Coffee With Strangers

Kelli's grabbing coffee with Lauri Wansley at Pop's Market downtown. Lauri's got one of the coolest jobs around, she's the Richmond Community Manager for Yelp, which means she throws cool parties, exposes tons of otherwise hidden gems around town, and probably eats out a lot! Sitting in her dorm room during her senior year at Virginia Tech was when this Richmond native realized she wanted a career she passionate about...that's when she found Yelp.

Kelli's at the Byrd Theatre in Carytown as the speaker for January's Creative Mornings event. The title of her talk is The Mystery of The Why.

Kelli's downtown to grab coffee with Marc Cheatham at Pop's Market on Grace Street. In 2011 Marc founded The Cheats Movement, a Richmond brand dedicated to growing community through hip-hop culture. In its six years, the Movement has grown to include podcasts, live shows, an upcoming Family Gathering and magazine release, and even more. With the Family Gathering coming up on February 4, Kelli had to catch up with Marc and let him that #WeSeeIt.

Kelli's at Pop's Market downtown to grab coffee with Kelly Blanchard. Kelley's involved in a lot around Richmond, especially small business. She was a co-founder of New Normal Apparel in Jackson Ward, she recently started the Richmond Pit Bull Project to celebrate and support pit bulls, and dogs in general. Kelli and Kelley have known of each other for a while but never had the chance to meet over coffee.

Kelli's kicking off Season 5 downtown at Pop's Market by grabbing coffee with Trevor Dickerson. Trevor really is a man to know around Richmond. Late in high school he founded a news site in Short Pump and ran that for a few years before selling it, then worked for a local PR firm, before leaving that to found Boulevard Creative Then in 2016 he co-founded RVAHub.com and Breakaway RVA. In short, he's a man in the know and he's a man to know.

Kelli's wrapping up season 4 with Mayor Dwight C. Jones. Mayor Jones is winding down he's second term as mayor of Richmond and look back on his time as mayor, some thoughts for Richmond residents when heading to the polls on November 8 to vote for his successor, and some advice for whoever that new mayor may be. Don't worry, Kelli got him to drop some his favorite places to eat around town and spill his Richmond speech.

Kelli's at Garnett's Cafe to have coffee with Deejay Gray, founder and artistic director of Theatre Lab, Richmond home for unexpected and evocative performance. Deejay tells Kelli about the hidden gems of the RVA theater community, his favorite spots to eat and what he's looking forward to this fall.

Kelli’s at Pop’s Market downtown to grab coffee with Curt Autry of NBC12. Curt’s been in Richmond for over 20 years, he moved up from Raleigh, North Carolina to anchor a new weekday newscast in RVA and stayed to raise his family. Now, just a note, we did have some audio issues with this episode so it’s a bit shorter but don’t worry, we will get Curt back so he can tell us more about his favorite spots, how he’s seen Richmond change and where he comes up with his hashtags.

Kelli's downtown to grab coffee with Amy Brachman. About five years ago, while on sabbatical, Amy found a pair of yoga pants that made her feel taller than the 5'0" on her driver's license. So she ordered a whole bunch more and sold them to friends who also wanted to feel great about themselves. Soon, she was getting calls from yoga and barre studios in Richmond asking her if they could stock her pants, and with that, Super Fun Yoga Pants was born. Amy's been in RVA for about 10 years and feels like her company is making kindness, confidence, joy and community in RVA.

Kelli's in the fan to grab coffee with Shane Emmett, CEO and Co-Founder of Health Warrior, the food and movement company based in Scott's Addition. Shane's a reformed lawyer who's been in Richmond for eight years and in the health food industry for about six. He's also a father of two who's happy to share his company's origin story and how he lives Richmond with his wife and two daughters.