joy or maybe something that was hard, and you’re thinking about how you went through it, and now you’re okay,” she says. “My perspective stems from that. Even the happy faces are all hand-drawn, so even though they look similar, they’re not the same. It’s really just calling us to be as different as we want to be and enjoy the journey.”

A WINDING PATH TO CERAMICS Johnson first discovered her love for ceramics through a class she took during high school. When she started college at the University of North Texas, however, she thought photography would pave an easier path to a future career. That changed when a middling midterm review suggested that her true talents might lie elsewhere. It was a disappointment that quickly turned into a stroke of serendipity — Johnson’s career is full of serendipity — when her advisor pointed out that Johnson had already earned enough credits to graduate with a degree in ceramics.

“I think ceramics were always my underlying passion,” Johnson says. “I just had to figure out how to make that work.”

She started out teaching art in school and launched The Coy Collection on the side. She loved teaching, but during that time she suffered a life-threatening car accident, and then COVID-19 hit. Between those two major events, life seemed to be nudging, maybe shoving, Johnson to decide what she really wanted. Art won. “At that point, I’d had a taste of being able to work for myself and being able to create my own environment,” she says, “and I was ready.”

Originally a native of California, Johnson was living in Austin, a hotbed of creativity and independent thinking. It was perfect for an artist committed to following her own instincts. The pandemic, meanwhile, was driving people all over the world to delve into artistic pursuits, which helped her plug into a community of mutual support. “It was the perfect storm of the events of 2020,” she says.

THE SMILE THAT CHANGED HER WORLD Johnson’s smile designs are a natural outgrowth of her time as a teacher when she tested her modest theory that no one is too old to appreciate a symbol of encouragement. “I gave my kids stickers all the time in elementary school, and then I started doing it in middle school, too,” she explains. “It still sparked the same joy, even though you think middle-school children are older and don’t want stickers or simple things. I really wanted to challenge that with adults, because everything is already complex enough. Being a Black person is very complex. Being a woman is very complex. Being an adult, living, moving, breathing; it’s always so complex, so I really like the idea of breaking things down.”

She adds, “I think that’s what resonates — how life can be as complex as it is but still have these simple elements.”

The Smile Mug became Johnson’s first product launch under The Coy Collection. At the same time, she tagged her business as Black-owned on Instagram posts, which Johnson believes also caught people’s attention. “It was an overwhelming overnight success,” Johnson says. “I went from zero orders to 300-plus in hours.”

She had to shut down the website while she buckled down in her studio to meet the new orders.

The demand for that first batch became the norm; subsequent launches — which now include smile designs in various incarnations as well as cow-print mugs (the “Moo Cups”), ranch-dressing and hot-sauce-bottle vases, and other playful pieces — have created a similar frenzy. The record time for a complete sell-out is 10 minutes.

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“I think it’s really been all about showing up and having an authentic story to tell…”

FOLLOW SEQUOYAH ON INSTAGRAM @THECOYCOLLECTION AND PURCHASE A PIECE FROM HER WEBSITE THECOYCOLLECTION.COM

Keep an eye out for the custom Livano cowboy boots at Livano Pflugerville, Livano Kemah, and Livano Canyon Falls!

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF SEQUOYAH JOHNSON

This has created a supply-demand ratio that, in the counterintuitive way Johnson’s life seems to operate, has worked to her advantage. The Coy Collection is currently a one-woman operation, and it takes weeks to produce about 50 pieces. As it turns out, customers are happy to wait for up to two months for a made-to-order piece.

“I think it creates a more meaningful bond with the pieces you’re getting,” Johnson says, “which is my whole thing.”

Along the way, several major brands have sought Johnson out for mutually beneficial collaborations. She has been featured by Microsoft as an example of a small business owner using Microsoft Teams in her operations.

The clothing brand DONNI created a limited-edition Valentine’s box set pairing a sherpa shirt jacket with a Coy mug (the design was a tiny heart — smiling, of course).

