RISING STAR Cleveland native Alexis Floyd

RISING STAR

Anna, Invented

We go one-on-one with Cleveland native Alexis Floyd, the breakout star of the hit Netflix series Inventing Anna.

In the Netflix series Inventing Anna, created by hit producer Shonda Rhimes, a con artist who goes by the name Anna Delvey masquerades as a German heiress and bilks New York elites out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the most intriguing characters on the show, which is based on true-life events, is Neff Davis, a hotel concierge played by Cleveland native Alexis Floyd. Davis becomes friends with Anna and sticks with her through her arrest and trial — even as others fled. We checked in with Floyd to see how she prepared for the breakout role, her take on Anna and Neff’s relationship and what’s next for the 2012 Hawken School graduate who first appeared on the small screen in Freeform’s The Bold Type in 2019.

Talking the Talk: One of the real-life Neff’s most distinctive traits is her rhythmic, colorful voice. To nail the accent, Floyd, who got to know Neff well during the shooting of the production, recorded their conversations, then spent hours walking around New York City, listening to — and trying out — Neff’s voice. “I probably looked really interesting talking to myself like that,” she laughs. Making It: After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in theater, Floyd worked as everything from an office administrator to a hostess at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. “I know what it’s like to be as pleasant and present as you can with the guests while underneath the desk you are texting your landlord because you need just five more days to get rent together,” she says.

Cleveland native Alexis Floyd has taken streaming by storm with her portrayal of Neff Davis in Inventing Anna.

Change of Fortunes: After a table reading in Los Angeles, Rhimes rented out a restaurant for the cast one night. Floyd was shocked when the Uber pulled up in front of Osteria Mamma, the very restaurant she used to work at. “It was an extraordinary moment,” Floyd says.

Cleveland Love: Floyd wasn’t the only one with Cleveland connections on set. Julia Garner, who plays Anna on the show, also has Cleveland roots. Garner’s dad grew up in Shaker Heights, and her husband, Mark Foster, lead singer of the band Foster the People (the two met at the Sundance Film Festival), graduated from Nordonia High School. “There was something sweet that we got to share that Cleveland energy,” Floyd says. She thinks their Northeast Ohio connection is one of the reasons why the two bonded so well, on and off screen. “There’s a closeness there that we didn’t have to fabricate, and that came easy to us.”

On Friendship: One of the questions in the show is whether Neff and Anna could have a real friendship. “I think it’s complicated,” Floyd says. “Both Neff and Anna had this sort of quiet confidence that speaks for itself, and that’s part of why they became friends.” But Neff was also hurt deeply by Anna’s betrayal and how she treated others of a different class and race. Floyd wanted to portray “the difficulty of wanting to be close to a person, admiring her power, but also putting up boundaries for safety and health.”

Accuracy: Playing Neff, Floyd says she wasn’t “trying to necessarily do an imitation. I was trying to celebrate the things about her that I find so special.” Nevertheless, Floyd was nervous what the real-life Neff would think of the portrayal. She needn’t have worried. After the show premiered, Davis posted a photo of herself with Floyd on her Instagram page and wrote, “I just wanted to give flowers to 'NEFF.' She is phenomenal in Inventing Anna, and I had the pleasure to get to know her beautiful spirit."

POLITICS

Market Price

Senior strategist Jessica Trivisonno fills us in on the challenges and opportunities at the West Side Market.

Jessica Trivisonno

Q. What is your role?

A. One is thinking through the process of transitioning to another operator, a nonprofit or cooperative ownership by the vendors. But in the meantime, how do we make the market as healthy as it can be so that whoever the next operator is doesn’t just get immediately overwhelmed? I see myself as a little bit of a bureaucracy buster and as a facilitator.

Q. What could be improved at the market?

A. We have so many multi-million-dollar projects that it’s hard to figure out what to do first. Do you choose the roof, the electricity or the plumbing? You need to make a choice year by year. Stakeholder engagement is necessary to figure out what to prioritize. Tenant association president Don Whitaker is excellent at reminding people that we’re one market.

