THE
HOTEL
Keven
405 Business’ first-ever awards recognizing leaders and organizations working towards making the metro a better place.
34
Jill Castilla, Outstanding Purpose-Led Leader, guides Citizen’s Bank of Edmond with intention.
14 Insight
The gift of giving.
16 My Daily Media Diet with Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s Amy Blackburn.
18 Ask the Mentor
How to do business on purpose.
20 The Future of … The metro’s public transit plans.
The business plan of Orr Family Farm.
26 Giving Back DRTS’s job training efforts.
28 How I Did It Pivot Project’s Hamlin Hotel plan.
58 Passions
Plant People’s fresh air.
What benefit does it bring to OKC to have businesses led with purpose?
62 Linked In Networking events across the 405.
Mayor Holt’s City Hall office.
Volume 1 Issue 6
On the Cover Outstanding Purpose-Led Leader Jill Castilla, president, CEO and vice chairman of Citizens Bank of Edmond.
Below is a list of our inaugural premium subscribers. As a way of thanking them for their support, we are introducing them to our readers with each issue. Join our growing list of premium subscribers while enjoying the perks of being a part of the 405 Business commu nity. Didn’t make the list? Don’t worry. We will continue printing the names of our premium subscribers within each issue during 2022.
Shelley Leveridge
Folded Owl
Trent Tipple
Emily Morris
Flourish OKC
Jacqueline Sit
Gooden Group
Foster Zeiders Nfcda Energy LLC
Andrea Fillmore Strategic Hype
Tim Cooper Cooper House
Julie Watson Mark Behrman LSB Industries
Craig Shimasaki
John Lippe Federal Corporation
Myers Lockard Hunzicker Brothers, Inc.
Kristy Freeman Clark Ginny Freeman Shelter Insurance Agency
John Hudson Attorney
Raven A Goswick
Debbie Bolding
Kirsten Burgiel Expeditors International
Paul Taylor Taylor Valve Technology, Inc.
Ainslee Crum
Pella of Oklahoma
Russell Kim
Diamond Capital
NextThought
JP Craig Lingo Construction
Jacob Lingo Lingo Construction
Collins Peck
Lingo Construction
Stan Lingo Lingo Construction
Morgan Harris Green Bambino
Amanda Penrod RFX Solutions
Brian Harvey Hub International Mid-America
Laurie Stansbury
Senior Helpers of Greater Oklahoma City
Barbara Mitchell
Darren Lister Drew M. Braum Jr.
John Archer
John L. Kelly
Thomas W. Hughes Laura Fleet SendaRide
Timothy Hsieh OCU School of Law
Charles Oppenheim
Robert J. Ross
Larry Nichols
Adaptation Financial
Airosurf Communications
BC Clark Jewelers
Community Through Beer
Core Group
Cortado Ventures
Cox Business
Crew Workspace
Specialized Recruiting Group (An Express Employment Professionals Company)
Full Sail Capital
Gardner Tanenbaum
Heartland Payment Systems
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2O22 VOLUME 1
PRESIDENT & CEO Jordan Regas jordan.regas@405magazine.com
PUBLISHER Rod Whitson rod.whitson@405business.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kayte Spillman kayte@405business.com
ART DIRECTOR Christopher Lee christopher.lee@405magazine.com
SENIOR WRITER Greg Horton greg.horton@405magazine.com
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Meagan Matthews meagan@hilltopmediagroup.com
GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lillian Meador ads@405magazine.com
CLIENT COORDINATOR Leesa Neidel production@405magazine.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kristen Grace, Evie Klopp Holzer, Danielle Oberloier, Melanie Wilderman, Lori Williams
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Charlie Neuenschwander, Logan Walcher
CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Lillian Meador
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Cynthia Whitaker-Attalla cynthia.whitakerhill@405magazine.com
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Drew Smith drew.smith@405magazine.com
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Terry Bechtold terry.bechtold@405magazine.com
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Legacy Financial Advisors
Legacy Painting Miller
Mister Robert Naifeh Fine Jewelry NvYA Technology OKC Philharmonic Sandler Training
Simple Modern Standley Systems
Vistage Worldwide, Inc. Wilshire Cabinet and Closets
ZT Cigars
Vanda Holland vanda@405business.com
DIGITAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
Raylee Lewis raylee.lewis@405magazine.com
EDITORIAL INTERN Snow Forth intern@405magazine.com
Volume 1 / Number 6, 405 Business Magazine (periodicals 21350) is published bi-monthly, six times a year, by Hilltop Media Group, 1613 North Broadway Avenue, Oklahoma City, OK 73103. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, OK and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 405 Magazine, P.O. Box 16765, North Hollywood, CA 91615-6765.
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FOR THE FIRST time, in this issue, we shift away from the nuts and bolts of what make businesses do well and instead focus on some of the intan gibles of what makes them do good.
We decided to look at leaders, companies and nonprofit organizations who actively work to make the world around them better, and we are honor ing them with our first-ever Purpose & Impact Awards. We took nomina tions from our readers, who opened our eyes to so many cool people doing good work. And we talked with a lot of local leadership involved in corporate giving, foundations and nonprofits to make sure we weren’t overlooking or undervaluing anyone.
In the end, I’m so pleased to pres ent these leaders, whether they run a for-profit, purpose-led business or a nonprofit, people-first institution. Collectively, they are making Okla homa City stronger. Individually, we can learn so much from them about leading with intentionality.
And we honor three OKC living legends all retiring this year: Okla homa City Community Founda tion’s Nancy Anthony, The Alliance for Economic Development’s Cathy O’Connor and Oklahoma City Chamber’s Roy Williams. OKC will continue to be shaped by the foun dation they laid in their decades of service to this town.
In our cover story, we highlight Jill Castilla as our Outstanding PurposeLed Leader. As president and CEO of Citizens Bank of Edmond, she removed the bank from the grips of federal regulators while simul taneously revitalizing downtown Edmond. She takes a wholistic view to what banking can do for both a community and through each and every depositor. Her tenacity to do good spills out of her in every conver sation – just ask Mark Cuban, her (recent and frequent) collaborator.
The issue also is filled with other cool stories, like a deep dive on the Pivot Project’s economic development work that’s bring ing a new hotel to the northeast side. And we take the pulse of OKC’s public transit system and talk to leaders about where it will go from here.
Our history bears out that many business leaders succeed despite not caring about their impact on the greater good. But is their legacy worth much more than whatever was left in their ledgers? No. For those business leaders who know the value of supporting their fellow man and building up their community, it’s these legacies that will shape what our city becomes.
For all those businesses leading with purpose, and for those we applaud this issue, good, good work.
“I feel proud about what we are doing, and as we continue to grow, we can’t stay still in regard to giving back. We have to keep innovating and evolving what we are doing to make sure we are making an impact with nonprofits as well as our employees.”
“We can’t overlook how important regionalism is. We have to promote a region, not a city. We work with a 10-county, regional partnership. Economic development is all about regions. Companies don’t move to a city; they move to a region.”
Kayte Spillman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Roy Williams Greater Oklahoma City Chamber president and CEO
It’s more than capital. We leverage our team’s deep experience as leaders and innovators to position our portfolio companies for accelerated growth. To date, Cortado Ventures has invested in 27 companies amounting to a total enterprise value of nearly $600 million.