Most prominently, the restaurant chain Qdoba filmed a commercial as part of their #FriendsWithFlavor campaign in Johnson’s studio, with Johnson as the star. In the video, she talks about the similarities between preparing food and making ceramics (“It’s like a huge experiment”), and Qdoba’s offerings are displayed on dishes Johnson created exclusively for the project.

Johnson says the collaborations came about organically, as word about her brand and the bright personality behind it spread on social media. “I think it’s really been all about showing up and having an authentic story to tell,” she says, “but also being in a vein that’s not so traditional. I think it’s also exciting to see people of color, and people in general, taking the medium to different heights.” Johnson adds that her dream collaboration would be to design all the ceramics — from dinnerware to décor — for an entire restaurant.

THE FUTURE OF COY On the subject of Johnson’s future plans for The Coy Collection, she says at the moment, she is simply embracing the unknown. She’s doing what she’s always done, which is to follow her heart. Johnson recently moved to Los Angeles for a change of scenery, so in some ways, she’s finding her footing again. “I’m kind of in this flexible state, letting things come and go as they please,” she says. “It’s interesting, because I’m the only one running the business right now, so I’m having to honor not knowing.” One thing she is fairly sure of is that it will continue to be a small-scale shop. In Austin, she had two employees, which seemed about right.

She’s also certain that her art will never lose its infusion of Texas spirit, which shines through in the Cowgirl Vases. Unlike her other pieces, they’re pure white and feature more complex detail and texture, designed to look well worn, as any self-respecting cowgirl boots should. Livano has commissioned several of these to feature in its Texas properties — a perfect fit to combine a Southwestern mindset, a free-spirited artist who is all about community, and the way of living Livano represents.

Johnson describes her Texan bona fides like this. “When I first lived in Texas, I would say, ‘Yeah, I’m from California,’” she says. “And now, moving back here, I’m like ‘Whoa — I am Texas through and through. I got a Texas tattoo the day I left. We’ll forever have a Texas connection. I’ve been thinking about my new collection, and I think it’s going to say, ‘Yee-haw from L.A.!’”

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C D L I VA N O T G S S At Livano, we love your pets almost as much as you do. Pets have that special ability to comfort when we’re down, make us laugh when things get too serious, and show us all what unconditional love looks like. Now that we all agree how great our pets are, let's look at some of the cute, furry residents at Livano Uptown in Tampa, Florida.

Our Livano Pet Centers are one-of-a-kind premier resorts located within your community. Exclusive to residents, your dogs and cats will receive onsite love and support from our skilled Pet Center Manager. Pets will experience the warmest, full-service accommodations, including dog day care, pet suites, paw shops, pet spa, vet services, and more!

JOEY

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GIZMO

HERSHEY

CRUZ

If Hershey were a cocktail, she'd be a mudslide. This sweet girl is a collector of pink tennis balls and has been accused of loving her dad more than her mom.

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COCA

MIDNIGHT Don't bother this sleepy gal unless you're waking her up for cuddles or a salmon treat.

B O LT This spunky 1.5-year-old loves long walks around the pond at Livano Uptown, his ghost squeaky toy, and people-watching while he lounges in the sun.

BLUE Having two different eye colors makes Blue extra special, as she enjoys her daily walks at Livano Uptown.

BELLA

BRODY This goofy 2-year-old is ready to play all day, especially if you have his favorite gator plushy.

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Matters of the Heart A C O N V E R SAT I O N W IT H LO U I S N EQ U E T T E

One of Livano’s consulting architects, Louis Nequette, has a deep love for beauty and believes in the power of design to bring people together.

L ouis Nequette’s approach to architecture is multi-dimensional, in every sense. It is always about form and function, but it is also about relationships and how design can connect the people who are using and seeing it every day.

Everything about Louis, from his work to the way he sees the world, is steeped in his innate creativity and his pragmatism.

This combination allows him to create designs that are both beautiful and accessible. When designing, he seems to ask: how can we elevate the basics so that we are elevated ourselves? We see this question played out in the projects he chooses to take on and the ways in which he reimagines what has always been done. His work with Livano is a clear example of this. Here, he discusses his process, his background, and his perspective on what good design can do.

