What is your vision for Knoxville 10 years from now?
I envision a thriving economic community that is a model for Tennessee and the country on educating our youth, admiring and thriving on diversity, embracing our strengths, great food, safety for all families, and a communal spirit that is palpable.
What is Knoxville's best kept secret?
Tremont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
What would you do to strengthen Knoxville?
I believe that strength in a community starts with consistent education. Stronger mentoring in the inner-city schools would help those students to develop a strong base of the importance of education and improving circumstances.
What is your favorite Knoxville memory?
In the mid to late 1990s, the World’s Fair Park would have summer concerts with big named bands – Dave Matthews Band, Counting Crows, etc. My friends and I would go to most of them and the nights were full of good music, laughing, and just being a kid while feeling like we had freedom.
What is your favorite book or what book is currently on your nightstand?
Through COVID, I reestablished my love of reading. I have read over 60 books in the last 18 months and have 3 books on my nightstand at any given time.
What is the best advice you have received from a mentor, and who was that mentor?
“I lived too long and ran out of money” – Phyllis Byrd, my grandmother. My grandmother was a force of nature for 85 years. She was widowed early in life and worked multiple jobs to make life better for herself and her family. She embodied working hard as a woman in a male dominated field with patience, grace, and grit. She also loved to travel, go on adventures, decorate her house, wear new clothes, shop for new lipstick, eat outside, and live life to the fullest. And yes, she ran out of money and enjoyed every minute of it.
What advice would you give to your 16 year old self?
Travel more. Eat the cake. Drink the good wine. Exercise for sanity and health – start before you are 35. Really listen to and remember the stories of your family – they will help ground you. Never take yourself too seriously. Laugh at yourself frequently. Believe in yourself and bet on yourself, early and often. Never be too busy to tell your family and friends that you love them. Enjoy the ride – it is what you make of it.
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