Elizabeth Turnbull

ELIZABETH TURNBULL CO-OWNER AND BAR DIRECTOR, COPA SENIOR EDITOR AND PARTNER, LIGHT MESSAGES PUBLISHING

lizabeth Turnbull gazed intently at the floor of handmade Cuban tiles. The colors – rich reds, creamy blues and golden yellows – called her back to early 2018, when she and

Ehusband Roberto Copa opened their farm-to-table Cuban restaurant, COPA. But staring at those tiles on March 13, 2020, Elizabeth didn’t feel the same wonder from when she installed them. She was dismayed, devastated at the thought that, for weeks on end, no customers would step across them. She was on a conference call that same day with Mayor Steve Schewel and practically the entire Durham restaurant industry, joining the chorus of local leaders unanimously deciding to shut down.

“Suddenly, you don’t have anything to do,” she says. “What do you do?”

The uncertainty that lay ahead didn’t deter Elizabeth from facing the crisis. She frequently attended city roundtable meetings and became the unofficial cofounder of the Durham Restaurant Coalition alongside Beyu Group President Dorian Bolden. Together they proposed solutions including outdoor dining. She wrote a letter to Indy Week calling on residents and city/state officials to take action, provide funds … anything. “Everybody saw the letter from Elizabeth,” Susan Amey told Durham Magazine back in July 2020. “She’s been very active and engaged.”

“I felt like somebody had to speak up and ask for help,” Elizabeth says. “In small businesses, sometimes people are hesitant to do that because they don’t want to upset the wrong people. They don’t want to put a target on their back, or they don’t know quite what to say or how to say it. Not everybody likes to write. And I felt like I have the skill set.”

Elizabeth entered the restaurant industry when she and Roberto opened the now-shuttered sandwich shop Old Havana in January 2011. The Wake Forest University journalism grad had no culinary experience whatsoever. Roberto was a biochemist. It was a dream jokingly brought up over tacos at

Taqueria La Vaquita.

More than a decade later, Elizabeth has continuously made an effort – whether it’s been through food, service or the written word – to add to the city she calls home.

As pandemic restrictions slowly lift, helping those affected remains important and necessary. COPA continues to feed the hungry at the Durham Community Food Pantry through its 50 Meals a Day program, which started in July and also helps provide COPA staff with living wages. COPA puts $1 per meal delivered into an escrow fund to give out small grants to local farms to better meet the needs of the community. “We expect to give the first grants before the end of the year,” Elizabeth says.

Elizabeth also juggles a second full-time job as senior editor and partner at her family’s business, Light Messages Publishing, where she manages 12 projects on any given day. She’s published two children’s books and a biography so far. A third children’s book, “Janjak and Freda Go to the Citadel,” is slated for release later this year.

The two jobs complement each other surprisingly well, making it more cohesive for Elizabeth to develop her symbiotic talents. It also helps that she’s her own boss, which gives her flexibility to champion a broader objective.

“Our advocacy work as a restaurant coalition isn’t over yet,” Elizabeth says. “Our recovery path is really long. We’re still working. We’re not giving up yet. … I haven’t quite stood on the corner of the street banging a book or pot and pan yet, but I won’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility.” – by Hannah Lee 

ERIN KAUFFMAN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DURHAM CENTRAL PARK

everal years ago, Erin Kauffman joked with Ann Alexander – Durham Central Park’s then-executive director – that she’d like to have her job one day. “I didn’t think I was S qualified,” Erin says. “But when Ann retired in 2015, she encouraged me to apply.” Erin moved to Durham in 2006 after working at a sustainable farm in her native Maryland. She found a home managing the Durham Farmers Market when the pavilion on Foster Street was still under construction and “we were operating the market in the parking lot,” Erin says. Once the market moved to the pavilion, Erin learned more about DCP. “I got to be on the board of directors, and back then no one really knew what or where it was,” Erin explains. “I feel like I watched and participated in the park finding its identity.”

“When the park chose me to replace [Ann], it was really exciting for me career-wise, but also a much better fit for my life at the time. I had a newborn who didn’t ever sleep, and the market required unconventional hours.” She and husband Kelly Davis had just welcomed son Frank, now 6; today, the family, which includes two dogs, two cats and six chickens, lives in Northgate Park.

Luxury apartments began to rise up around DCP during her first months in the role. “There are so many aspects of life and community and the world that all come together at a park,” Erin says. “There was a shift [in] who could live downtown … who could afford it. I came into this job and said, ‘This park is going to be a park for everyone.’”

Erin knew her team had to be intentional about programming and events to ensure DCP remained a park that felt welcoming. “The common denominator is people want to be outside and have a place to play, meet or just hang out, so that’s been the big focus for us.” The park collaborates with the city, sharing information gained from surveys and data on how to improve shade, seating and sidewalks. “We want to increase connectivity so people can get from one place to another more easily and build more play equipment.”

