As a small girl, India Eaves would hang out in the family kitchen, watching her mother do hair. As her mother worked, India absorbed the conversations of the women being beautified. What seemed like a hair appointment was always so much more. Her mother artfully created an experience where women…
New chapters are a recurring theme for Chris Ornelas, General Manager and Owner of Plaza Antigua, a Mexican restaurant and now event venue in Waynesboro, Virginia. The first new chapter was moving with his family from their home in Mexico to Virginia. Chris was four years old at the time…
Talking with Seth Blanchard and Jonathan Steck about their company, Skylark Hammocks, is less like a business meeting and more like sitting around a campfire telling tales with old friends. It’s easy to understand how these two best friends, former college roommates, and social work professionals came up with the…
The next time you stroll into Starbucks for your favorite brew, enjoy a meal at Panera Bread or relax at a Marriott Hotel, take a look around at the woodwork. That’s right; there’s something special about the flooring, wall cladding, and wood accents that you’ll find in these locations and…
Imagine a plant with the strength of a tree that can yield two mature crops in one growing season versus the decades it takes a tree to grow to maturity. It can then be used for everything from industrial textiles to cooking to makeup products and beyond. It may seem…
In the course of your day, how much do you use technology? If you’re like most people, a cell phone, tablet, laptop, and personal assistant device like Alexa are usually within reach. Technology also spills over into our work lives. Whether you work for a mom and pop shop or…
Right now, as you read this, there are hackers hard at work trying to infiltrate everything from bank accounts to medical records to top-secret Department of Defense files. As you go about your day, the threat is present. In the business world, size isn’t a safeguard against hackers either. Small…
Have you ever had trouble sleeping and reached for a warm mug of chamomile tea or made a point to soak up a few minutes of sun because you know vitamin D is good for you? Perhaps you’ve inherited a longstanding family tradition of using an herbal salve on a…
Where does a Navy Seal go with an idea to improve the treatment of critical wounds on the battlefield? How do you ensure one-hundred percent accuracy of a guided missile? What can you do to make sure critical components can withstand the extreme environment of outer space? All of these…
*Please note: There’s been an exciting update to the Blue Ridge Bucha story. Please read the entire article for the full story.* Over a decade ago, Ethan Zuckerman started an interesting hobby. He began homebrewing kombucha, a fermented tea that’s flavored and served cold. Kombucha is heralded as a lower-…