FOUNDER LED Entrepreneurs with innovative ideas that think outside-the-box
OKLAHOMA FOCUSED Companies operating in sectors that are a natural fit for the Midcontinent
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SECTOR FOCUSED Insurtech, Biotech, Aerospace, Fintech, Energy Tech, Ag Tech
GROWTH MINDED Young companies with a desire to grow fast
CAPITAL EFFICIENT Companies that leverage tech to scale quickly
At roughly the age of 14-16 you learned about Blind Spots; we all did. This happened when you started to learn to drive. Your parents or driving instructor helped you learn about them, where they were, and how to go about making sure they did not become an issue. They also helped you learn that the people in the car were not able to see them (without changes), however everyone outside the car could see the Blind Spots.
In Business it is the same thing. Every single person who Owns, Runs, or Manages Business has Blind Spots. And just like in a car – the people on the outside can see them far better than the people on the inside. Without changes, and in most cases help – we cannot see them clearly. And if we cannot see them, we cannot work on them or fix them.
For over 13 years now my firm has been hyper focused on helping Business Owners / Leaders work on Blind Spots. Below are the Top 13 we see most organizations struggle with. Whether big or small, for profit or non-profit most of these can equally cause issues for those in charge.
The first step in all Growth is Awareness – and until we have Awareness of the Blind Spots, we cannot do anything to work on them or fix them.
If you want to Grow / Improve – you would want to do a couple of things. First – read through this list and see how many you see, feel, and / or struggle with. Second – have your fellow leaders do the same; and make a similar list. Third – ask some key people, who will be honest with you, outside of your business to share their ideas and feedback on this list and what they see in your business.
These steps will help you move towards Growth, Development, and Improvement. However, remember Awareness is only the first step – you then need to work on the things going from Knowledge to Application to create Skills and ultimately change Habits.
1. Not Having a Process for Hiring
2. Improperly Onboarding People
3. Failing to Tie Corporate Goals to Personal Goals
4. Not Creating a Culture of Accountability
5. No Common Sales Language
6. Not Focusing on Lead Generation
7. Not Capturing Best Practices
8. Failing to Train and Coach Management Staff
9. Not Building the Bench
10. Not Knowing How to Coach
11. Not Sharing the Vision with Those Who Have to Implement
12. Fostering a Culture of Learned Helplessness
13. No Methodologies and Systems
MIKE CRANDALL lives in Edmond, OK. He is a Consultant, Coach, Trainer, Speaker, and Author focused on the Subconscious Psychology of Human Interaction and Motivation. His firm specializes in Elevating Leadership, Management, & Sales Performance for Proactive Business Growth. Mike is based in Oklahoma and serves Visionary Clients across the United States.
He can be reached at Mike.Crandall@CGSOK.com or at (405) 844-1700
For more information, go to online to www.customgrowth.sandler.com
Now let me ask – how many of these 13 Blind Spots does your business or team struggle with? How much are they costing you? If you don’t know or don’t like the answers – find a Business Growth Consultant who can help.
OKC got a glimpse of what’s ahead with the MAPs-created streetcar system a few years ago. Starting next fall, almost two dozen additional stops will pop up as part of a four-component plan for public transit in the metro. p.2O
Want to start giving more to your community? Whether you are looking to direct funds from your business or your personal donations, here are some ways to educate yourself on giving in the 405 and a few places that could use your help.
BY MATT STANSBERRYWHY GIVE? If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so goes our community. When one person, one group or one area of our city is in need of help, it affects the entire ecosystem. Giving back is an opportunity to participate in a process of righting wrongs, lifting up others, loving neighbors, providing chances and altering the future for good.
We have a spirit of giving in OKC and it shows up on all levels of business here. From commu nity banks like Citizens Bank of Edmond and startups like EightTwenty to larger organizations like Love’s Travel Stops and the OKC Thunder, giving is central to the 405 business community.
There are excellent resources that can help align organizational passions with corporate giving. Here are just a few examples:
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has developed GiveSmartOKC as a platform to encourage informed giving. It contains informa tion about more than 300 local charitable orga nizations, including their programs, leadership, financials and how to support that charity. okc.roundtable.city occf.org/centraloklahomacharities/
The Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits is a non profit organization equipping and strengthening the Oklahoma nonprofit sector through training, consulting, advocacy, membership, networking and awards. They also provide insightful data, statistics and reports on nonprofit activity in the state of Oklahoma. okcnp.org
We simply have a lot of incredi ble nonprofits here in Oklahoma City that are doing some pretty remarkable things. Here are some nonprofits I personally recommend looking into:
Restore’s mission is building relation ships of reconciliation for restorative justice. They seek to serve the physi cal, social, emotional, educational and economic needs of our neighbors in Northeast Oklahoma City. restoreokc.org
C4K empowers kids to live health ier lifestyles and learn life les sons through sports by providing sports shoes and safe equipment to kids in need. okc.cleatsforkids.org
Sisu Youth Services
Their mission is to ensure that young people experiencing adversity have a safe place to sleep, the security to dream and the support to make a positive impact on the world. sisuyouth.org
These are just a few ideas. There are so many others making huge impacts and changing lives. I en courage businesses to explore and identify the causes and nonprofits that align with your organization’s purpose and passions.
Giving is the gift that keeps on giv ing as one changed life can have a positive impact on many. Business es make a big contribution in the 405 and have enormous influence on the trajectory of our city. Let’s continue moving forward with a heart of giving, knowing that our city will be better for it.
Cleats 4 Kids has served almost 150,000 kids with more than 200,000 sporting good items since starting 10 years ago. Matt Stansberry founder, CEO and partners of Nominee, a brand consultancy
Where do you get your news first?
Twitter. I make sure to follow legiti mate reporters and media outlets, and that’s typically where I can find the most up-to-date information. It is important that I start my day feeling fully informed, and Twitter does that best for me.
Amy Blackburn serves as the division director in marketing and communications for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, and she makes her case for why we need to subscribe to her department’s newsletter as well as why Paul Simon should still be on shuffle.
What app do you open first in the morning?
Email. Email is the first line of communication with my team and stakeholders. I like starting my day knowing that I’m totally on top of what’s going on so I can make a plan for the day that’s efficient and tackle only the most important things.
What newsletter always gets clicked open?
Oklahoma Department of Com merce New Pioneer. I’m a little biased on this one since my team produces the New Pioneer, but I like seeing what’s going on in the Oklahoma business landscape and identifying ways that the Oklahoma Department of Commerce can best serve our existing businesses.
What social accounts should we be following?
Shawn Ashley @QuorumCall Shawn. Shawn posts an early morning tweet thread each day that sums up what’s going on at the Capitol. It’s incredibly useful for what I do each day. Each morning, Shawn tweets out a recap of what’s happening in government from the day before. The thread usually hits around 5 a.m., and it helps me stay informed on the happenings in state government.
What books are making you think?
Meta Human by Deepak Chopra. This book is about finding your highest self and unleashing your highest potential. I always am in the pursuit of learning and improving, and this book offers an interesting take on both. I found it through Amazon recommendations.
What podcast do we need to be listening to?
Lewis Howes School of Greatness.
