CO.STARTERS Grad Spotlight: Krista Paul Event Planning
How did you get started with event planning?
In middle school, we had lots of parties—the good kind! But I was the person who coordinated where the parents should drop their kids off and what time to pick them up and which friends were bringing drinks, snacks, and cups—and all the details. So I really started as a kid. But officially I started in college when my friends asked me to coordinate their wedding because I’m a really organized person, and I have a lot of energy. So I did that in 2012.
CO.STARTERS Spotlight: Nebulosity Music & Arts Festival
What is Nebfest?
Kari Howard: It’s a 3D music festival. You’ve got three stages, vendors, a fire-breathers workshop you can attend. It’s basically like one big, happy summer music festival right here in Atwood, Tennessee.
Heath McKissick: Nebfest is three days, [. . .] 30+ artists. Rock, reggae, indie rock. [. . .] Everything’s a show. [. . .] We have workshops the whole weekend. You can come and learn how to juggle, you can learn how to eat fire, you can do belly dancing, you can do yoga. [. . .] You pay one ticket, and you just come for the whole weekend.
Kari: You know, we’re in the Bible Belt, and so we’re Southern. So we’re trying to mix this summer fun crowd with the—what should we call it?—“music artsy festival” crowd. [. . .] So we’re trying to just combine the two into one like transformational weekend, you know? They get exposed to the culture that they’re involved with, and they kind of get exposed to the culture of Jackson and the surrounding cities. Yeah, it’s super cultural, and it’s something very unique to Jackson that nobody else is doing.
CO.STARTERS Pitch Night Celebrates Another Group of Entrepreneurs
From the start, theCO has been committed to helping entrepreneurs in West Tennessee, and CO.STARTERS is the vehicle we use to support them. It’s a nine week program that equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the insights, relationships, and tools needed to turn their business ideas into action. The spring 2017 CO.STARTERS class is coming to a close, and that means one thing: Pitch Night!
CO.STARTERS Grad Spotlight: Dion Thornton
CO.STARTERS continues to help business owners just like Dion Thornton who want to be inspired to ignite their businesses. Check out this interview asking about how the program changed her life, and make sure to attend our Business Strategy Night on Tuesday, March 21, at 5:30pm to learn more about our next class starting in April.
Our Jackson Home: The Escape Artist
Through his continually growing business Jackson Escape Rooms, CO:member and CO.STARTERS graduate Lee Wilson has made us proud in a handful of ways—not to mention through his most recent endeavor, starring on CBS's new reality TV show, Hunted. Check out this Our Jackson Home story by Josh Garcia giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the show and how entwined it is with JER, and don't miss the premiere this Saturday.
CO.STARTERS SPOTLIGHT: LEE POPE
"having CO.STARTERS opens people’s ideas to not where they just have an idea but also opening it to the possibility where they can really make
it happen"