Designing the Family Business

In business since 1993, Carol Raley Interiors, a growing local design firm capable of doing everything from one window all the way to full-scale re-designs and remodel projects, is one of Knoxville’s true family businesses.

“Having a family business has always been a dream of mine,” says Carol, the company’s founder and principal designer. “And not only are we a family business, but most of our clients usually become friends.”

At the right hand of Carol’s family business model sits her daughter, Shana Lusk, who says she realized soon after graduating college that the design business is something that gets in your blood. 

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel connected to and involved in the business,” Shana says. “It is a big part of my childhood and has played a major role in shaping who I am.”

Shana, who graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2005, worked at a non-profit for a couple of years before formally beginning a working relationship with Carol Raley Interiors in 2007.

“Shana grew up in the design business,” Carol says. “So in a way I’ve worked with her for years. She knows the business and me very well and is a great sounding board and co-designer.”

Carol says she is proud to have been able to expose her children to a mom that was also a business owner.

“I think it has been good for my children, and now my grandchild, to see me wear many hats in life while still making them my utmost priority,” Carol says.

Shana, who recently became a mom herself, completely agrees.

“Even though it is a juggling act, I am happy that Owen will have the experience of growing up in a family business like I did,” Shana says. “Becoming a mother myself has brought me even closer to my own mom.  I now have a greater appreciation for the way my mother balanced family with starting and building her own company.”

As principal designer, Carol is involved with most aspects of the business. Meanwhile, Shana, along with Carol’s husband Steve, who handles project management and logistics, help make sure all the details are taken care of.

“Because we are a small family owned company, we all do whatever it takes to get our projects from concept to completion,” Shana says. “Fortunately, my mom and I get along very well,” Shana says. “Working with her is easy.”

So, if you are in need of residential or light commercial work interior design, give Carol or Shana a call at 865-933-9905 or visit them on the web at www.carolraley.com.

Mother-Daughter Team Take Charge of Education

Ruth Jones, co-founder of Mead Montessori School in South Knoxville, has been an educator for over 40 years. And for the better half of that time, Ruth’s daughter, Ella, has been a big part of that educational experience.

“I have always been a part of my mom’s school community in some form or fashion,” says Ella.

Ruth, who started out as a high school art teacher, became a Montessori teacher after enrolling Ella into her first Montessori school while she was still a child. The decision would change the lives of both mother and daughter, with Ruth eventually going on to open Farragut Montessori School in 1987.

Ella officially began her own career as an educator while still in high school when she became an assistant at the school. From there, she went on to become a full-time teacher in 2003 when she took her first official teaching position in Blue Hill, Maine. Then, in 2005, she earned her Montessori training and Master’s Degree.

But it was not until 2007, when Ruth and Ella purchased the historic Mead School in South Knoxville, that their true collaboration began to take place. Ruth says that she and Ella have relied on old fashion family teamwork to develop the dormant building into a fully functional and growing school.

“Because we are a mother-daughter team, we are able to be really honest with each other and make decisions together that benefit the school in the best possible way,” Ruth says. “Plus, Ella offers fresh perspectives and ideas and I am very proud of all she has accomplished in our new venture.”

The business venture has also been made special by the fact that Mead Montessori is housed in Knoxville’s historic Mead School. Located ½ mile from Ijams Nature Center and two miles from downtown Knoxville, the historic Mead School has been a fixture of the Island Home neighborhood of South Knoxville since 1936.

“We are so happy to have found a home in such a beautiful and interesting building,” Ruth says.

Ella agrees, and even says that the renovation of the building helped deepen her bond with her mother.

“We have had to collaborate on so many aspects of the renovations and other areas of school development that we have became even closer than before,” she says.

Currently in its second year of operation, Mead Montessori School is Knoxville’s only Montessori school certified by the Association Montessori International. The school has 20 students ages 2 ½ to 6 and they will be expanding into toddler and elementary programs next year.