The School of Greatness is a podcast that includes guests that help listen ers be their best selves. From phys ical health to emotional and mental health, you can learn tips and tricks to really improve your well-being.
What music should we add to our playlist right now?
When I’m feeling down, “You can call me Al” by Paul Simon always cheers me up.
CITY: STEPHEN TYLER
LILLIAN MEADER;
Beer City Music Hall boasts an all-woman production team, a nod to the lawless no man’s land town with a rich, if short, history filled with take-charge women. Before Beer City occupied its spot in the rapidly developing Ironworks District — more than 100 years before, in fact — the original Beer
City was a pop-up town in the area between west Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Venue CEO Stephen Tyler said Beer City — the original — had a history of powerful women being a “force” even if on the wrong side of the law. He talks about a real-life brothel madam named Pussy Cat Nell by way of a tongue-incheek introduction to Beer City’s — the new venue — all-female production team.
“I know it’s anecdotal, but I’m pretty sure that 98% of production booths at music events are all-male teams, and we wanted to lean into that Beer City history,” Tyler said.
READ THE REST OF THE STORY ONLINE AT 405BUSINESS.COM
Business can be about more than profits. Use your skills and your business as a platform to do good.
BY JEREMIE KUBICEK PHOTO BY CHARLIE NEUENSCHWANDERWHY IN THE WORLD are you in business?
“I am in it to make money!” Some might say.
Others: “I got a business degree in college and just followed in my parents’ footsteps.”
Most people think of business as a job which earns a good salary to pay for a good lifestyle to raise a good family. And that is not bad. It is honorable.
Yet, there is more. What if you viewed business as a platform for good? What if it was more than just a job, more than just to-do lists and more than company politics? What if your work was a platform for impact – for doing good for others?
For decades, I have had a mantra to let the world fund me to impact it. What that means is that I use business to help people, and I know hundreds who are doing the same. Let me give you some examples:
• Suzi uses coaching and consulting to help people get healthy in their marriages and their work. They pay her well and she makes people better.
• Mark gets paid well by a few large corporations and takes a portion of those funds to apprentice young leaders with a program they can’t afford.
• Lance is on boards and works with clients to make a living but gives himself to people who wouldn’t have the chance to receive his counsel normally for free.
• I know of one company that gives more than 70 per cent of their profits to help a myriad of charities.
• Tim uses his restaurant to employ people who might not get a chance in other places.
Does this motivate you in any way?
Please don’t feel guilty that you might not be doing enough. The world doesn’t need the guilty to do things half-heartedly.
Instead, I want to inspire you to think about business differ ently. The truth is that there are millions of us business owners and business people who are using our work to do good. We just need more people to become more intentional and creative.
What has always been in your heart to do for others with your work?
• Could you tutor a young student through a program through your work?
• Would you be open to creating a fund to use to help those who are mentally or physically challenged?
• What if you create an apprenticeship pro gram and train young leaders on the ropes so they become liberators in our city?
• Would you be willing to match certain dollar amounts to give to something im portant to your family?
It doesn’t take much to make an impact. It might be this simple article that unlocks the dream that is inside of you.
That is the best of business – provid ing a service or product that people need to make life better. Make that personal. Add to it your superpowers so that you can turn your work and your business into a platform for good. It will do as much for you as it does for others.
Jeremie Kubicek uses his businesses (GiANT, billion, Six Summers, Culture Wins, etc.) as platforms for good. He is a seasoned author and his fifth book, The Peace Index, launches this fall.
That is the best of business –providing a service or product that people need to make life better.Jeremie Kubicek, founder of GiANT and author.
Joey Allen is no stranger to peer advisory groups. Over the years, he had been part of several within the transportation industry. “I always enjoyed what I learned and shared in those settings, and especially how I was able to help other people.”
When Joey took over as owner and CEO of Kings Worldwide Transportation, however, he had not been in a peer advisory group for some time. He decided to get involved again, but this time sought a more diverse organization, Vistage.
After almost three years, Joey knows he made the right choice for his membership. “I’m very grateful for the organizations I’ve been part of in the past, but Vistage offers a much more robust experience,” he explains.
Joey appreciates how Vistage’s nationwide resources and networking opportunities complement his “home” peer advisory group in Oklahoma City, led by Vistage Chair George Glover. “It’s nice to sit down in a room with other CEOs in the immediate area, because they have an understanding of the local economy and who we’re marketing our services to. Both the local and national aspects work very well together.”
Vistage is the world's leading executive coaching organization for CEOs and senior executives. Today more than 27,000 members in 26 countries rely on Vistage to help them outperform their competitors.
Learn more at vistage.com/chairs/george.glover and let’s talk by calling 405.509.1873.
Downtown’s streetcar system will get an infusion of support starting in fall 2023, when RAPID transit’s fixed guideway system is rolled out to 23 stops along three branches throughout Oklahoma City. It’s all part of a four-component, long-term plan for a comprehensive public transit system for the metro.
BY GREG HORTONTO SEE THE Oklahoma City streetcar as a standalone solution to public transit is to invite a variety of misapprehensions. The most common of those is: Why do I see a bunch of empty street cars when I’m downtown? Given the longterm plan, that’s like asking why the highways are nearly empty at different times of day. When downtown is viewed as the central hub for a mass transit system, the street car’s purpose as a downtown circulator is more apparent.
Based on the Fixed Guideways Study adopted by the City of Oklahoma City in 2006, the streetcar functions as a circulator at the terminal point of a network of transportation modes that include enhanced bus service, a rapid transit bus separate from normal bus service, and commuter rail. The four modes work together to “strengthen the Oklahoma City area’s employment and activity centers,” per the study’s verbiage.
“When the city adopted the study, there were four components to the long-term plan,” Mayor David Holt said. “The streetcar was the cheapest, so it was first. As part of MAPS III, it allowed us to check an entire box in the mass transit system plan.”
According to Embark’s numbers, the streetcar has already logged 221,000 passenger trips in 2022, up 26 percent from the previous year. Customer satisfaction is 39 percent above the national average, which means people who ride the streetcar are rating it relatively highly compared to other cities. The disconnect seems to be between the streetcar’s purpose and the general public’s perception of its current usefulness. Seen as part of the larger system, though, it’s already doing its job.
“We dug into the data and discovered that Monday to Friday ridership is only about 50 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, so we haven’t fully rebounded on daily ridership, but some of that is related to the rate at which people have returned to work,” said Jason Ferbrache, Embark director and OKC assistant city manager. “The weekend usage is much higher, with events and activities downtown, and our surveys show that much of the ridership is made up of visitors to Oklahoma City.”
In other words, the streetcar is doing what it was designed to do: circulate people around the urban core after they arrive downtown. Could usage be higher? Of course. And the next phase of the mass transit plan is likely to help that become a reality.
In 2019, Embark expanded the city’s bus service with Sunday hours on 16 routes for the first time in more than 50 years. At the time, Ferbrache noted that 67 percent of the bus service’s riders did not have access to a working personal vehicle, so the bus was critical in getting them to and from jobs. Oklahoma City’s lack of a robust and efficient mass transit system has long been an issue for large swaths of our work ing population – and for students at commuter colleges as well. Between volatile gas prices, insuf ficient coverage and inflation, getting to and from work is fraught with complications for work ing-class locals.