Tell me a bit about your background, anything you were interested in as a child that foreshadowed your life now.

Do you still draw your designs by hand?

For the most part, everything I do is originated by hand. But then I quickly involve other team members to explore it in other ways or take it and run with it from the hand drawing. That’s how I see the world and how I think. I can do a three-dimensional sketch faster than they can do a computer model, so I’ll race them any time.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up here in Birmingham, Ala. I went to Auburn and came back here because at the time we were coming out of a recession, and I felt fortunate to have a job. I always wanted to live somewhere else in the country, but so much opportunity and traction just kept us here. But we do work all over the place.

So I get to travel all the time.

Tell me about a few of your projects, ones that stand out.

I was always artistic as a kid. It was my talent and passion. My mom is artistic as well and she encouraged me. I embraced it at a very young age. I’ve learned to become more of an extrovert, but my happy place, even in high school, was being introverted. In high school, you’re trying to make friends and “be popular,” and I actually found that my art — doing stuff for pep rallies, doing stuff for the school — helped bring me out of my shell. It became my identity. I also found the art classes I was in to be not challenging enough. My dad then came into play. He’d always wanted to be an architect and encouraged me to look into it. I shadowed a few people in the industry and thought it looked interesting, and I dove headfirst into first year of architecture school at Auburn. It was a perfect fit for me. I took to it like a duck in water and five years later graduated and then jumped feet first into the industry. It feels like it was yesterday; it’s been so fulfilling and so busy and so wonderful with opportunity. I consider myself to be one of those lucky people who found what they were meant to do, and it’s a blessing.

What medium did you enjoy most as a child?

I wish I had some of my middle school spiral bound notebooks because there’s probably more doodling than note taking. I was drawing and painting and cartooning — a little bit of anything and everything.

I got my start at a commercial firm, but I quickly realized that traditional commercial architecture firms are incredibly business-first. I learned how to work with complex teams, how to put complex buildings together. I learned so much about how to be an architect, but what was missing was a passion for design.

I then went to a place where I thought the design was more of a value, only to find out it was mostly happening by one person in that company, so he and I started a company together. Our values were design-driven. We got involved in some high-end, custom residential work which led us down to the panhandle of Florida at the time when a few of some of the most well-known traditional neighborhoods were just coming out of the ground and blossoming. These places had design guidelines and were requiring that these homes be thoughtful and well done.

We learned how special those projects felt when they were surrounded by other thoughtful designs instead of just across the street from something you never wanted to turn the camera to. I did not come from a background of community planning or master planning or placemaking, but through doing those projects for about ten years, I became passionate about the holistic nature of community design and placemaking, how the whole could be so much greater than the sum of the parts if it is thoughtful. Over time, I could see that what was missing was the ability to affect more people. It was great to do that work, but it was really only affecting the 1%, so to speak.

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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF NEQUETTE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

THE LIVINGSTON RICHMOND, VA

VECINA SAN ANTONIO, TX

THE McCOY - FROM SKETCH TO COMPLETION

I was then asked by a Birmingham developer to get involved in a student housing neighborhood. I was able to really express myself in master planning. There were freedoms that you don’t get in conventional master planning of single-family neighborhoods because we didn’t have to plat individual properties. We got to arrange the houses any way we wanted, to create great walkable experiences.

Think of a resort or something like that. And then we got to put students in it, which is just like one big research and development project. We found out what they liked and didn’t like about that experience. We were able to give great design to a much broader audience. Nothing was more fulfilling than to hear from people who said, “I never thought moving into a neighborhood would change my life, but it did. Because we know our neighbors. We get out and walk with our strollers and our babies and meet people.”

Over time, the market demanded what we were passionate about. There became this intersection of opportunity to create thriving, walkable, mixeduse town centers for multifamily developers. Now people want to be in a place where they can start out of school as renters and grow into a townhouse. They can buy their first house, buy a second house, raise a family. Once the kids go to school, they can downgrade to a smaller house or an active adult rental.