Some of these projects are already underway. The pandemic affected DCP’s in-person programming, but it also enabled the team to tackle projects that were on the back burner. “Last summer, we had a wonderful donor cover the whole cost of adding a new trail down by Ellerbe Creek and a new, climbable troll sculpture,” Erin says. The trail project hit one of their major park expansion goals. “This was an overgrown area, and now it’s a really nice little pathway,” Erin says. “We made the park feel bigger, and it was the greatest thing that happened last year. When everything in the world is feeling messy, it’s great to see something through that makes people happy.”

Looking ahead, Erin and her team – programming manager Tess Mangum and project coordinator Bryce Northington – are working to adapt events for smaller groups; a Tuesday morning story hour, for example, will begin in May. “We hope we will still have a big impact with smaller events on a more regular basis,” Erin says. “We’ll start having a couple of food trucks in the pavilion on Sunday afternoons, too.”

“There are people hanging out, having picnics, playing with their families and walking their dogs,” Erin says. “Watching the park develop over the past 15 years, from little recognition that it even existed to driving through on a Sunday and seeing a couple hundred people just hanging out … we’ve really achieved something.” – by Morgan Cartier Weston 

DR. PRIYA KISHNANI

C.L. AND SU CHEN PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS; MEDICAL DIRECTOR, YT AND ALICE CHEN PEDIATRICS GENETICS AND GENOMICS CENTER; CHIEF OF MEDICAL GENETICS & PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR GENETICS AND MICROBIOLOGY, DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

r. Priya Kishnani grew up in a family of physicians, including her mother, a pediatrician, in Mumbai (then Bombay), India. “My D mother ran a charitable program, caring for the underserved and indigent throughout her life,” Dr. Kishnani says. “I saw firsthand what it really meant to be a physician: to give hope to your neighbors, and make an impact on the rest of their lives. From then on, I knew this was what I wanted to do.” Dr. Kishnani began her formal medical education in India before embarking on an observation term at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It was there I became fascinated with genetics, and by the time I moved to Duke University to do my third-year pediatric residency, I knew that would be the concentration for my career.”

Her research also led to a somewhat unconventional career path. “It is not often advised that you stay at the hospital where you trained, but for me, Durham is home,” she says. “I’ve been given every opportunity to progress at Duke, as well as opportunities to see and treat patients from all over the state, country and even internationally. Duke completely embraced me and my work.”

That support has been critical during her 30-year career as a pediatric medical genetics specialist. Dr. Kishnani sees many patients through their most difficult years. “Every patient is special and has taught me something,” she says. “One young man from South Africa told me about the gratitude he has for life. He knows without his treatments he wouldn’t be here, so why miss out on any moment to learn and enjoy?” she says. She’s amazed not only by the patients who live long lives, but also by those who’ve lost their battles, who are willing to do whatever it takes to help the next family. “Many know they will eventually succumb to their disease and want to do complete organ donation so they can help advance research,” she says. “It is so selfless that those living with these conditions still want to give.”

That’s what fuels Dr. Kishnani’s passion for her research. “We recently saw a sibling pair with an extreme case of Pompe, a glycogen storage disease,” she says. “We were able to initiate treatment right away with immune modulation, and today, the children look terrific. I didn’t think in my lifetime we would be able to accomplish developing an enzyme treatment for this rare genetic disease. Children are our future. Now we are able to give more of them the gift of an opportunity for a full life.”

Her biggest inspirations are her own children: son Kunal and daughter Sujata. Both are carrying on the family tradition of helping others. Kunal works for a firm developing innovative treatments for cancer, and Sujata plans to attend medical school. “As a mom, you always wonder if you’ve given your children enough of your time or the right advice,” she says. “I’ve learned so much from my patients that I think makes me a better mother, and my children in turn make me a better physician.” – by Morgan Cartier Weston

SUSAN STEWART TAYLOR

PRINCIPAL, CHARLES E. JORDAN HIGH SCHOOL

uiding students through some of their most challenging years is Susan Stewart G Taylor’s calling. She credits this to her parents, who instilled the importance of education in her. Her father attended segregated schools in Mississippi, and her mother was the only person of color from kindergarten to high school in her Massachusetts classrooms. Neither went to college, but they encouraged her to attend. “[They] kept telling me education is the way you access the American dream,” Susan says.

Susan went on to become a North Carolina Teaching Fellow and studied history education at East Carolina University before receiving her master’s in school administration from N.C. State. She spent most of her 26 years as an educator in Wake County, but was drawn to Jordan High in part because of its tightknit community.

When she started in 2018, there was a lack of trust among students and educators. “I just remember vividly going into the hallway after third lunch ended, and it looked like it was the mall when students should be in class,” she says. When she tried to talk to them, students turned the other way.