The expanded bus service and streetcar are two of the modes, and now construction has begun on a third mode: rapid bus service. Oklahoma City’s traditional bus service and the streetcar intersect at the Embark’s downtown transit center on Hudson Avenue between Northwest Fourth and Northwest Fifth streets. A rider simply needs to walk across the street to catch the streetcar after disembarking, and vice versa. RAPID (capitalized like an acronym, but it’s not) will add a third mode to the system by means of new buses running on a fixed guideway route, with the terminal points of the first branch at the downtown transit center and the Kilpatrick Station on Northwest Expressway.
For transportation non-experts, a fixed guide way system uses dedicated lanes and smart traf fic lights in existing traffic corridors to facilitate mass transit at a higher rate of speed. The new RAPID buses will use 23 different stops along three stems or branches: Northwest Expressway, Reno Avenue and Southwest 59th Street – three current enhanced bus routes. Rather than use existing stops, the new buses will utilize a network of raised platforms – much like the streetcar – now being constructed along the routes.
“This is the city’s first attempt to put high-capac ity transit where people live and work,” Ferbrache said. “The buses will arrive at the platforms about every 12 minutes, so there is no need for a sched
ule. We are planning multiple ‘park and ride’ spots along the routes, with the first being Lake Hefner at Meridian and Northwest Expressway.”
The goal is to make it possible for people in disparate parts of the city to drive to a location closer to home, jump on RAPID, and be at the Paycom Arena in half the time (or less) it would take to drive by car. Ferbrache said the new, dedi cated buses are different from standard city buses, with reliable Wi-Fi, charges for electronic devices and more stylization. The full launch is expected in fall 2023.
Currently, our transit system moves almost three million people per year in all modes, accord ing to Ferbrache. In 2022, we already hit 2.7 million by September. If Oklahoma City contin ues to grow, mass transit will become increasingly important in avoiding the worst kinds of traffic issues experienced by cities with high growth and inadequate infrastructure. The fourth mode – passenger rail – is expected to mitigate many of these potential problems. We’ll look at that mode in an upcoming feature.
UP Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority Fixed Gateway Study’s map of proposed future rapid transit stations (green), commuter rail stations (blue) and streetcar stations (red).If Oklahoma City continues to grow, mass transit will become increasingly important in avoiding the worst kinds of traffic issues experienced by cities with high growth and inadequate infrastructure.
Twenty year ago, Dr. Glenn Orr started Orr Family Farm. Now, almost 100,000 people visit the 107-acre operation each year. p.24
LOGAN WALCHER
Members of the Orr Family Farm team: Shanain Kemp, Rachel Cates, Kathy Stallings, Brandon Orr, Glenn Orr, Debbie Orr and Tom Orr.
Glenn Orr started Orr Family Farm almost 20 years ago after buying a small train to tote around his grandchildren. Now, almost 100,000 people visit the 107-acre operation each year.
BY MELANIE WILDERMAN PHOTOS BY LOGAN WALCHERIT’S NO SECRET: Fall, the season for cooler weather, a lot of football and controversial flavors of coffee, has become trendy in a way that seems likely to stick around for a while. And when people are looking for a spot with pumpkins and hay rides to create perfect autumn memories, thousands seek out Orr Family Farm—a sprawling 107-acre property in southwest Oklahoma City peppered with outdoor activities, fair-style games and food, and stunning photo opportunities.
“What really got us started was the train,” said Dr. Glenn Orr, a retired veterinarian who began working along with his family in 2003 to build Orr Family Farm into a family-friendly experience for the community.
Back when it first opened for business in spring 2004, the operation was modest, focusing on hosting birthday parties and offering train rides, pony rides, a carousel and a plastic maze. But since then, the business has expanded considerably and now offers more than 20 activities, including life-size foosball, giant slides (new in 2022), an intricate corn maze, a ropes course and a barnyard where guests can feed and pet goats, sheep, cows and llamas.
Originally Dr. Orr and his late wife Shari, who passed away from breast cancer in 2011, wanted a small train on their land to entertain their grand children, but then they kept upgrading.
“After I’d spent half a million dollars, I thought, ‘Hmmm, I wonder if the public would like this.’ So, we opened it up to the public,” Dr. Orr said.
Fall is their busy season. Tom Orr, Dr. Orr’s son and business partner, said last year the farm welcomed around 90,000 guests with about 65,000 of those visiting from September-November.
“It’s just a good place for families to come, espe cially weekends. You get complete families coming out together,” Tom said.
As indicated in the name, Orr Family Farm is a family business, with three generations working on staff, but even those employees who aren’t actually related say they quickly felt included as family.
Shanain Kemp, who started with the busi ness 16 years ago as a secretary booking birth day parties, said she originally intended to stay
about six months until she found something more permanent. Now, with the title of manager, Kemp reflected on how many visitors have created family traditions at the farm over the years.
“Now that we’ve been doing this for 19 years, kids who had their parties here are bringing their kids,” Kemp said.
Rachel Cates, another longtime employee who started in 2004 at age 15 as a guide for the birthday parties, is now lodging manager for the
Top and above: As Orr Family Farm grew, in 2019, the Orr family added modernized teepees and Conestoga wagons for lodging, complete with heating and air conditioning and other present-day amenities.As indicated in the name, Orr Family Farm is a family business, with three generations working on staff, but even those employees who aren’t actually related say they quickly felt included as family.
newest Orr Family Farm venture—the overnight glamping (glamourous camping) experience, which began in 2019.
Guests who glamp stay in either covered wagons or Native American-inspired teepees, both styles fitted with modern amenities: air conditioning and heating, refrigerators, microwaves and coffee makers. The glamping area features a 19-foot-long swim spa, a firepit, charcoal grills, picnic tables and a facility with bathrooms and showers.
“One of our original slogans, was ‘Always some thing new at Orr Family Farm,’ and we have stuck to that every year, adding one or more attractions or activities,” Dr. Orr said.
Dr. Orr said he knows his late wife Shari would be as happy as he is about all the new additions to what started as train rides for their grandchildren.
“I think she would love it,” he said. “I really do. She would love it as I have.”
Dr. Glenn Orr on his 107-acre property. Life-size chess set. The Orr family works to add new activities each year.DRTC connects people with disabilities to the workforce, partnering with more than 100 companies to provide contract employees after they receive training to help disabled workers gain needed skills.
BY EVIE KLOPP HOLZER
THE WORD “DISABLED” is limited by definition, noting a person’s phys ical or mental condition that limits movements, senses or activities. However, this “limited” notion is not the spirit that pervades DRTC, formerly known as the Dale Rogers Training Center. Since 1953, this innovative agency has been serving and supporting people with disabil ities, helping them discover their interests, hone their skills and prepare them for meaningful employment.
With a mission to connect people with disabilities to meaningful employment, the DRTC slogan, “Abil ity at work,” could not be more fitting.
One example is Tammy (who DRTC identifies by first name
only), a job seeker eagerly applying for caregiver positions within the community. She recently took care of an ailing family member, which sparked her interest in healthcare. She dreams of becoming a nurse. DRTC has worked with Tammy and her family to support her goals. In addition, DRTC classes and job coaches provide the training and tools she needs to enter the work force successfully.
“[They help me by] looking for jobs and practicing for an inter view in case I have to have an inter view – and how to answer a phone correctly,” Tammy said.