For more information about Mead, please visit www.meadmontessorischool.com.

Abundant Blessings
Knoxville mom juggles big family, small business

One of Kelly Riggs’ favorite Bible verses is from Ecclesiastes: Time and chance happen to them all. Ironically, time is a commodity she wouldn’t mind having dished out in larger quantities these days.

Between her family businesses, her marriage, her five children and four grandchildren, Riggs is a master juggler. That’s not to say that a few balls don’t get dropped here and there, but she is still the first one to say that she’s been handed life’s blessings in large quantities.

Oh, and did we mention that she also home schools her two youngest children, ages 11 and 13? That’s how most days start, in fact—working with the kids on their school assignments.

By midday, her focus shifts more to business. Riggs and her husband, Danny, have owned the Health Shoppe in Halls for the past 15 years, so she spends afternoons working at the store and helping to build up the other family business—an original line of cosmetics and skincare products they’ve developed called Purely Clear.

Over the past eight years, the Purely Clear brand has grown in popularity and is now sold in stores throughout East Tennessee. And with the imminent release of a television ad for the product, the Riggses are expecting their schedule to get even more hectic.

“It’s hard to juggle everything, but we feel blessed to have our own business,” she says. “The beauty is that I can take the kids with me to the shop if I want.”

That’s just one of many strategies Riggs has developed over the years to balance her work and family lives. Other strategies have included keeping a schedule and teaching the kids early on to start helping out around the house.

Of course, having young children helping out with chores led to yet another coping skill—no more worrying about keeping the house spotless.

“My husband said I could clean for the rest of my life, and all I’d have is a clean house,” she recalls. “So I spend more time with kids, and if someone comes over, they’re not going to see a clean house,” she adds with a chuckle.

Family time is spent visiting with her three grown children and four grandchildren, all of whom live in Knoxville, too. And when they can, she and Danny squeeze in the occasional date night.

“If I had time to do anything I wanted, I’d spend it with my husband,” she says, noting that she expects more time will be freed up as the kids get older. This prompts another favorite quote: “This too shall pass.”

An Answer to Prayer
For adoptive mother, Mother’s Day is a day of thanks

Patti Long was in her late thirties when she married her husband, Tony, and their early attempts to have a child were unsuccessful. However, rather than turning to fertility treatments as a solution, they chose to go the adoption route, and two years after signing with a local adoption agency, young Samuel—age three and a half weeks—became a permanent part of the Long household.

His arrival was a whirlwind process in which the Longs were informed of the boy’s availability on a Friday, met him for the first time the following Thursday and took their son home the next day.

For Patti, it was love at first sight. It didn’t matter that the boy was of a different race (African American) and had been born with piebaldism, a rare form of albinism that resulted in the boy’s otherwise dark skin displaying random patches of white.

“We held him and loved him right from the beginning,” Long recalls. “Not until you experience it can you understand that kind of unconditional love.”

A couple of years later, her son would be diagnosed with autism as well, but despite those challenges, Mother’s Day now has special significance for Long.

“I stop that day and say ‘thank you’ to God for answering one of my greatest desires,” she says. “I’m so blessed. Even with all of Samuel’s issues, I cannot imagine not having him. I never think of Samuel as being adopted. It’s like he’s part of us.”

She adds that Samuel often displays traits that are strangely similar to those of his adoptive parents.

Now in kindergarten, Samuel is accepted and loved by his classmates, and according to his mother, the boy takes his skin condition in stride.

“He tells people, ‘I have the most beautiful skin in the world, and God made me both brown and white,’” she says.

Having grown up in a tightly knit family with many siblings, Long soon found herself praying that God would bring her and Tony another child so that Samuel might enjoy that same kind of familial experience. That prayer was answered two years later when, despite having had four miscarriages, Patti gave birth to a daughter, Bonnie, now age four.

“They’re very close, typical siblings. They fight sometimes, but they love each other a lot. I couldn’t ask for anything better than that.”