They never have to leave the community they’ve invested their whole lives in, because it’s where their people are. That’s what everyone wants.

I think a lot about good design in a neighborhood and what that does to a person’s psyche, how it affects how they view the world, what they think they’re capable of. Not that design is everything, but it’s not something to ignore.

It inspires people when they don’t realize it. It affects their lives. When you live in a house or apartment or even go visit a coffee shop and the sunlight is right and the quality of the space, the scale and proportion, is right, you want to hang out there. You want to stay. You get inspired in ways you might not be able to measure. We completely believe in it. We also feel like when it’s beautiful, and has an element of historical influence to it, people want to protect it.

Tell me a bit more about your process.

The process we take on a given project is somewhat universal. It’s always a combination. First, what does the site specifically offer? What are its unique conditions — views, terrain, trees versus fields, walkability? Secondly, what is the context of the area? What would make people feel like this fit into their community? Third, what are the specific requirements of the client or the owner?

From a personal perspective, what does the room look like, feel like, when you are putting pen to paper?

What is great about Livano is that they curate a vision book that they provide to us for every project. We’re used to having to go pioneer that ourselves.

They put real time and effort into saying, here’s what we think the character should or could be. Here’s what the local influences are. That is tremendously inspiring and beneficial to the process. I always have that in front of me. I really start digging deep into the topography and understanding the land itself.

Spend some time understanding the appropriate building types that we are going to work with. That allows you to start with some levels of predictability and then wrap creativity throughout it.

I read something about community-building on your website: “Architecture is nothing but an opportunity to bring people together. It can segregate or create community. I don’t think people realize how much it has an effect on political life.” I was fascinated by that. Can you say a bit more about that and other goals you have in these types of projects?

What I mean when I reference political life is that we tend to choose to live around people who are like-minded. Some of it is understandable because those are people who think like you do and like to do what you do, so there is going to be a lot of fun things to do that way. Some is fear-based; I’m afraid of what I don’t know. What we’ve found is when we do these thriving mixed-use communities that have a range of product types — for sale, for rent, different scales and densities — it starts to attract multiple generations. This brings people together and when it’s walkable and there’s some place to go, they find themselves in conversation with someone that they’ve never met before, that they would not choose to walk up and talk to otherwise.

They build a relationship. They create empathy and begin to understand someone in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have. At the heart of it, it’s what we desire most — relationships. We’re creating places for them to live that are going to create intersections in ways that maybe they don’t see coming. That’s how community is built. That’s how it’s always been built. We’re not doing anything new.

That’s beautiful. Is there anything we missed?

No. I always enjoy these conversations because you never know where they go.

It’s wonderful.

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DA R E TO R E AC H DA R E TO S OA R DA R E TO B E B O L D How you start your day matters. Trapeze is a vibrant coffee brand exclusive to Livano communities. Residents will enjoy hand-crafted coffee and espresso drinks served by our Trapeze baristas at no cost. Ask your Livano office team for more information.

C O M I N G T O S E L E C T L I VA N O L O C AT I O N S I N 202 3

Design Matters

When styling a space, the beauty is in the details. Livano’s in-house interior designer shares some simple ideas that can have a big impact on the look and feel of your home.

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BEAR FRUIT

P R I VAT E G A L L E RY

O B J E CT O F M Y A F F E CT I O N

Place brightly colored fruit in a large bowl or platter in a highly visible space, like your countertop or entryway. Whether lemons, granny smith apples, or pomegranates, the spot of fresh color is a simple, impactful touch.

Look for art downloads online or purchase a large coffee table book and remove select pages. One book can provide an abundant and varied collection of frameable art. A large mat and simple frame add immediate sophistication to any print.

Small, intentionally placed objects have a way of making people smile. It could be something purchased or found that reminds you of a trip you took or someone you love.

CHOP CHOP

L AY E R U P

NAT U RA L S E L E CT I O N

Interior designers covet the perfect pillow “chop.” Replace your throw pillow inserts with a down — or down alternative — insert to give your living space a professionally styled look.

A simple change that makes a big difference.