Tammy said life without a job can be rather dull. That’s why she
*Last name withheld at the request of DTRC.
Tammy* works alongside DRTC Executive Director Deborah Copeland.currently works in the DRTC Production Center, where the organization provides packaging, assembly, fulfillment and other hands-on services through more than 100 company contracts.
“I can get out of the house and not be bored. [Working] gives me something to do,” she said. “It makes me feel good and happy.”
People like Tammy are the reason DRTC Execu tive Director Deborah Copeland continually advo cates for disability inclusion in the workplace. Most recently, Copeland has spurred conversations with business leaders about adding disability consid erations to their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. While gender, race and sexual orientation are attributes commonly recognized in DEI programs, disability often gets overlooked.
“Statistically, 90 percent of businesses have some sort of initiative or focus to talk about DEI, but recent statistics are showing only four percent of those businesses include disabilities in those discussions,” Copeland said.
Copeland said DRTC provides many on-ramps for individuals with disabilities to find work. At the same time, DRTC is building on-ramps for Okla homa businesses, supporting company leaders who want to become more inclusive in their hiring.
“It’s important for the business community to understand that there are resources available for
them if they’re looking for an innovative work force,” Copeland said. “We try to emphasize [to companies] that what you’re doing is an invest ment. More than just creating a job for one person, you’re creating a job for a broader range and, really, for a new workforce.”
The Omni Hotel is one of many DRTC-busi ness partnerships. While the hotel was still under construction, management began collaborating with DRTC staff to identify employment opportu nities. Community Engagement Supervisor James Helm shared a story about Jacob, who currently works in the Omni’s laundry area after being active in many of DRTC’s programs. He grew up attend ing Camp Tumbleweed, a summer day camp for those with disabilities, and participated in the agen cy’s transition program after high school gradu ation. DRTC employment services helped him secure employment with the hotel.
Just like Jacob, Copeland knows Tammy will be a valuable employee to any company who hires her. She said she can’t wait to see what’s next for her.
“My favorite part is seeing people like Tammy reaching out, making new goals and dreaming new dreams – and their family seeing them in a new light, seeing their potential, and just seeing that transformation. It really is a transformation,” Copeland said.
Tammy* is a part of DTRC’s vocational services program, and she aspires to work as a nurse in the future.“My favorite part is seeing people like Tammy reaching out, making new goals and dreaming new dreams – and their family seeing them in a new light, seeing their potential, and just seeing that transformation. It really is a transformation.”
Deborah Copeland DRTC Executive Director
The Northeast 23rd Street corridor’s EastPoint development is entering phase three, and this time, a 77-room boutique hotel with retail micro bays is in the works, with the intention of stimulating more activity and development on Oklahoma City’s northeast side.
BY DANIELLE OBERLOIER PHOTO BY LOGAN WALCHER
IN 2016, a somewhat new-to-the scene develop ment team, Pivot Project, was approached by the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklaho ma City about developing on the east side, partic ularly the Northeast 23rd corridor.
Former lender turned Pivot Project co-founder and CEO Jonathan Dodson knew that to do it right, they couldn’t assume they knew what was right for the community.
That started with asking friend and long-time community development leader Sandino Thomp son to help steer the endeavor as a strategist and thought partner – with an equity stake in the proj ect. Thompson and Dodson met years prior, when serving on the Bricktown Urban Design Committee and MAPS neighborhood initiatives, and the topic of east-side development intentions had come up in the course of their growing friendship.
“A lot of times if you’re from the east side, you get called to be a Black face for some white developer who doesn’t really care what you think, care what you want, but just wants to be able to say, ‘we’ve got diversity’,” Dodson said. “We actually wanted it to be the opposite. If we’re going to go into his community and develop, he should be able to make decisions.”
In addition to Thompson’s stake, EastPoint tenants were offered 15 percent equity stakes –something rarely seen in projects of its kind.
With his northeast side upbringing and familial ties to the area, Thompson’s interest in the proj ect was also spurred by great conviction to see the Northeast 23rd corridor thrive after a long history of redlining and disinvestment in the area.
If Oklahoma City was experiencing a renaissance – the northeast side needed to be a part of it.
Thompson felt confident that the EastPoint development could be a catalyst for creating a sense of place, and he had been working and community organizing with Ward 7 Councilman John Pettis Jr. on the Northeast Renaissance Redevelopment Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District project.
“Oklahoma City has experienced this renaissance over the last 20-30 years, but it hadn’t reached the
east side. When these opportunities came up with Pivot, it meant that there were groups of stakehold ers and others who I could talk to,” Thompson said. “Here’s an opportunity, and I think it’s the right kind of developer – to partner with folks on the east side – and work with us in the community to do some thing that could be transformational.”
Getting moving had its hurdles. Particularly in the financial realm.
Phase one – which involved redeveloping the spaces now occupied by anchor tenant Centen nial Health, a community primary care clinic, and later The Market at EastPoint, a community-led grocery store working to create food access on the northeast side – took a while to get underway. Despite having support from civic leaders, the city and tax increment financing, a still-prevalent history of redlining made it difficult to secure the additional funding needed to push forward. After being turned down by approximately 30 banks –and in several instances being told that they would not lend to ‘that side of town’ – Citizens Bank of Edmond came through. With two loans added to the docket, Centennial, which had nearly pulled out of their lease during the lull time of finding a loan, was back on board.
By summer 2018, Centennial Health opened and began seeing patients. Its phase one partner, The Market at EastPoint, celebrated its muchawaited arrival later, in spring 2021. Phase two, comprising 13 retail units, began filling spaces mid 2020.
In spite of rocky beginnings, including the chal lenges of phase two coming to fruition while a pandemic was kicking into gear, one thing remains clear: EastPoint’s strength has been its foundation of collaboration and relationship building.
That remains true with its third and largest phase, The Hamlin Hotel, a four-story, 77-room boutique hotel, which will be situated across the
street from phases one and two, in the 1700 block of NE 23rd St.
In addition to Pivot and Thompson, The Hamlin Hotel team includes some familiar EastPoint partners, in addition to some newcomers. Sisters Erica Emery and Monique Short, co-founders of Monarch Properties, which they run out of their EastPoint location, are handling the build out. Emmy-Award winning rapper, activist and EastPoint business owner Jabee Williams is taking on a community engagement, art and culture role, while helping source future tenants.
They will also be joined by Cordell Love, East Point business owner and real estate developer, and hospitality experts and educators David Davis and Dar Yasseri. Gardner architecture studio, which
partnered in the design of phases one and two, will help bring the vision of The Hamlin to life.
Together, they are bringing intention and heart to every decision surrounding the project, right down to the name – which was inspired by A.C. Hamlin, Oklahoma’s first Black legislator.
“If we wanted to be stewards of keeping the momentum going, then we had to figure out what we were going to do to complete the development, versus just leaving a vacant lot across the street,” Thompson said.
For Thompson and the development team, phase three had some must-have planning boxes that needed to be checked: the next phase would need to complement the work they’d already done, create opportunity, be a place for people to gather,
and not only serve the community and nearby residents, but also drive traffic to the businesses at EastPoint and the northeast corridor.
Hospitality was the answer.