Going All Out
Linda Parrent doubles as a proud mom and business owner

Linda Parrent, owner of Elegant Essentials, a thriving new gift shop located in The Gallery Shopping Center in West Knoxville, is one East Tennessee mom who is not afraid to go all out. That’s why when she opened Elegant Essentials, which features 1,600 square feet of unique gifts and home décor, Linda knew that growing the business would take a tremendous amount of her time.

But before becoming a hard-working business owner, Linda was a full-time stay-at-home mom.

“I was the first person my children saw when they came home from school,” says Linda, who also volunteered for countless extracurricular activities, including cheerleading, swim team, PTA, and band. “It was a sacrifice to stay at home, but I think we raised dynamite kids.”

The Parrents’ three children, Brandon, 29, Jennifer, 25, and Kristen, 20, are all proud supporters of Linda and her business endeavor, something Linda says she takes great comfort in.

“The best compliment I get is when my kids say they are proud of me,” she says.

Linda’s consistent determination as a business owner has also led to success outside of the business arena as she recently took on the title of Managing Director for eWomen Network of Knoxville.

Linda credits the networking opportunities afforded by the organization with having a big impact on her new small business.

“In just two years, despite the dismal economy, we have managed to experience constant growth,” says Linda, who is also a certified interior decorator. “And networking has been so important in achieving that growth.”

Linda says that membership in the eWomen Network (www.ewomennetwork.com), an organization with 113 chapters nationwide and in Canada, gives women a chance to actively help improve each other’s businesses by engaging in monthly accelerated networking events.

“We haven’t been in Knoxville for very long,” says Linda, who runs the store along with her husband Stephen. “So for the chapter to put its faith in me is truly humbling.”

The Knoxville chapter boasts a little over 200 members and as the group’s new Managing Director, Linda is enthusiastically determined to expand that number to 500.

“We have such strong women in our Knoxville chapter,” she says. “Contacts are so important, especially nowadays. It’s all about helping other business owners.”

This summer, Linda will also appear in the July issue of Women’s Day Magazine in which she will be profiled for following her passion for flowers and small business ownership.

“In another six months, it might be a whole other story,” she says.

In the meantime, Linda and Stephen welcome you to find a Treasure, set a Trend, and make a Tradition at Elegant Essentials.

Knoxville Landscape Company Branching Out

You’ve surely seen their signs in yards and on trucks throughout Knoxville and the surrounding region, but what you may not know is that Acadia Landscape Company offers much more than just landscape / hardscape installation.

“It all starts with a design,” say designer Julie Cooper and landscape architect Patrick Beasley. “Acadia has developed a reputation for working hand-in-hand with their clients to develop unique gardens and outdoor living spaces that are perfectly suited to their individual needs.”

Acadia’s chief operator, Phil Bonifacio, agrees. “More and more of our clients are looking for a one stop shop – someone they can trust to blend good ideas and quality materials into a functional outdoor garden. And because more of our work involves our entire spectrum of landscaping services, we’ve recently expanded to a new location in the old Ellenburg Nursery space at 5805 Walden Drive (off of Northshore Drive near Kingston Pike).”

The new facility allows Acadia to stock samples of hardscaping materials, plants, fountains and containers, which makes the selection process easier and more involved for the client.

In addition to their new location, Acadia is offering expanded landscape architecture services, including LEED-certified plans for those looking for environmentally friendly landscaping services. Or, as Phil points out, you can still install the exact same eco-friendly garden but not worry about “counting points.” “LEED certification is a point system, with pre-set guidelines for making a project more environmentally friendly. Developers and commercial projects will do it in for tax breaks, but most of our residential clients do out of the goodness of their hearts.”

In time, Acadia hopes to offer a variety of plants and shrubs unique to their company. “We plan on stocking hard-to-acquire varieties that are currently unavailable in this region — shrubs, trees and flowers that will make a landscape unique.”

