Margaret Littman

wework.com

It Might Be Time to Throw Away Your Fitness Tracker

If Janett Liriano has her way, you won’t be using your FitBit much longer.
Liriano is CEO of Loomia, a New York-based firm at the intersection of tech and fashion. The company creates “intelligent drapeable circuits” that are soft enough to be embedded into textiles and can be safely washed and dried. Instead of wearing a step tracker on your wrist, it could be embedded into your running shoes.
That’s just the beginning of what these circuits can do. Those shoes might not just track your step...

wework.com

This Hummus Promises to Fight World Hunger

“Ten years ago most people here did not know what this brown paste was,” says Anthony Brahimsha of the chickpea dip that is now nearly ubiquitous on menus in the U.S..
Born to Syrian parents, Brahimsha knew that hummus in the Middle East is much better than that found in American grocery stores. With the help of Mike McCloskey, owner of Select Milk Producers, the sixth largest dairy cooperative in the country, he developed a hummus called Prommus that is higher in protein –– three times that ...

Nashville Scene

One Comic Tries to Make the Alcohol Permit Process Less Mind-Numbing

It’s a funny story. Not funny strange, but funny ha ha. At least Mickey McConnell hopes it is.
McConnell spent most of his adult life — or, he jokes, what might pass as “adulting” these days — working in restaurants, particularly in restaurant management. It’s a gig he describes as “not a hard job, but a long job.” The late nights kept him from having much of a social life, and eventually he decided enough was enough. He wanted to spend more time with his songwriter wife Sarah Martin McConnel...

wework.com

A Video Game Launched This Singer’s Career

Melanie Faye grew up in Nashville, but she doesn’t credit Music City with her success. She credits Guitar Hero. Yes, that Guitar Hero, the video game that allows players to mimic the sounds and moves of their favorite stars. For Faye, it was Michael Jackson.
“I don’t think growing up in Nashville introduced me to guitar players,” Faye says. “My parents were chemists. I was not able to go to bars and see local shows. Guitar Hero introduced me to all this music I was not exposed to. Guitar Hero...

Travelocity

North Dakota Should Be the Grand Finale on Your 50-State Tour

Saving the best for last. It’s a concept oft used for dessert. And, perhaps for that perfectly aged bottle of wine in your cellar. But for a visit to North Dakota? Yes, that too.

North Dakotans know their state doesn’t necessarily spring to mind when travelers brainstorm hot vacation destinations. But for many Americans, ticking off a visit to all 50 states is a point of pride, and you just can’t do it without North Dakota. So the state created a Best for Last Club that rewards visitors who finish their 50-state bucket list tour in North Dakota with swag.

Nashville Scene

H*t Chicken Sh**t Addresses Gentrification in North Nashville

Tunde Wey unveils the second phase of his project, part of Nashville Metro Arts’ Commission’s Build Better Tables program

There was a combination of excitement, interest and more than a little trepidation in the air July 19 at The Post East, where an audience of roughly 50 artists, architects, government workers and others had gathered. Chef Tunde Wey had emailed those with reservations to his H*t Chicken Sh**t event in advance letting them know that discomfort was on the menu.

Nashville Scene

Bob Bernstein’s Forthcoming Cafe Launches a Complicated Conversation

The proposed name of a Jefferson Street cafe raises issues of gentrification, development and race. This isn’t really a story about a coffeehouse. It’s a story about semantics, and the different histories that blacks and whites have had in Nashville, and how that shapes their futures.

wework.com

Textile Pioneer Wins Top Prize at Nashville Creator Awards

Stephanie Benedetto knows firsthand how hard it is to run a successful startup. But things suddenly got a lot easier when she took home the top prize — $360,000 — at the Nashville Creator Awards.
“We were a bootstrapped company and it took us all the way to launch,” says Benedetto. “We want to be able to grow and scale beyond the U.S. and around the world.”
A century ago, Benedetto’s immigrant grandfather worked in the garment industry on New York’s Lower East Side. Today, she runs a technolo...

Nashville Scene

Gentrification and Dinner on the Menu as Chef Tunde Wey Comes to Nashville

Pop-up dinner at The Post East is part of the Metro Arts Commission's Build Better Tables exhibit

Heads-up: If you're the type who thinks dinner conversation should steer clear of politics and heated discussion, then the event we're about to highlight is not for you. But if you prefer your meals served with a slice of intellectual debate and action, mark your calendar for Thursday, July 19.

That's when chef Tunde Wey is hosting a pop-up dinner at East Nashville's The Post East called H*t Chic...

wework.com

Hip-Hop Beat Gets Kids Into the Groove

If you think a nonprofit called Everybody Dance Now! is all about shaking your booty, you’d be right. But you’d also be wrong.
The New York non-profit teaches hip-hop and street-dance classes to young people across the country who might not otherwise have the opportunity to be exposed to the performing arts.
“But dance is not the goal,” says executive director Olakunle Oladehin. “The goal is reshaping what is the way to properly educate. Hip-hop dance culture can inspire and uplift. I think t...

wework.com

Nashville Creator Awards Blend Music City’s Grit with WeWork’s Big Vision

Nashville has always thought big. People have moved here with dreams of conquering the city, or even the world. Adam Neumann, cofounder and CEO of WeWork — which has two locations in Music City — has described the company as a place that fosters that kind of growth.
So it makes sense that the two meshed so well at WeWork’s Nashville Creator Awards, held on September 13. Host Ashton Kutcher ticked off the long list of larger cities where the Creator Awards, a global competition that rewards en...

Nashville Lifestyles

Nashville Moment: Alice Whitson & Amy Scruggs McElvey

Alice Whitson and Amy Scruggs McElvey are among the longest-serving volunteers of Swan Ball. Here, they reflect on their history of making a magical evening a reality.
Since 1963, the Swan Ball has been one of Nashville’s swankiest (and highest-dollar) fundraisers, helping support the horticultural oasis, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens. Alice Whitson and Amy Scruggs McElvey are among the longest-serving volunteers of Swan Ball (there are 200 others, as well), and they’ve served as evening coordin...

scalawagmagazine.org

Nashville’s Struggle to Rein in Airbnb

Ever since Nashville became Music City, USA more than a century ago, people from across the country (and the globe, hey, Keith Urban) have made pilgrimages to the Tennessee city to find fame and fortune.
More recently, the city has grown in popularity as a tourist destination––annual visitation has increased 45 percent in the last decade––and now much of what people seek is not fame or a record contract, but just a place to stay.

Condé Nast Traveler

Cosmic Cool: The Solar Eclipse in Nashville

A total blackout of the syn—the first to arch across the entire U.S. in 99 years—will darken Nashville's skies on August 21.

Where Traveler

Bill Miller Makes Magic in Nashville

With its new House of Cards venue, Miller's Icon Entertainment Group still has some tricks up his sleeve for Music City
House of Cards is posed to not only be a one-of-a-kind venue in Nashville, but the Southeastern U.S. (Courtesy Icon Entertainment Group)
Just a few years ago Bill Miller and his Icon Entertainment Group weren't a fixture on the Nashville tourism scene. The best-known sites for visitors were names such as the beloved Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry.
Then, in 2013, Mil...