Susan built up that trust by instituting AP Capstone and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) programs, and students now follow her goals for them to “graduate on time with options.” When she speaks with students now, they politely excuse themselves to get to class on time.

And Susan can’t help but sing the praises of her teachers who have backed her along the way. She was floored when her “work family” masked up and gathered on their lunch break to celebrate her accomplishments as Durham Public Schools’ Principal of the Year on Nov. 20, 2020. “It might seem small, but that was a big deal because we’re working virtually,” Susan says.

It’s not just staff who have rallied around Susan. “Previously when I would talk with families about a concern, it was always from the standpoint of ‘me, my child.’” At Jordan, she says, parents think about it as “we.” – by Nicole Moorefield 

ANNA JONES

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER, “CHAIRMAN JONES – AN IMPROBABLE LEADER”

ames Henry Jones climbed out of the tractor seat, and a 15-year-old Anna Ruth Jones

Jclimbed up behind the wheel. The memory remains vivid: Her father’s silent stare followed by four short-but-powerful words: “Go ahead, move it.” Anna returned to rural Northampton County, in 2007 after both of her parents had passed to collect a few anecdotes for their grandchildren. What she discovered was the untold story of her father’s involvement in the 1969 school desegregation crisis.

“There’s a saying that when an old person dies, a library burns to the ground,” Anna says. “I thought, I better talk to these people who lived this story and who witnessed the story.”

In 2015, after seven strenuous years of research, interviews, fundraising and editing, Anna released “Chairman Jones – An Improbable Leader.” The 60-minute historical documentary shares her father’s story – a sharecropper with a middle school education becomes the first Black man elected as North Carolina board of education chairman.

As the plot unfolds, another question comes to mind: How did a former IBM employee with zero prior filmmaking experience create an award-winning documentary?

Anna first fell in love with the Bull City while attending

North Carolina Central University – it was known as North Carolina College at the time – where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business. Like her father, Anna dedicated herself to becoming a lifelong learner – a journey that included studies at Cornell University, UNC Chapel Hill and the American Institute for Managing Diversity in Atlanta. Following a corporate career in business management, Anna retired in Durham where she felt inspired by Black culture and history and supported by a community invested in storytelling. Anna enrolled in classes

at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, attended the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and networked with local filmmakers.

“Chairman Jones” has been shown at 13 film festivals across the state, nation and world. In 2016, the documentary was celebrated by a sold-out audience at the Durham Arts Council, who named Anna a recipient of its 2017-2018 Emerging Artist Program grant. Anna has since served as a member of the Durham Arts Council, Southern

Documentary Fund, Duke Chapel National Advisory Board, Rotary Club of Durham and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. – by Marie Muir

HEATHER POWNALL

STRATEGY CONSULTANT AT (ISC)²; FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE CONFIDENCE LABS

hen Heather Pownall graduated from N.C. State’s business school, she wanted to start a

Wpodcast. She bought the nicest microphone at the Apple store. And for the next 10 years, it sat on a shelf. Until July 2020, when Heather stopped and asked herself – why haven’t I done that yet? The self-doubt Heather felt is not foreign. She has witnessed insecurity as a source of oppression that’s held back female peers in school and at work.

“I think women have more internalized societal messages that are disempowering,” Heather says. “And that perpetuates unrealistic standards and definitions of what success is. [Women] don’t even raise their hands sometimes. My own lived experience validates what a lot of the research shows.”

But Heather knows the secret to squashing that self-doubt: action. She became a certified professional coach through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching, and a certified association executive and a graduate scholar of the ASAE Diversity Executive Leadership Program, which advances diversity and inclusion in the next generation of nonprofit leadership. And in early 2020, Heather founded The Confidence Labs to help women build courage in their career and life. Heather now hosts a monthly podcast, workshops, a six-week confidence camp and provides individual coaching.

Heather’s career in corporate communications continues to evolve alongside her passion for life coaching. She’s done marketing for a renewable energy startup and directed global business development for an international association for accountants. Today, Heather runs The Confidence Labs while serving as a consultant for (ISC)2, a cybersecurity professional organization and lives near downtown with her partner, Leanora Minai, and their 7-year-old silver lab, Vinny.