One way to add interest and pattern to your bedroom is by adding a rug. It may be counterintuitive to add “carpet” on top of carpet, but in any Livano model unit you will find area rugs in the bedrooms.

Bringing in a blooming branch, a palm frond, or a sculptural stem and placing it an interesting vessel instantly livens any room.

Keep an eye out, and you can usually find something lovely right outside your door.

M I X & MATC H

H AT T R I C K

COMMON SCENTS

Rooms look and feel the best when they have a curated effect. When selecting furniture, don’t be afraid to mix wood tones with various materials.

Look for woven pieces, metals, and leathers.

Do you have a great hat that rarely gets worn?

Hang a hat, or a collection of hats, on your wall to add dimension and texture to the space.

Candles are a great piece of functional decor.

They add ambiance with their subtle flame and delightful scent. Accent with a wick trimmer and a matchbook from your favorite restaurant to add a bit of personality and character.

BOOK SMART

ENSCONCED

T RAY C H I C

Large books add interest when stacked on a table. Make it even more special by placing a beautiful object on one or two stacks.

Introducing different types of lighting makes a room feel charming and warm. Plug-in wall sconces have the elevated appearance of a built-in fixture but plug into a standard outlet.

Decorative trays are some of the most versatile styling pieces in your home. They provide an elegant place to drop your keys, or can turn a decanter collection or home coffee bar into a sophisticated vignette.

F O L L O W T H I S Q R C O D E T O F I N D D E C O R L I N K S C U R AT E D B Y T H E L I V C R E AT I V E G R O U P

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Don’t try to put Jesslee into a box—she won’t fit. Unless it’s a really, really big box, big enough for all the different hats she wears as a country music singer-songwriter, big enough for the diverse elements she brings to the genre, big enough for the stories she has to tell, and big enough for her contagious laugh that can set the tone for a whole room. Add in the other ways she defies country stereotypes — including her Italian-American heritage and an impressive run as a competitive athlete — and it’s clear Jesslee defies easy categorization. That’s how she likes it.

Though she cut her first EP in 2015 (while simultaneously working jobs at a bank and a Publix deli), many fans encountered Jesslee for the first time in 2018 when she appeared on NBC’s “The Voice.” She has opened for or performed with major names including Wynonna Judd, Thomas Rhett, Uncle Kracker, Dierks Bentley, and Cassadee Pope, and she charted for 45 weeks on Apple Music’s “Country Hot Tracks” in 2019 and 2020. Most recently, she signed with the label ONErpm in Nashville—another major milestone in her young career—and released the single “Unmeet You” along with the video, for which she wrote the storyline.

That’s a fraction of the resume that establishes Jesslee’s credentials as an artist who’s earned her place on the stage. But it barely scratches the surface of Jesslee, the person.

We let her share some of those highlights in her own words in a recent interview.

When people go to your site, jessleemusic.com, the first thing they see is the video for “Chillbilly.” It’s a great introduction, because it shows you know how to let your hair down and make room for fun and humor in your music—from the hook that’s still stuck in my head (“We just some front porch, back woods, head bobbin’ honky tonk hippies”) to the colorful characters in the video, including a woman walking downtown in a silk robe and curlers, a man wearing swim fins for no particular reason, and a goat in a tutu. What inspired that?

I wanted it to be campy, totally silly, fun, and feel good. When we wrote the song, it was literally me writing about my hometown of Stuart, Fla., where I moved when I was 14, and then we actually got to film there. The town has grown, but I wanted to create a picture of what it was then—so we filmed in historic downtown Stuart, included all my hometown best friends, and used these eccentric places where I grew up. Even though the production is really forward, it still fits in country music to me because it’s honest, raw, fun, and still simple in its own way.

You’ve spent years successfully building an image and writing and releasing music on your own. What does it mean to you now to sign with a label?

If it wasn’t for me having had that time of building and developing on my own, I would not have been able to sign the deal I have today, which is an extremely artist- and creator-friendly record deal. It’s pretty unheard of today to have an artist who produces her own music, especially a female artist, and especially an Italian-American in country music. I was able to build an audience who loved me for that beforehand and then find a label that wanted to plug into what I’m already doing.

