She`s So Skirt!

Laura Kate Whitney has only been a Magic City resident for a little over two months, but she is quite certain it won’t be long before she uncovers her own magic here. A new place a laptop and a spirit of adventure are the only requirements for this woman with a mission to learn Birmingham back to front. Her blog, entitled ‘Magic City Manifesto,’ documents her story, as she explores and comments on the history, happenings and future of what has quickly become home.

When did you move here? 
We landed first of December and have seen only three sunny days since our arrival.

What were you doing in Charleston before you moved here? 
Enjoying all the beautiful views.  I worked in the special events industry, producing corporate galas/meetings, weddings, social events, etc…Now I stay at home with my toddler son.  It’s been a bit of a culture shock, to say the least.

Where did the idea for your blog come from?

“I don’t regret opening my new business in a challenging year.” Teresa Davis isn’t referring just to the challenges of this year’s economic climate. On January 31 of last year, she endured what she calls two life changing “events.” The youngest of her three children ventured off to college that morning, leaving her to cope with the proverbial empty nest, when she received a phone call with much more unexpected, grave news. Her husband of 25 years, a very skilled and experienced pilot, had died in a private plane crash. “I would have never guessed that's the way he would die. He was a pilot since he was 13 years old, he was a military pilot and he had logged tons of hours. It was a huge shock. I knew from that point I would be forever changed. I refocused, redirected and reminded myself there was a reason God left me here.”

Most people don’t regret leaving. “I don’t regret coming home,” says Lawren. After bouncing between Los Angeles and New York City, pursuing dreams of filmmaking and production, Lawren returned to Winston-Salem. She graduated with her MBA from Wake Forest in 2004 and she started a family. Now she’s bringing a bit of the big city to Winston-Salem with the independent theatre, a/perture. “A friend told me it’s the perfect marriage of my interests,” she says. The cinema is located downtown and houses two, 80-seat theaters. The film genres range from independent, foreign, and art-house. “They’ll be award-winning films that aren’t already being screened here,” she says. Though Lawren thought she would never move back, it seems she’s found her place. “I’m exactly where I want to be now,” she says.

a/perture plans to draw back the curtain Friday, January 8. Visit aperturecinema.com for more info.
 

“I don’t regret leaving my full-time job and benefits to follow my dreams,” says Christien. The beauty guru is leaving her job in the spring to attend makeup school in Orlando. The light at the end of her tunnel? A full-time makeup business, and her bliss—special-effects makeup. “I still can’t sit through a TV show or a movie without wondering how the makeup was done or how I would do it differently.” Her life isn’t all buffed to a shine—the makeup maven juggles a day job at the Disabilities Board of Charleston County, night shifts waitressing and working out her website’s kinks, and weekends making brides beautiful. Not to mention networking, networking and more networking. “I always tell myself, ‘Okay, let’s get to this next step and see what happens. If this works, keep going. If not, reevaluate.’ Inevitably, the next steps just keep coming and keep making themselves more and more obvious.”

“I don’t regret running for office,” says Ginger, even though the District 10 city council seat was whisked out from under her by only 44 votes in a run-off. The first-time campaigner and top vote-getter in the initial election first considered her run in early 2009. “I felt my corporate background, non-profit career, volunteer work and knowledge of the Charleston community had all come together at a point that coincided with a realistic opportunity. If I didn’t run, I would regret it for the rest of my life.” Luckily, Ginger handles marketing and program development for the Center for Women and had “accidentally” attended campaign training workshops as a sideline staffer, so she was prepared for the basics. She was unprepared, she jokes, for seeing her name in print: “You have to get used to viewing yourself as a product with features and benefits.” Considering putting your name on the ballot? She quotes Eleanor Roosevelt, “You have to do that which you think you cannot do.”

“I don’t regret my mastectomy,” Abby says. She lost her grandmother, father, and beloved sister Alicia Sanderlin to cancer, and tested positive for the breast cancer gene, giving her an 84% chance of developing breast cancer herself. But Abby took action, giving up her healthy breasts at 29 years old with a double mastectomy, hoping to beat the disease before it appeared.

“The cancer gene that my family has is just so aggressive,” she says. “I couldn’t sit back and wait on it to get me.” Now Abby is confident she’ll be around to watch her two-year-old daughter grow up.

“I saved my life,” she says. “I won’t say that I have not endured a lot of pain, because I have. I will not say I have not shed a lot of tears, because I have. But I will say I will soon be as good as new without the worry of having breast cancer and would do it all over again if I had to.”

-Aleigh Acerni

“I don’t regret donating a kidney,” says Jordan Hadden. Although she’s related to Christine Michelle Roy only by marriage, Jordan’s kidney was a perfect match—an even better match than Christine Michelle’s own family.

“I just knew that I was supposed to get tested,” says Jordan. “Everyone thought I was a little loopy…since we weren’t blood relatives. I just listened to my heart and did what I was supposed to do.”

The experience bound the two women forever; they call each other “sister,” and will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the surgery this month.

“If it weren’t for [Jordan], I don’t think I would be here today. She’ll be part of our lives forever,” says Christine Michelle.