“If your achievements and your story and who you are can inspire one person or be validating or give a hope or normalize someone else’s experience in any way, then it’s valuable to share and to be held up,” Heather says. “If I had one wish for all women … it’s to know what success is for you and that it can change.” – by Marie Muir 

JENNINGS BRODY

‘SHOPKEEP’ AT PARKER & OTIS, CHET MILLER, TINY AND PARKER PAPER CO.

hen the lights dim, the doors lock, the employees leave, and the rest of American Tobacco Campus grinds to a halt, Jennings Brody stands alone in a world of her own design. She W can’t help but smile as she surveys the new Parker & Otis shop and cafe – the wine wall, the chests of candy and especially the piles of puzzles. She basks in all she’s created. “A dream of mine,” Jennings calls the new space, one that brings out the fun-loving child in every adult customer. It’s easy for Jennings – who manages four stores, cares for her 9-year-old daughter, Miller Kea, and serves on multiple boards – to forget to take a moment to celebrate her success. “She’s constantly attending meetings,” says Kelli Cotter, owner of Toast and one of Jennings’ close friends. “She’s not just on the Downtown Durham Inc. board, but [also] the Nasher [Museum Friends] board, the Families Moving Forward board. I don’t know how she has so much on her plate and stays sane.” She truly enjoys the work of curating her four boutique shops, even the late nights of minutia, like building color-coordinated displays. These local retail meccas come from someone with no business background – Jennings studied art history and political science – which makes her rise all the more impressive. Those degrees still come in handy, though; Jennings mentions her art history background is helpful when she’s designing her space and even her menus. She taught herself everything she knows about retail, starting when she opened P&O in 2007. That’s when she quit her job as a traveling candy and gourmet food salesperson, ditched the MapQuest printouts and turned in unremarkable road “ If Jennings thinks you’re having a bad day, she’s going to show up with a bouquet of flowers, a candy bar and a hug. She’s just that person for many of us.” – KELLI COTTER, owner, Toast sandwiches for finer fare.

“I never had taken a business class or read a P&L [profit and loss statement] or anything,” Jennings says. “At 29, standing in the [original P&O] space of 8000 square feet and saying, ‘I got this’ … I wish I had half that bravery now. But I felt like I could do something there.”

Looking back, Jennings jokes that her stores’ early days were “the sparsest hot mess ever.” She scrolls through her phone now staring in disbelief at old photos of metal racks of beer that are not completely filled and not-so-strategically placed beside DeCecco pasta and tomatoes.

P&O was just the start of her retail empire. She opened Chet Miller eight years later, followed by her children’s store, Tiny. Her most recent endeavor, Parker Paper Company – an extension of P&O with a focus on “putting pen (or pencil) to paper” – opened permanently after an iteration as a pop-up at ATC in January 2020.

It’s been 14 years since she opened shop, and after an in-house fire, a gas explosion and a global pandemic, P&O and its sister stores are consistently top of mind for their wide selection of gifts, and nearly everyone in Durham knows their favorite P&O sandwich number (you’ve got to try the No. 9).

Even if she doesn’t always recognize it, that bravery Jennings mentioned earlier remains with her.

“All small business people fear admitting that you don’t know something or asking for help as a sign of weakness,” Jennings says. “In the pandemic, I had to apply for grants, apply for a PPP, negotiate all this accounting stuff, which all of us restaurant people are not necessarily very good at. Even if you’re 14 years in and you say to your banker, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ it’s not a sign of weakness. It’s a powerful thing to do.” – by Hannah Lee

PHYLLIS COLEY

CEO AND PUBLISHER, SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE

nside her home near Rockwood Park, Phyllis Coley wakes up around 5 a.m. As she gets ready for the day,

Ia frayed brown piece of paper hangs on the mirror in her line of sight. It reads, “... he called on God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that you would bless me indeed. And enlarge my territory that your hand would be with me. And that you would keep me from evil that I may not cause pain.’” “That’s what I want for Spectacular,” Phyllis says. “We’re never causing pain, that we increase our territory, and that we are a blessing to others.”

Before Spectacular Magazine, Phyllis worked in the entertainment industry in New York City. She later produced the TV show “The Electric Factory” when she moved back to Durham in 1991.

But as the years went on, Phyllis couldn’t disregard the biases she noticed in media coverage for Black individuals.

“When I started, I felt that African Americans were not being covered fairly or equitably,” Phyllis says. “If a Black person did anything negative, it made the front page. If they did something great and they got an award, it was in section C, page 12.”

Her dedication to sharing honest information led her to launch Spectacular Magazine in 2004. Phyllis began the “Spectacular Magazine Radio Show” in 2009. Phyllis’ featured guests included

the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, Dr. Sharon Elliott-Bynum and former Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Larry Hall during the program’s decade-long run.

Phyllis shifted her platform online in 2016. She learned how to read analytics, clicks per minute and the differences between tags

and hashtags. Two years later, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University offered her a position to teach a “Social Media for Boomers” course.

For Phyllis, making an impact does not end with storytelling. The magazine’s 26-person team also connects with the community through annual, inclusive events like the North Carolina Juneteenth Celebration – currently set to take place as an in-person event on June 19 – the MLK Black History Month Parade and Block Party, Man of the Year Awards and Woman of the Year Awards.

Looking down the road, Phyllis hopes her son and business partner, Lawrence Davis III, “continues to keep [Spectacular] moving forward and to grow it after I’m retired. And that we continue to tell the stories that make a difference.” – by Chiara Evans