Small City Innovators

Cheetie Kumar is a chef and musician who co-owns and operates with her husband, Paul Siler, the restaurant Garland, music venue Kings, and cocktail bar Neptune’s Parlour in Raleigh, North Carolina. The three businesses co-exist in a historic building in the city’s downtown. Together they’re a vital cultural hub in Raleigh’s revival. We talked with Cheetie the day after she was named a semi-finalist for Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, and before CV-19 struck. Her businesses are temporarily closed now. With courage and vulnerability she shared her journey, and piercing insights about her city and running her businesses. This is part of our first season on leading women innovators in small cities in the Southeast. Enjoy the show.

When Sue Harnett realized that young women were abandoning careers in tech she decided to launch Rewriting the Code (RTC) in 2017. Based in Durham, NC, RTC is a national organization that advances college women in tech through team and community building. Today the organization has 5,000 members at 400 universities in the US, Canada and 60 other countries around the world.

In 2003 Sue founded Replay Photos, a sports e-commerce and technology company, which she sold in 2013. She’s an award-winning former Duke basketball player and a board member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Sue’s passion and can-do spirit for RTC’s mission is incredibly inspiring and hopeful. You’re going to love RTC’s origin story, Sue’s take on how teams transform lives and how women in tech can move our society and her city of Durham forward. This is part of our first season on leading women innovators in small cities in the Southeast. Enjoy the show!

Meet Gloria Shealey. Inclusive Development Champ. Gloria is the founder and CEO of The Daniele Company, a Durham, NC based construction management and general contracting firm, which is 100% woman and African-American owned. Gloria and her team have delivered over half a billion dollars worth of building projects across public and private sectors in North and South Carolina, catalyzing growth in these states and some of their most dynamic cities. In this episode we learn how character and relationship integrity have driven Gloria’s and her firm’s success. Gloria shares the biggest challenge for The Daniele Company today and her ideas on moving Durham forward for all. This is part of our first season on leading female innovators in small cities in the Southeast. Enjoy the show!

Meet Sandi Kronick. Sustainable agriculture dynamo. Sandi is the founder and CEO of Happy Dirt. Based in Durham, North Carolina, the company is a farmer-owned cooperative that markets and distributes organic produce. Sandi has helped lead North Carolina to become a top ten state producing organics in the country. In this episode we learn about the power of intuition, connecting rural and urban economies, and overcoming fundamental challenges to our mission. We hear a moving story about one of Happy Dirt’s farm partners too. This is part of our first season on leading female innovators in Durham, Raleigh, and other Southeastern cities. Enjoy the show!

Get ready for a wild ride on the “solar coaster” with our first guest Maria Kingery. Maria is the cofounder and chief impact officer at Raleigh-based Southern Energy Management (SEM). She’s a clean tech pioneer who helped North Carolina become the second-largest solar state in the country. Maria shares with us her incredible journey building a positive-impact B corporation with her husband Bob. This episode is part of our first season on leading female innovators in Durham, Raleigh, and other small cities in the Southeast.

Welcome to Small City Innovators. Listen to the trailer to learn about the show, and the people and ideas empowering the small city movement.