“She is one of the most incredible people I’ve met in my whole entire life,” says Jordan. “She lives every day to the fullest and she’s taught me to do the same. I just feel like I have a new set of eyes now.”

-Aleigh Acerni

“I don’t regret my mastectomy,” Susie says.

Although her mother beat breast cancer twice, Susie’s sister lost her life to ovarian cancer. A few years later, after having children, Susie felt brave enough to get tested for the breast cancer gene: her positive result gave her a much
higher chance of developing both breast and ovarian cancer, and she opted to preempt cancer by having her healthy ovaries removed at 32 years old. But just two years later, a breast MRI revealed a suspicious spot; it was breast cancer.

“It was just disappointing,” Susie says. “Disappointment magnified by 100.” After chemo and radiation, she had a double mastectomy.

“The thought of your children not having a mother is more than somebody can think about really,” she says, but she managed to find a silver lining. “I would’ve never known how much my husband loved me if I had not gone through that and seen him help take care of me. That was life changing, too.”

-Aleigh Acerni

“I don’t regret my transition from male to female,” says Paige. Although she lived as a man for most of her 37 years, she always knew she was “different,” she says. And when her grandmother, to whom she was very close, passed away, she decided it was time to start living the life she wanted. “I thought, ‘I can’t live my whole life with a huge regret,’” she says.

Now, Paige describes herself as a sort of accidental activist; she’s not shy about her transformation from male to female, and is thrilled to feel like the woman she presents to the world finally reflects the woman within. She admits, however, that it hasn’t been easy.

“I hate the damage it’s done to family relationships,” she says, but adds she was surprised to find that so many people were willing to accept the new Paige. “It’s been worth every minute,” she says. “Now, I get to be me.”

-Aleigh Acerni

“I don’t regret escaping from an abusive marriage,” Yolanda says. As with most survivors of domestic violence, leaving wasn’t easy; it took 20 years and a few attempts to make the break for good. “It’s almost like you’ve been brainwashed,” she says. But with the support of friends and family, including the teenage sons and adult daughter she had to leave behind, Yolanda fled St. Louis, her hometown, eventually landing in Charlotte.

“I was so free,” she says. Adjusting to life on her own terms wasn’t without its own challenges, but now Yolanda has a degree from Johnson C. Smith University, works as an educator for incarcerated women and youth and a domestic violence counselor, and doesn’t take her life for granted.

“I’m not a quitter,” she says, touching the scars that are an everyday reminder of where she came from. “I do not take life for granted. I love life now.”

-Aleigh Acerni

“I don’t regret quitting my job—in the middle of a recession—to pursue my dream of being a full-time artist,” says Emily. Some may call her crazy, but for Emily, leaving her career behind at a top advertising agency to open Emily Clarke Studio was a no-brainer. “I think about painting from the moment I wake up in the morning, until I go to sleep at night,” she says. Although the timing may not have been quite right, and the going sometimes tough, Emily still has no regrets. “Running my own business, and an art business at that, is the hardest work I have ever done, not to mention frightening. But I get a thrill out of telling people what I do, and answering the question, ‘And you make a living doing that?’” See why at emilyclarkestudio.com.

“I don’t regret stalking my husband Prevo,” laughs Lisa. Dazzled by the bull rider she met at a county bar, Lisa broke her own rule and slipped him her number. Confused and ticked off when he didn’t call, Lisa did what any righteous gal would do—she had a friend of a friend track the fickle cowboy down. It’s been 15 years since she showed up on Prevo’s doorstep—they celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary last month—and Lisa still has no regrets. “Prevo is my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life. When he deployed to Iraq in 2005, it broke my heart, but we endured a 15-month deployment and are closer than before.” Nowadays the couple resides on four acres in the country, enough room for Lisa’s booming business, cactusandivy.com, and to throw one hell of a party. “Life is good!” says Lisa.

“I don’t regret becoming a firefighter,” says Dee Ann. Of the five women in her 1978 training class, she was the only one to stay 30 years, rising to the rank of deputy chief before she retired from the Greensboro Fire Department in 2008. While fears about the close sleeping quarters initially led a few of her male colleagues to request transfer, Dee Ann earned their respect the way any self-proclaimed tomboy would – by not being afraid to get dirty. “We were the first class so everything we did was scrutinized. Male or female, you have to show that you can do the job, so we were watched. Was it all easy? No, but I couldn’t have asked for a better group, a better organization to work for,” she says. “I don’t know that I could have found another profession that would suit me as well as the one that I had.”
 

“I don’t regret taking a strong ethical stand with my business,” says Adrienne, president of Atlantic Webworks marketing and design. It’s a position that has earned her local and national awards, but it can often mean losing money. The company won’t charge for referrals, won’t take customers whose business plans are ill-conceived and won’t take jobs from clients’ competitors. “We lose money 100 percent of the time on that. And that’s okay, because you gain it later,” Adrienne says. She started her company out of her home in 1997, at a time when the Web was in its infancy, and now boasts more than 300 clients. But her attitude toward her customers hasn’t changed. “Ethical choices are never convenient, when you think about it,” she says. “The ethical choices that I’ve chosen to make are, in my opinion, my small way of making the world the way I think it should be.”