Terrific Tomatoes
ellenburgnursery.com

This being the very merry month of May, it is time to start the summer vegetable garden. Having made it through the winter, now we turn our eyes toward better days, brighter flavors, and bigger harvests. Possibly the biggest star of the summer garden is the tomato. First, however, let us get a site ready for this popular player.

In choosing a site, people will generally pick a part of the lawn in the backyard. That’s fine, but if the grass didn’t grow well there, then neither will a vegetable garden. This means a good site is one where there is plenty of sun (at least six hours), good soil drainage, and fair fertility. My general rule is that if you are just growing a few vegetables for your own small family, a raised bed will do well; if, however, you want to grow vegetables for the whole block and your extended family, then a conventional backyard garden where you plant directly in amended native soil is the right choice.

Generally, the advantage to raised beds is more intensive growing because you have more control over the soil for the plants and better weed control. For tomatoes, you want to provide a loose well-draining soil with plenty of organic matter. Adding stuff like composted manures, organic soil conditioner, or peat go a long way to improving what you have or creating soil for a raised bed. The staff at Ellenburg’s can help you choose the right soil amendments for your situation.

When selecting tomatoes, be prepared to be dazzled by all the varieties that are available. An entire galaxy of flavors, colors, and sizes are at your disposal. All it boils down to is your personal visual and flavor preferences. If you want that old-timey flavor that your parents or grandparents enjoyed, an heirloom like ‘Brandywine’ might please you. Heirlooms, however, are less resistant to various diseases which a newcomer like ‘Celebrity’ or ‘Better Boy’ can resist. Heirlooms tend to be a bit more acidic and lower in sugar (sweetness) than the newer varieties.

No variety, antique or modern, is resistant to blossom-end rot. This disease isn’t so much a disease as it is growing conditions. It arises because of a lack of calcium in the tomato. This is avoided by providing enough calcium for the tomato plants. Organic fertilizers such as Tomato-tone® or Garden-tone® are excellent because they have low nitrogen levels (but high P and K) which is important in fruit set and developing fruit as opposed to foliage while providing other nutrients such as calcium.

Another way to avoid the rot, and the most common, is to provide consistent soil moisture. If you can’t be out there every other day soaking the garden, a good 2-3” layer of hardwood mulch can cut your watering down to two to three times a week by moderating soil temperatures and reducing soil moisture loss. Hardwood mulch biodegrades and adds organic matter season to season, improving the soil.

Come in to Ellenburg’s Nursery for all your summer garden needs and expertise! Your totally terrific tomato and vegetable garden awaits you!
Niko Pantanizopoulos
Ellenburg Landscaping and Nursery

