Coffee With Strangers

Kelli's at Pop's to grab coffee with Sam Reed. Sam's a musician and singer, originally from Chester. After high school she got married and had a child, not long after she realized she really wanted to to take her singing seriously, and she could actually do that in Richmond. Today she sings with a diverse group of bands and lives a diverse lifestyle in RVA.

Kelli's kicking off Season 6 at Pop's by grabbing coffee with Austin Kitchen. Austin is maybe better known as @RVAFitFoodie on Instagram, the girl posting amazing pics of her beautiful and healthy food. She's always been fit and into fitness but how she arrived at the healthy eating piece came after a cancer-scare. Now she's inspiring and empowering people across the world with how to feel better and live longer by improving what they eat.

Kelli's at Pop's Market to grab coffee with Lorna Pinckney. Lorna began hosting weekly poetry and open mic events near Pop's almost 20 years ago with Soul Kitchen and then evolved into Tuesday Verses and then added Wednesday Verses. Lorna's weekly open mic events have provided a creative outlet for Richmond's urban creatives, saved folks from suicide, and played match-maker for singles.

Kelli's at Pop's to have coffee with Brandon Farbstein. Brandon's the kid who gave a Ted talk at 15 years old, then within the same year he was named to Style Weekly's 40 Under 40. At 17 he's now finishing high school online because the bullying got so bad he had to leave but he's using it to motivate and inspire others as he continues his motivational speaking career.

Kelli's at Pop's Market to grab coffee with Justin Ayars of Unite Virginia. Justin was born in Las Vegas and grew up around Liberace, Barbara Streisand, and the Rockettes, then moved to Northern Virginia, and out of law school had a clerkship in Norfolk. He's been all around the Commonwealth and saw the need and opportunity to connect the LGBTQ community through story-telling, and Unite Virginia was born.

Kelli's at Pop's Market to grab coffee with Prabir Mehta. Prabir's family moved from India to Richmond in 1988. He's seen Richmond change over that time, especially Jackson Ward, which is where he currently rests his head. Prabir is involved in a lot around the city, including Board Chair at Gallery 5 and working with the folks at the Science Museum of Virginia, and more. And he's also a big coffee drinker.

Kelli's visiting Pop's Market to grab coffee with Tiffany Jana. Tiffany's a military brat who's been in Richmond for more than 20 years. She's seen Richmond change a lot since the mid 90s. She was about to move to the Bay Area late in 2016 but when mayor-elect Levar Stoney called and asked her to head-up his transition team she chose to stay.

Kelli’s at Pop’s Market to grab coffee with…Matt. Yeah, our originally scheduled guest didn’t show but we decided to turn on the cameras anyway and give Matt a break from runnin’ all the cameras and actually drink some coffee and talk about Richmond.

Kelli's at Pop's Market to grab coffee with Chris Dovi. Though they've only ever casually met, when news around the world breaks, Kelli visits Chris' Facebook page for his take. Chris says his Facebook posts are "the last shadow of [him] as reporter," who had formerly written for Style Weekly, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond Magazine, and hosted a radio program on WRIR. He's now the Executive Director of CODE VA

Kelli’s at Pop’s for coffee with Steph Shaw. Steph is a true stranger, never met and literally know nothing about her. Well, she was on the Governor’s LGBT Tourism Task Force but that’s all we know. We did learn that Steph’s in advertising, lives in Church Hill, and wants to be buried at Hollywood Cemetery.