3 minute read
EDITOR’S NOTE
{on the job} KILLIN , IT
My interview with Sam Fox and his family came quickly, sandwiched between his many business trips and a family jaunt to the Super Bowl. To say the guy is busy is an understatement as he balances restaurant openings, a new hotel venture and an out-ofstate supper club with a celebrity partner whose name I can’t divulge (but you’ll hear about soon).
Though the food world has been abuzz about this guy for some time, luck seemingly smiled down on him big-time last year, when he sold his Fox Restaurant Concepts to The Cheesecake Factory for upwards of $350 million.
So I was curious to visit the home of the man whose restaurants are notoriously stylish as well as meet his family, who must certainly be as polished as his staff.
I was happy to find them altogether approachable as they greeted me warmly at the front gate. Though the kids were shy, they were beyond polite. 16-year-old Noah spoke so eloquently about his family that I wondered how my own similarly-aged son would fare in the same situation. Sam’s wife, Emily, sat on their living room floor, curious how her kids would answer questions. Meanwhile, Sam would gently prod them to brag on their accomplishments a little bit more.
This was a family, I thought, with a lot of love between them. They were just killing it at life.
That’s true for a lot of folks in this issue.
Take Demetra Presley, a passionate young probation officer, who was so moved by a Facebook video that she started her own nonprofit. I’d heard about her efforts with Go With the Flow and had put it on a list of organizations to track. But then a colleague called me to say, “I just met a woman who is doing amazing things. She distributes period packs to young girls and she’s a real superstar.”
Yep, someone else who is killing it.
The same goes for Jason Franklin, the co-founder of Sportiqe, a comfort-wear line produced in Tempe. Though his incredibly soft clothing is a hit with A-listers from David Beckham to Kim Kardashian, he remains dedicated to improving the lives of kids in crisis.
He’s another guy who’s slaying it.
In this issue, Carey Peña introduces us to someone else on a roll. Niki Woehler gave up her career running an ad agency to follow an urge to make art. Today, she is a successful contemporary artist whose paintings are in private collections all over North America — all because she followed her instinct to stop at Michaels to pick up canvas and paint.
I find it inspiring to hear about people like these who are rewarded because they follow their passion to do, create and give back. It makes me think about the times I may have squelched a desire to pull over at a craft store, or not act on a Facebook video that brought me to tears.
Maybe we can all learn a little something from the folks in these pages, so that good fortune smiles down on us just a little bit more.
Karen Werner EDITOR
TOGETHER WE’VE HELPED ...
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