From the Publisher

I can’t believe that I am sitting here writing the publisher’s letter for our first-anniversary issue. Have Melissa and I really been doing this for a whole year? And what a year it has been. There have been many challenges starting our own business, especially during COVID. But, despite the learning curve of doing something so new, it has been incredibly rewarding.

First and foremost, Melissa and I have met so many fascinating, talented people and made many new friends along the way. Now that we are in the media business, we sometimes are among the first to know about what’s coming to Music City or “The Third Coast,” as I shared today with a potential new partner from LA. These have included new restaurant openings (Yolan, The Continental, Roze Pony, Café Intermezzo, Sixty Vines, Twelve Thirty Supper Club, Church and Union, and Culaccino), craft cocktail lounges/cigar bars (Fable Lounge, Red Phonebooth), new hotels (The Joseph, Grand Hyatt Nashville, The W Nashville, and Hyatt Centric Nashville) and art exhibits (Chihuly at Cheekwood, Picasso at the Frist, the Pizzuti Collection at the Joseph, American Impressionism at Cheekwood). We have also had some unique experiences that we may not have had without Sophisticated Living.

Here are a few highlights:

Tasting of 25 en primeur 2020 Bordeaux wines with Commanderie de Bordeaux at that Nashville

Wine Auction (Nashville was one of ten cities in the U.S. to have this honor)

Shooting the famous .50 caliber Barrett M197A1 rifle (it has a range of 2 miles!) used by U.S. Special

Ops at the new Armory Outpost Shooting Range in Murfreesboro

Attending the topping off ceremony of the new Nashville Four Seasons— at 40 stories, the tallest building in Nashville

Participating in the opening events associated with the Gibson Garage, including playing a 1959 Les Paul Sunburst guitar in the secret vault in the Entertainment Relations Lounge backstage

A private tour and tasting at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery

Driving a Ferrari at a Women with Drive Event at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

Melissa and I have always loved Nashville’s arts and philanthropic communities, so now it thrills us to cover and support these events. In the past 12 months, Sophisticated Living Nashville has hosted tents and shaken up cocktails at Steeplechase and Chukkers for Charity. In addition, we have been a media sponsor for the Symphony Fashion Show, Chic Awearness, and the Grand Prix’s Women with Drive, to name a few. I want to thank all of our readers, contributors, and advertising partners (the best of the best) for making this a great first year for Melissa, me, and Sophisticated Living Nashville. We are looking forward to more exciting adventures in the future and sharing with you the most exciting, engaging, and SOPHISTICATED happenings in Nashville!

Dave Mahanes, Publisher dave@slmag.net