“There’s not really anywhere to stay unless you go downtown, or you have to go far north of 1-35 and Second street,” Short said.
The Hamlin will be the closest hotel to the Adventure District – with hopes of drawing in guests of the Oklahoma City Zoo and Science Museum, Remington Park, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum and other popu lar attractions. But they knew hospitality alone wouldn’t accomplish their goals; they needed a way to drive density and stimulate more economic growth in the area.
That’s how they landed on a hospitality approach with a heavy dose of retail. The ground floor of the hotel will feature seven ready-made retail spaces averaging 600 square feet.
“The key for us was to do micro bays, where we could create access that didn’t exist in EastPoint already,” Thompson said. “Because 20 percent of businesses will fail in the first year – even a higher percentage for food and beverage operations – it’ll give them the opportunity to fail, and then be able to get back up and try the next thing.”
Breaking down barriers – a common goal from phases one and two – is something the team is still stewarding in The Hamlin project, along with cultivating a sense of belonging for community members.
A rendering of the Hamlin Hotel, which will be a boutique hotel with 77 rooms and four stories. The hotel will be across from other recent developments in the 1700 block of Northeast 23rd Street.“Giving people the opportunity to have smaller spaces to start their business in, or to continue to grow a business that they may be in — a co-work ing space, a shared kitchen or working out of their home — just having that entry level, it’s not as high of a barrier,” Short said. “Our goal is that the feel that you have at EastPoint bleeds across the street.”
For the team, the accessibility factor also comes down to pricing – ensuring that everything from the hotel rates and amenities to the types of retail options available don’t exclude those living nearby.
“Hotels are changing in a way where they need to serve not just the guests that are in them, but the surrounding community,” said Candace Baitz, Pivot Project partner and vice president of acquisitions and development.
Hamlin certainly intends to do so.
In addition to the micro retail units, the hotel will feature a pool, two bar spaces and an event space that will serve up to 150 people. The pool will offer day passes for non-guests.
“It’s multifaceted. It also gives us another place to gather. Kindred has done a really good job of bringing the community together,” said Short, who pointed out that the spaces in EastPoint’s phase two don’t necessarily have the capacity for entertainment and gathering that The Hamlin will provide. “Having the event space, having the
two bars, having the pool, gives us more places to gather in this area that are obviously needed by the amount of business they’re able to attract.”
The Hamlin project received approval for $3,888,000 in tax increment financing as of August 2022 and the group plans to break ground late fall. As design and buildout proceed, the team will be working with the community to secure tenants for the retail spaces.
Williams, who will once again be playing a strong role in that department, sees the potential for The Hamlin and continued growth of EastPoint to be a beacon for the neighborhood and other businesses.
“Not only what’s possible for other people, but what’s possible for us. This community. People who live here, people who grew up here, people
who look like me. We’ve seen these kinds of things happen in other parts of the city, but not just for us – never for us,” said Williams. “There were other places in the city that were flourishing Black districts or parts of town, flourishing Black areas, and now, there’s not even a trace of any of us. No way to even know we were ever even there.”
For Williams, and the Pivot team, The Hamlin is about perseverance, hope and future looking.
“I want 15-20 years from now, no matter what it looks like, people to know this was Black people,” Williams said. “For it to have Black ownership –Black partners, is an example of how we can buy back the block, and really help other entrepreneurs. And be an example in a real way of the right way to develop a community.”
“People who live here, people who grew up here, people who look like me. We’ve seen these kinds of things happen in other parts of the city, but not just for us – never for us.”
— Jabee Williams, EastPoint business ownerMonique Short, Jabee Williams, Candace Baitz, Jonathan Dodson, Sandino Thompson and Greg Johnson.
Your local spot to network, fundraise, morale-boost, offsite, mix-and-mingle, launch the product, and host the afterparty
WE’RE BOUNCING BACK: In 2021, individual giving was up 4.9 percent from 2020 to $337 billion; foundation giving shot up 3.4 percent to north of $90 billion, and corporations kicked in $21 billion, which was an increase of 23.8 percent from the dark days of 2020, all according to national philanthropy reporting.
Giving is woven into the fabric of our country, and while Oklahoma ranks in the middle with the amount we give (coming in at No. 22 on American Endowment Foundation’s Charitable Giving Rank), we do boast many significant charitable corporations and foundations giving millions each year to improve our state.
The Purpose & Impact Awards celebrate those companies, leaders and organizations who make significant contributions to the greater social good in our region. We selected these winners after a month-long nomination process from our readers and through conversations with Oklahoma City leaders working in corporate giving, foundations and nonprofit organizations.
Financial contributions are just a tangible measure of giving back. Many others are the hands and feet of change – giving second chance employment, a place to stay for the night or needed skill-building training. And, whatever the mission, the results are the same: Those recognized with these awards are and will continue working to build a better, stronger community for all.
Jill Castilla first wanted to be a banker because of the George Bailey-like bank in her hometown in Okmulgee. Now, as president, CEO and vice chairman of Citizens Bank of Edmond, she credits a lot of the same philosophies to how she financially turned around the bank and funded redevelopments around town – all while making a national name for herself and the bank.
WHEN JILL CASTILLA WAS A 16-YEAR old growing up in Okmulgee, she bagged groceries at the local
Homeland. Often, she’d carry out the groceries of the local bank chairman Lurlene Mabrey.
“The reason I wanted to go into banking was because of the chairman of the local bank in Okmulgee,” Castilla said. “She had such an ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ George Bailey persona. That’s why I’m a banker – I got to see that George Bailey bank in action.”
Jill Castilla is now president, CEO and vice chairman of Citizens Bank of Edmond, a local, community bank with more than 100 years in the community, working to recreate that George Bailey bank in Edmond.
She took command of the bank eight years ago and has shepherded its financial turnaround and community takeover since. That turnaround has occurred outside the typical model of community bank growth of acquiring smaller banks or being acquired by bigger banks. Instead, Castilla put the focus on community development and employee engagement with an employee stock ownership program. This approach both stabilized the bank that she had to work out from under a federal regu latory enforcement order review when she arrived, and it also has led to significant and steady growth during the last decade.
“We have just seen time and time again, if we do good, we will do well,” she said. “If we do the right thing and then the next right thing, and we really do have the intention to help the community, the bank will benefit financially. Whenever you do this good, other people and customers are attracted to you and they want to do good too – and everyone has a financial result as well.”
That approach has lead Citizens Bank of Edmond now to have $354 million in total assets, an increase from about $250 million when Castilla took over. In addition, the bank produces a 1 percent return on its assets and keeps liquidity for its shareholders.
“But these stable earnings leave a lot of room to do good for our community,” Castilla said.
Doing good for Castilla means finding ways to develop parts of the community around her. The bank started Heard on Hurd in 2014, a street festival in downtown Edmond featuring more than 60 retail and food vendors, pop-up shops and live performances. The festival start ed after the bank consolidated branches to fo
cus and remain at their original location in down town Edmond. Castilla said she wanted to work to revitalize where the bank started. This year, Heard on Hurd will have nine sessions, and sits among a downtown that now boasts more than 75 businesses.
“When we started Heard, downtown was really struggling,” she said. “We thought, ‘How can we make downtown Edmond be seen as a destination?’ And it has exceeded any expectations that we had. We serve this community. This is about building community and serving and creating the neighbor hood block again. We want to be the neighborhood hero. If our neighbor is in need, we need to be the one that is helping.”
