GrowRVA’s Karen Atkinson is featured in this month’s Greater Richmond Grid in the “Live Bold” section. Pick up a copy if you see it. Grid’s a great publication, featuring Richmond’s most innovative people and their stories on a quarterly basis.
In the feature, Karen talks about the power of spending money locally and about how doing so creates a vibrant, community-supporting cycle. It’s something that, if you talk to Karen for any length of time, you know is very important to her. It’s why she’s always busy doing things behind the scenes. And that’s where the feature’s very awesome shot of Karen (taken by Grid Publisher/Editor Paul Spicer) comes in.
In it you’ll see Karen flanked by two of GrowRVA’s coooolest (it’s a pun!) guys, Paul from King of Pops and Malcolm from Soul-Ice (very cheekily holding each other’s frozen treats.) If you’ve had a chance to try KOP and Soul-Ice, you know it’s some of the best frozen sweetness money can buy. Paul is always coming up with inventive, seasonal flavors; and Soul-Ice unequivocally has more soul than any other ice I’ve tried. And I’m an ice-lover.
But I’m getting off point here. The shot is cool because the three people in it are MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. Maybe you can’t see it right there, but when the camera’s not clicking, the three of them are dreaming of (and working toward) big things for Richmond…things for which you should be on the lookout come 2013.
You can see from Soul-Ice’s mission statement that they don’t fool around, and Paul and Karen are similarly inclined. These three see the mobile food scene in Richmond as more than an opportunity to make money; they see it as an opportunity to teach people about small business and to foster community growth.
While Karen, Paul, Malcolm and other GrowRVA business owners are heading into the slower months, they’ll be working together to create next year’s big thing, so keep your eyes peeled!