JESSLEE IS A RESIDENT OF LIVANO SISTER PROPERTY, MURRAY HILL. FOLLOW HER ON INSTAGRAM @JESSLEECOUNTRY

It’s an exciting time at ONErpm. They’re doing something special, and this is a true equity partnership deal where I get to remain myself 100 percent.

“Unmeet You” is another release that’s getting a lot of attention on social media.

“Unmeet You” was a true story for me and one of the hardest songs to write, but it was also the song that really put me over the edge with the label signing me. When I was able to tell my story, I think the honesty really showed through, and they could feel it.

It’s about a guy I adored, and I found out he was cheating on me. I was so distraught. Time has gone on, and I have been with another person for five

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years now. I’m super happy. Still, I know there are people who are going through that right now or have gone through that, and they need that reminder that it’s okay to hurt.

I want to ask about your athletic prowess, which is not something people usually associate with being an artist. I understand you were a highly ranked tennis player when you were younger?

Actually, for the longest time, I didn’t think I was going to do music. While my sisters were doing musical theatre, I was an athlete. I started playing tennis when I was three. Tennis is an expensive sport and not really a thing in a po-dunk town. We were not well-to-do at all, but my mom figured out how to make it happen. She’s a superstar. She has always been there to make our dreams happen the best she could. So she let me start playing tennis, and I fell in love with it. I played until I was about 18.

And then you switched to figure competitions?

I had a bad breakup with a guy and gained a bunch of weight, and he told me I was never going to find anybody better than him. I was so motivated by that, because I wanted to prove him wrong. Pretty much immediately, I found my way into becoming a figure competitor in body building. My very first competition, I took the novice competition for first-time competing, and overall I took the whole show. That’s the Scorpio in me. I can’t stand when people tell other people their limitations.

I think the artist I am and some of the music I release stems from being an athlete. I forever had a hashtag I would use, #musicandmuscles. You’d be surprised how well they coincide. I still go to the gym five times a week, and I’m always trying to push myself. It’s important to do something in your life where you’re consistently challenging yourself. It keeps you from becoming complacent with where you are. Complacency is a slow killer for your soul.

I watched the debut of “Songwriter Sessions” on YouTube, where you sit down and talk with your favorite co-writers and artists. What was your motivation behind that?

The series was inspired by my experience as someone who is a writer as well as an artist. I’ve written or co-written songs for other artists to record, and I’ve been slighted before. When you’re proud of something, you should be acknowledged for that as a creator and owner on the song. It’s important to me to showcase and support the writing community out here. Co-creation is such an important part of this industry.

Tell me about “Love Me Ugly,” which is another departure because it has such a great pop kick.

It’s absolutely, extremely innovative pop-country music, for sure. I like to say that I’m country-centric, but sonically, I never want to be held back because I’m trying to fit into the box of “country music.” If I write something and love it and it’s grooving great a certain way when we start producing it, it doesn’t always make sense to have a big old banjo in it or a pedal steel. I’m not going to force that onto a song, just because.

That’s why I’ve kind of been known as a genre-bender in this town. Even though the majority of what I release is definitely country-centric, it’s going to push the limits. I grew up listening to Tanya and Merle and Waylon, and I love that music. But my vocal doesn’t necessarily suit traditional, simple, sweet country music. So when I produce things, I want to see if it’s going to be as powerful as my vocal, and let that shine. I want to trailblaze my own lane. There’s something exciting about mixing country music with different sounds and different cultures. It’s really a melting pot of music, and that’s what it always should be. It should be what America is, which is a melting pot of beautiful people.

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JES SL E E CREATED A PL AY L I ST OF S OM E OF H ER FAVOR ITE S O N GS FO R MAT T E R. E NJ OY !