The helping-your-neighbor philosophy spills beyond the bank’s Edmond neighbors and into Oklahoma City, as well. Citizens Bank of Edmond also financed the first commercial project on the northeast side of Oklahoma City in 40 years – and funded projects many other financial lenders would not agree to fund.
“Thirty banks had told the Eastpoint project no,” she said. “We told them, ‘We’ll find a way to get to yes.’ It was really special to us. The people and projects are so motivating to our entire staff. And for us to see so many in our community impacted and for us to spend our resources to see that wide range of revitalization – it’s been lovely to be a part of.”
Being present in the gaps presented by ineq uities is a theme for Castilla. Recently, she saw an upcoming event for a Federal Reserve workshop
about supporting black female entrepreneurs. She showed up and she was the only banker there.
“Black women small business owners have trou ble with communication from the bank for both perceived and real barriers,” she said. “We need to make sure we are present in different communities, and if there are gaps, we want to understand their challenges with their bank and try to ensure those barriers are removed.”
Stabilizing the bank, revitalizing downtown Ed mond and funding redevelopment projects in northeast Oklahoma City were just a warm up act for Castilla to have an impact on a national level. When COVID hit, and many of her clients began struggling almost immediately, she went into hyperdrive.
“I got a call from the Tower Theater, and they were seeing some cancellations with their shows; this was early on in March 2020,” she said. “We met really quickly with Tower, and we could see it happening. That meeting was so impactful and spurred us to start thinking about, ‘What solutions do we need at a federal level so small businesses don’t get crushed?’”
She then learned the first round of stimulus checks would be delayed.
“I filled up five whiteboards to see how I could get liquidity to these small businesses,” she said. “I called every single business customer to see if they needed deferments.”
If we do the right thing and then the next right thing, and we really do have the intention to help the community, the bank will benefit financially. Whenever you do this good, other people and customers are attracted to you and they want to do good too – and everyone has a financial result as well. — JILL CASTILLA
Then things took off: Venture capitalist Mark Cuban, of Shark Tank and Dallas Mavericks fame, tweeted that he needed a “very agile FDIC, SBA preferred lender bank” that he could work with to get “cash advances into people’s hands ASAP.” Contacts started bombarding Castilla telling her she was the banker Cuban needed, and after she emailed a pitch of what she thought could be done, Cuban was on the phone with her to make it work.
“Mark called me after I emailed him a solution,” she said. “He didn’t like my first solution because I was trying to solve all the world’s problems, and he just wanted me to serve my community.”
So, she did what she’s been doing for years: She implemented her plan locally and banks started flooding her with requests to do the same in their communities.
“Three hundred banks and credit unions contacted us for our approach,” she said. “We were the matchmaker for thousands of loans for banks across the nation. Mark and I were convers ing nonstop, and he would amplify any message I had to his audience.”
The two collaborated again when they stream lined the loan forgiveness application later in the pandemic. The application was 11 pages long and complicated, she said.
“Mark texted, ‘We’ve got to find a solution for this,’” she said. “I responded, ‘On it.’”
Eleven days later, they deployed a website, ppp. bank, that automated the application and created a PDF to provide to lenders. More than 250,000 busi nesses used it in the first week. Later, data collection companies offered to pay tens of millions of dollars for all the data that ppp.bank collected, but she never sold.
“We knew these businesses were trusting us with the data,” she said. “It was invigorating to see what an impact you could have and be able to mobilize resources of like-minded partners. It was really special. And I really believe that like attracts like, and you will get partners that have that same mindset.”
Castilla, who enlisted in the Army at 19 and married a now-retired Lieutenant Colonel, and who has raised three children – a West Point graduate and Army officer, a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman and a high school senior just named to the NextGen Under 30 Recognition Program – the kind of life she’s lead and the bank she’s transformed are just what you do.
“The challenges of life are what create the oppor tunities of life,” she said. “The challenges of the bank were to overcome its darkest days and transform itself into something very special. Those challenges make you understand it wasn’t those fancy names that helped us; it was those individuals that keep their deposits here that make us who we are. They will come running to you just like you would come running to them.”
How very George Bailey, indeed.
Jill Castilla speaks at a Heard on Hurd event, which has grown since its inception in 2014 to the nine different sessions it will host in 2022.JENNY LOVE MEYER , Love’s Chief Culture Officer, watched her parents create the culture of Love’s – one that works to engage with employees’ needs and is generous with the communities where stores are located – throughout her life.
That culture is what she now cultivates in her role at the company, a new position created in 2020 to focus on preserving the company’s culture, but where she’s been helping to lead for the last 31 years.
“Our culture started with my parents from the early days of the company,” she said. “They were explicit in wanting to help the community. My mom often quoted John F. Kennedy, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ She really lives by this. As an organization and a family, it is embedded in what we do. This is our home, and we want to make it better.”
Since starting in the 1960s, Love’s has given millions to the local community, and expanded that outreach to the other 42 states where they now have locations. Two percent of Love’s net profits go to charitable organizations in Oklahoma and nationwide, with the bulk of those dollars staying in Oklahoma. As a private company, Meyer steers clear of giving specific totals on donation amounts, but it’s well into the millions every year – with noticeable donations like the $12 million recent gift to build the new University of Oklahoma’s women’s softball stadium. Or the $150,000 for three years to the Urban League of Oklahoma City to fight racial inequities in the area. Or the $40 million the organization – along with customer donations –has given to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in the last 23 years.
“We think you will look into the community, and you will see that we are able to do a lot,” she said. “I think the impact that we have should be felt in the nonprofit project campaigns and that it speaks for itself. We are not doing this because we want press coverage; we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do.”
OUTSTANDING PURPOSE-LED BUSINESS
BUSINESS
LARGE
B&H Construction owners Ronnie and Donnie Beller treat their 40-plus-year-old pipeline construction business more like a ministry –and helps many of its employees have a second chance at life — than a traditional business.
“Our business plan is to go and make disciples,” Ronnie said. “We do that by pouring into our employees. Our growth is a byproduct of working to make disciples. We’ve sustained that growth because our focus is on our employees.”
The twin brothers took over B&H Construction, a company their father started in 1981, with the sole focus of ministering to their employees, many of whom come in need of second-chance employment after years with drug abuse or other struggles.
The approach has worked: When the brothers took over in 2009, B&H had about 150 employees. Today, they employ more than 600. And, starting in 2012, the company saw 600 percent growth in a period of six years. Today, the company continues to see steady growth, adding about 100 new employees a year. Ronnie attributes
this growth to the commitment to focusing on creating quality employees and giving his employees the training and help they need.
“We pray to God that we would be faithful to minister to the people that God puts before us,” he said. “When you go the extra mile for someone, they will walk that next extra mile with you.”
That extra mile comes in the form of financial and skill-building classes for employees and loans to help them buy cars and houses as they repair their credit. In addition, the company employs four fulltime pastors who help during the hiring process and then mentor the employees looking for a fresh start.
“We meet them wherever they are,” Ronnie said. “God gave us a vision of how work should look through the lens of faith. We know if we give them a fish, we’ve fed them for a meal, but if we teach them how to fish, we will have fed them for life.