In 1947, New York newspaper reporter John Gunther, came into town, checked out the area, then returned to New York and wrote that “Knoxville, Tennessee is a scruffy little city on the Tennessee River and the ugliest city in America!” Those remarks led to the founding of the Dogwood Arts Festival. The natural beauty of Knoxville, its dogwoods, azaleas, and other flowering plants seemed to be the vehicle to “polishing” Knoxville’s image. Thus, in 1955 members of the Knoxville Garden Club lead by Betsey Creekmore, Martha Ashe and Betsy Goodson, along with a group of concerned citizens with a vision began a civic beautification project… “The Dogwood Trails.”
As more people came to Knoxville to drive the trails, area business and community leaders felt more entertainment was needed for the visitors. A Charter of Incorporation was signed on March 31, 1961, and that official document listed the Festival’s purposes as “advancing, promoting, supporting, and fostering the natural beauty of the City of Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding area and advancing, promoting, supporting and fostering educational programs, charitable undertakings, historical, horticultural, drama, crafts, tours, lectures and other related activities, either singly or in cooperation with other organizations, for the purpose of emphasizing the cultural opportunities of the City of Knoxville, Tennessee, and for other related purposes.”
When it was first organized, the Festival Corporation was the creation of the Junior League of Knoxville and the Greater Knoxville Chamber of Commerce. Two of the signers of the charter were the first Festival Co-Chairs, Goldsby Timberlake and Jim Talley, representing the League and the Chamber.
By 1976, the Festival was large enough to go into the world on its own and have a separate Board of Directors. One of the Board’s first actions was to hire a full time Executive Director.
The Festival has been one of the largest and finest annual festivals in America. It has been recognized nationwide, though professional associations such as the IFEA (International Festival and Events Association), TFEA (Tennessee Festival and Events Association), membership with ABA, (American Bus Association), and many others. DAF has been named among the Top 100 Events in North America by the American Bus Association and one of the “Top Twenty Events” by Southeast Tourism Society.
Over the past 50 years, thousands of volunteers, patrons, media and corporate sponsors have assisted a small Dogwood Arts staff to make a festival of this magnitude possible.
With the flowering of the dogwoods in the spring, coupled with the creative culture and the community-wide pride, the Festival always has a newness and wonderful freshness every spring. Individual home owners who spruce up their yards make the dogwood trails a sight to see year after year.
The Dogwood Arts Festival represents the very best of nature and the people of East Tennessee and its commitment to that Charter Goal will always be in the forefront.

East Tennessee’s musical history is as rich as it is varied.

Dogwood Arts Festival celebrates this heritage with Rhythm ‘N Blooms.

This weekend-long event features musical performances by locally-revered and nationally-renowned artists whose work falls under the broad banner of “Americana” music. A genre spanning country, blues, jazz, rock, bluegrass and folk, Americana is generally categorized by a strong sense of musical tradition even as it may expand beyond traditional musical boundaries. Produced in partnership with Knoxville Americana Music Foundation.

Bands

Ben Sollee &
Daniel Martin Moore

Carrie Rodriguez

The Old Ceremony Those Darlins

Samantha Crain

Dixie Bee-Liners

Yarn

The New Familiars

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside

18 South

The Black Lillies

Elliot Brood

RB Morris & Hector Qirko

Shotgun Party

Kristin Andreassen

Kris Delmhorst

Soulgrass Rebellion Harpeth Rising

The Drunk Uncles
Rollin’ Highway Revue

Stephen Sebastian

…And many more to be announced!

Cleaning with Consistency

Owners John and Christina Fitzwilliam have been in the deep-cleaning business for almost two years. “I love to see my husband do something he gets excited about,” says Christina. She remembers the 60+ hours a week that John was required to work in restaurant management. After 17 years in the restaurant business, they were both ready for a change.

Christina saw some amazing videos showing some state-of-the-art cleaning equipment. “At first I didn’t know if the images I was seeing were real or had been edited,” she says. “The results were so dramatic that I was skeptical. When John got home that night we watched in awe one video clip after another. We saw carpet, tile and grout, concrete, stone, and most every surface we could think of become almost spotless.”

A few days later they traveled to Arizona to see this equipment first hand. “When we saw in person what we had seen on the videos, we were instantly sold,” says Christina. “Surface Doc, inc. was born the following week.”

Two years later, Surface Doc, inc. is going strong. “In the first few months, we would pray for the phone to ring. Now it seems the phone rings constantly,” says Christina.  Being the only deep-cleaning company in the Knoxville area with this equipment has given them a niche they are grateful for.

So, what makes Surface Doc stand apart from the other cleaning companies? Ask John and you’ll see his face light up. He’ll tell you that Surface Doc uses up to 3,000 PSI of PURIFIED water, which is four times that of his competitors. They use sanitizing hot water, up to 240º. Surface Doc is a GREEN clean company and the 15 pounds of vacuum ensures your floors are dry with no residue left behind.

Two years later, John and Christina have some of their own “unbelievable, but real photos and videos from previous job.”

You can see them at www.SurfaceDoc.com. Drop John a note or call him today at 865-567-1986.