Q. What challenges are unique to the West Side Market?

A. Part of why it’s stayed is because it is so grand, opulent and beautiful. But that also means that there’s so much that goes into maintaining the building and keeping it going. I think that will always and forever be a challenge. Another one — and I think this makes the market more interesting and healthier — is that it is 70-100 small businesses who are all operating under one roof but have their own individual needs.

JESSICA TRIVISONNO STANDS in the empty second-floor locker room at the West Side Market. With high ceilings, original subway tile walls and a bank of windows overlooking its bustling first floor, the space could host a wedding, gala or even a business lunch. “This place needs that,” says Trivisonno, adjusting the blazer over her West Side Market T-shirt. Instead, it’s one of the market’s most-cited examples of underutilization. What’s standing in the way? Money. The market, currently at a 32% vacancy rate and declared "in crisis" by a recent study, needs an estimated $30 million in general improvements. We strolled the floor with Trivisonno to see what the city has in store for the beloved, struggling 1912 landmark.

Q. Thanks to proposed legislation to grant a liquor license, we might one day be able to buy a beer, sit back and enjoy the space. Is there pushback from vendors?

A. Vendors are more open to change than I would have anticipated. They want the market to succeed. So if that means having a liquor license for the market, I think vendors are open to it. With food, it goes back to infrastructure. There are only a few spaces that we can rent out with a kitchen hood, and we don’t have a commercial culinary kitchen.

Q. What does the market mean to Cleveland?

A. It’s an important part of Clevelanders’ pride. That’s why they bring their family members here. That’s why they visit on the weekends. They’re proud of the architecture, the small businesses, the history. This is somewhere that people feel a real sense of Cleveland identity.

TECH

On the Table

With a $20 billion Intel plant headed to Ohio, we ask experts to take stock of how the investment could pay off locally.

BAIJU SHAH, president and CEO, Greater Cleveland Partnership

“For us as a region, it’s about crafting the strategy to take advantage of this opportunity,” Shah says.

The Intel move dovetails with the idea that the area should work to attract advanced manufacturing, a plan that was already in motion, Shah says, noting that Ernst & Young opened a Center for Advanced Manufacturing in October.

Intel has an extensive supplier network — some 140 companies — and Shah says it’s his job to make Northeast Ohio more attractive to them. But Intel already does business with dozens of Northeast Ohio suppliers, including Nordson, Parker Hannafin and Swagelok.

The proximity to suppliers is important, Shah notes. And make no mistake, a short drive up Interstate 71 isn’t an inconvenience, especially when international vendors are having problems logistically. “Being two hours away is not a barrier,” he says.

CHRISTIAN ZORMAN, associate dean for research, Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering

When Intel announced in January they were building a $20 billion complex to manufacture computer chips near Columbus, Gov. Mike DeWine heralded it as “monumental news for the state of Ohio” and “transformative for our state.”

It’s estimated the facility will sit on 1,000 acres, potentially employing 7,000 people during construction and 3,000 Intel employees when completed. And, although it’s in Licking County, the effects will ripple statewide, including in Northeast Ohio. We talked to three area experts about what this might mean. BILL KOEHLER, CEO, Team NEO

Intel coming to Ohio was a triumph for JobsOhio, the state’s economic development agency. But the ball started rolling when Lorain councilwoman Mary Springowski made contact with Intel about a potential plant in her city.

Team NEO, one of the six network partners for JobsOhio in the state, realized they couldn’t make that happen, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen elsewhere in the state. “We had three days to hunt down a location based on Intel’s parameters,” Koehler says. “It was important for Ohio to win.”

Koehler said the Intel courtship highlights the importance of site preparedness. “We in Northeast Ohio have had a shortage of large, readily marketable sites,” he says. “We have to double down to identify those sites that make us more nimble. You need a dynamic inventory of readily available land, urban areas, rural areas and everything in between.”

Zorman notes that most semiconductor manufacturing can be found domestically in Silicon Valley and the Southwest and in nations along the Pacific Rim — all areas that can be climate challenged, especially compared with the Midwest.

For years, politicians and academics have bemoaned the “brain drain,” of young people leaving the state after growing up or going to college here. The new plant could stem that tide.

“Students who graduate from Case Western, Cincinnati or Ohio State looking for jobs in the semiconductor industry don’t have to leave,” he says. “They can find opportunities here.”