WASTED ON YOU Morgan Wallen, FANCY LIKE Walker Hayes, CHILLBILLY Jesslee, IT’S ABOUT TIME Russell Dickerson, LOVE AIN’T Eli Young Band, MEANT TO BE Bebe Rexha, IT DON’T HURT LIKE IT USED TO Billy Currington, PUT IT ON ICE Thomas Rhett & Hardy, UNMEET YOU Jesslee, UP DOWN Morgan Wallen, HARD TO FORGET Sam Hunt, WHAT’S YOUR COUNTRY SONG Thomas Rhett, IN THE WOULDS Breland

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T H E

P O W E R

O F

7 W HAT BI R D S T E L L U S A B O U T T H E P OW E R O F C O N N ECT I O N

Perhaps you have seen it in an autumn sky: an infinite flock of birds moving in a synchronized waltz, creating an ever-changing, biomorphic aerial sculpture. It is as if there is a liquid mass moving across the horizon. The birds are starlings, and the mesmerizing natural phenomenon is called murmuration.

The term “murmuration” speaks to the murmur created by the fluttering of thousands of wings. For decades, the how and why behind this striking performance have been a mystery. Only recently have scientists begun to understand what motivates this behavior, and the findings are quite poignant lessons about the symbiotic relationship between individuals and community — and how the success of each is vital to the other.

WARMTH Thousands of birds in close proximity,+ beating their wings at close to five times per second, creates enormous heat. The energy of the whole warms each individual bird.

PROTECTION The murmuration shape itself has been known to scare away dangerous natural enemies; the sheer size and sound of the mass is a deterrent.

SHARING Scientists have concluded that these flocks of starlings are able to share information on abundant feeding areas and areas of safety. A win for one is a win for all.

UNITY & CONNECTION Birds rarely leave the group. The same flock sticks together over time for dependable safety and security.

ENCOURAGEMENT Murmuration is positive peer pressure. Seeing and reacting to the movements of its neighbors help each bird move and thrive as well.

FOCUS Each individual bird responds only to its seven nearest neighbors. This one-to-seven ratio, multiplied exponentially, creates the illusion of the entire group moving as one fluid being.

It’s simple: focused attention on a few can actually move the masses. Imagine the impact we as human beings could make on the world if each one of us focused on pouring into just seven other people — perhaps seven of our closest neighbors. Would we create more warmth? Could we better encourage and protect one another? The example of the starlings indicates that our focus on seven other people (and their focus on seven other people, and so on) could multiply exponentially in a way that might change the world.

Perhaps the next time you see an autumn sky come alive with thousands of birds creating a masterpiece of beautiful connection, think about how we can create that kind of synchronicity and community as well.

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WORLD POPULATION: 8 BILLION HUMAN BEINGS 71

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Food for Thought NASHVILLE CHEF PHIL KRAJEK’S BELGIAN U P BR I N G I N G I N ST I L L E D A L I F E LO N G PAS S I O N FO R S O U R C I N G AN D C R EAT I N G E XC E L L E NT FOO D

Philip Krajek is on the move. “I might lose you at this spot,” he says just before the call drops.

When we reconnect, he continues seamlessly. He’s been looking in on his home renovation, and now he’s off to Rolf and Daughters, one of his two Nashville restaurants, where he’s setting up for the night’s opening.

It is likely he spent the morning at a farm just outside of Nashville, checking on one of his growers.

“There’s incredible agriculture here. In 15 minutes, I can be at a farm picking up foraged watercress, beets, turnips. These are literally coming out of the ground in the morning and going on the menu that night.” This is one of his favorite things about Nashville — access to growers. It’s hard to have the kind of relationship he has with food without having that connection to where the food is grown.

This is part of the perspective Krajek calls his “North Star.” He focuses less on cooking a specific style of food and more on cooking with a set of values.

He is quick to say that this way of sourcing ingredients isn’t easy. “I got a call from a blueberry farmer I source from a couple weeks ago. He won’t have a harvest this year. The high winds blew the blooms off.” So, there will be no blueberries on the menu this season.

Krajek spent most of his adolescence in Brussels, Belgium. “I just grew up immersed in a strong food culture where good food was very normal. You know, every tiny little town has a bakery, a butcher shop, a pastry shop, a farmers market every other day. And that’s just how people eat,” he said. Moving back to the United States for college, he found a very different food culture.

What was normal in Belgium was not normal here. And seeing the American way seemed to cement for him what food meant, why it mattered, and how he might spend his life. “It’s just where I come from,” he said. He might have said, it’s just who I am.

Krajek’s McFerrin Park restaurant, Folk, has just undergone a big renovation. Adjustments were made for efficiency; some decor was changed; the kitchen is partially instead of fully open now, both for functionality and to filter the flour out of the air. Not just any flour, but regional, freshly milled heirloom wheat flour. Flour of the highest integrity. “It’s healthier,” Krajek said. “There’s also an ethical perspective behind it that I won’t get too far into. But yeah, it’s more delicious.”

Later, he says that he’s working toward zero waste in his restaurants — preserving, pickling, fermenting. The North Star again.

He’s driving the whole time we’re talking. He talks quickly. His comments on his work have not been rehearsed. They come too easily, too naturally. A result of how much thought Krajek puts into the things he’s into, how intentional he is about what he pursues and what he gives to the world. There is no hard stop between his career and his life. He travels to restaurants. He travels to learn about wine.

When he’s not working, he’s cooking at home. His wife is a great cook, he says. And his daughters. His mother-in-law is Greek and the best home cook he knows. Doing something well matters to him.

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NASHVILLE

His two restaurants are different only in the way that his philosophy and perspective manifest themselves. At both places, Krajek said, “everything we do is intentional, so there’s a conscious decision behind the sourcing of what ends up on a plate, or what goes into the glass.”

When Rolf and Daughters opened, it wasn’t quite traditional, as he put it, but it was a little easier for people to understand. Now, though, in a continual effort to keep things fresh, the way he builds dishes is more boundary-pushing. It still looks simple on the plate — “it isn’t space food” — but it is more technical than traditional. While Krajek is sure that the staff is well-informed, they don’t want to lecture anyone. “We want it to be fun, convivial, and we really just care that people think it’s delicious.”

Krajek says that Folk was born out of a desire for flavors and food rooted in tradition. It’s a neighborhood restaurant at heart with naturally leavened pizza and an incredible bar program, including an extensive list of nonalcoholic drinks.

Krajek is now doing extensive research and investing in the wine programs at his restaurants. He is exercising the same set of values in this pursuit — he’s meeting growers, touching the products, focusing on wines that are in tune with the conditions in which they are grown first and foremost, and less driven by commodity markets. “The types of wines and farmers that we’re working with, they kind of approach making wine the same way we approach making food. Like, every year is different, right? And the weather is different, the temperature. All these things are factors in how a grape ripens, and then is fermented, and turned into a beverage. Most wine is totally non-transparent and could have 70 ingredients in it. The people we’re working with are farmers at their core. And the way that they produce wine is with minimal intervention in that it’s all spontaneous fermentation with natural wild yeast, kind of like our sourdough pizza, or bread.”

Krajek says this expansion into wine is possible because he has more bandwidth now, a bigger team, and people he can trust. Running a good restaurant requires a lot of people, and at this point in his career, the people who come and work for Krajek are coming to work specifically for him.

They know what he’s about and are already into the things he’s into. He’s a stop on their journey of learning and growing and discovering, and after only a few minutes of talking to Krajek, it is clear this stop is a lucky place to be.

To do what Krajek does requires unapologetic commitment. He wants to do the best he can; he wants to feed people well. He also wants to open up the world a bit for the people who walk through his restaurants’ doors. “There are so many interesting things that are out there to try. It seems like if you can get people to try them, it can open their minds about a lot of other things too,” he said.

As for what is next, Krajek isn’t making any grand statements. There are things in the works, but down the road. He isn’t interested in cranking out restaurants. He’s interested in taking his time, doing things the right way and maintaining quality. In order to follow that “North Star,” he must be able to see it clearly. Doing it this way, he says, despite the challenges, is very, very rewarding. As he says: “that’s the juice.”

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