“Our faith should be lived out in our work, if it is lived out anywhere,” he said. “How do you work those things together? We don’t know how to do it any other way.”
DAN STRAUGHAN FOUNDED the Homeless Alliance in 2004 after a career in finance. At the time, he was the sole team member, but he quickly moved to gather a collection of like-minded volunteers who – in his words – thought there was a smarter way to do homeless services.
“That group eventually became my board,” Straughan said. “We borrowed offices in the back of what was then Union Bank in Capitol Hill, and then began to grow relationships with government agencies, NGOS and faith-based organizations in an organic way.”
That network of relationships now comprises more than 100 organizations that work in homeless services. Last year, the Homeless Alliance served nearly 9,001 clients, and last year, they’ve moved 858 clients into permanent housing. The diverse collection of resources means that the alliance can respond to problems proactively and reactively.
“Early on, we had to respond to a situation where some wellmeaning individuals had opened shelters that weren’t really fit for human habitation,” Straughan said. “We coordinated with all of our overnight shelters to pick everyone up and provide appropriate shelter.”
It’s the cooperation between agencies that makes the Homeless Alliance so effective. The work they do now requires a staff of roughly 130 full and part-time employees. The focus of the agencies is directed toward different demographics, all of which are prone to experience homelessness or are currently homeless: veterans, prisoners reentering the community, refugees from domestic violence, those with mental illness and single-parent families.
“The bulk of our resources are directed toward housing,” Straughan said. “Once a month, we gather volunteers and professionals, and we look at the whole city – including homeless camps and coverage areas – and the needs and resources of the agencies under our banner to provide better, more efficient services.”
The end result is a coordinating agency that takes seriously the fulfillment of their mission statement: rallying our community to end homelessness.
MICHAEL MYERS has never fancied himself a cowboy.
In fact, Myers grew up working class in the Oklahoma City metro as a self-described “artsy, theater kid who loved choir.” And despite being a valedictorian, his high school counselor told him to have a back-up plan, “just in case college isn’t in the works for you.”
In a long, life-theme of proving people wrong, Myers instead paid for college as he went, working two to three jobs at a time to make his way through. Upon graduation, he wanted to work in the nonprofit realm, with the ultimate goal of serving as an executive director. After a stint at the Oklahoma Zoological Society, he landed at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. For the choir kid, he wasn’t sure the boots would fit. So until he knew, he started by connecting with people.
“There are a lot of aspects that are part of the Western story that the public doesn’t perceive, but I still didn’t know how I’d fit in at first,” he said. “But I knew I needed to find a way to connect with people and get them invested. And the only way to do that is to invest in them too. It’s really important to me to understand people as people and to put yourself in their shoes and see where they are coming from.”
That people-first outlook got noticed. Beginning in development, he quickly rose through the ranks to serve as The Cowboy’s Chief Financial Officer, and he has worked now at the museum for more than 12 years.
“When I got here, we had not made budget in 12 years,” he said. “In the first 12-18 months, we started reaching budget goal. And now, I’m the longest tenured person in this position. We’ve seen a lot of change here during my time. It’s been a great opportunity to do what I enjoy, and we’ve really built a bridge in the community of people like me that didn’t understand that The Cowboy had something for them as well.”
And now after more than a decade building and balancing The Cowboy, last month he became the new executive director of Oklahoma Children’s Theater. The “artsy, theater kid” found his home.
Still, his work at The Cowboy lives on.
“My time at The Cowboy ended up being more than I ever thought it could be,” he said. “I had to defeat my own perceptions of self-doubt: I’m not a cowboy and I don’t look like what people think of when they hear about cowboys. But in the end, those things empowered me and helped me find my place and helped me get over my thoughts that I didn’t belong.
“I have loved watching the blossoming of people and getting to watch them grow as people and professionals. I am incredibly proud of what we have been able to do here. I started out from a place initially of ‘Where will I fit?’ to finding a place where I belong.”
SCOTIA MOORE is a connector. That’s not a small thing. Putting the right people together, bringing them into conversation with each other can ignite change, generate better ideas and lead to more efficient, equitable processes.
She and her husband Stephan moved to Oklahoma City in 2009 to continue their work in camp ministries – specifically, Shiloh Camp, a 40-acre Christianbased camp in Oklahoma City. She’s a native of Maryland; he’s from Cushing, Oklahoma.
“We’ve been in camp ministry for all our adult lives,” Moore said. “My background is as
a practitioner working in a non-profit space, and that allows me to see a different perspective from our funders or resource partners.”
What Moore knows as well as anyone in the field is that nonprofits need revenue, and often that revenue comes from individuals or organizations that don’t know what the day-today looks like or may have a passion for the cause but no practical experience in the space. COVID was the initiating cause to get funders and practitioners together. Not long after, the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery revealed that
the distance between practitioner and resource partner was in some cases starker than anyone realized. Moore did the best thing she knew to do; she started conversations with concerned parties, some of which ended up in a digital journal called The Loom. The initial groups of funders in conversation began to ask important questions about racial reconciliation and the gaps we see in outcomes and access to funding.”
Moore puts people at a table together and encourages the conversation, much of it focused on those gaps, but also on processes and day-to-day and systemic problems. Ideally, they listen to each other, and in Moore’s words, they learn to be generous together and to move from funder and practitioner to partners in the work.
RESTOREOKC DIRECTOR CAYLEE DODSON was working at Restore Saint Louis when the protests surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown made Ferguson, Missouri, a focus of national attention. At the time, the ministry had 38-years’ experience working for racial reconciliation in the deeply divided city. A group from Oklahoma City approached her and asked if she could bring her experience to OKC. The Daniel Holtzclaw trial in 2015 had – in Dodson’s words – “...highlighted that the community is still fragmented around race and income.”
“They asked if I’d consider moving back to Oklahoma City,” the Oklahoma State graduate said. “Shortly after we moved back, a study was released on Northeast OKC that showed an 18-year disparity in average life expectancy between the northeast side and other parts of the metro. I just thought that it was something the church shouldn’t be okay with.”
Dodson set out to foster community-engaged and community-led change, beginning with a commitment to learn and communicate where trust had been broken and what it would take to help the community thrive again. The first major project that landed on her desk was a request from Ralph Ellison Library. Then Governor Mary Fallin had cut childcare and pediatric health subsidies, leaving the library in desperate need of volunteers and resources.
“They asked how many background-checked, trained adults we could get into the building as fast as possible,” Dodson said. “By the end of that summer, we were feeding 125 kids breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, making Restore Schools our first ‘R.’”
RestoreOKC now runs three other ‘R’ divisions: Restore Farms, Restore Homes and Restore Jobs. All programs have to fall under one of the organization’s areas of emphasis: health, environment, reconciliation and equity. The most pressing needs right now, according to Dobson, are access to food and affordable housing.
RestoreOKC relies on a staff of seven full-time staff, 20 part-time and more than 1,500 volunteers to carry out their mission.
“We watched a 250-year-old city explode in St. Louis,” Dodson said. “We’d like to be part of helping this 100-year-old city avoid the same outcome.”
OUTSTANDING PURPOSE-LED NONPROFIT
OKLAHOMA CITY REPERTORY THEATER artistic director Kelly Kerwin wants you to know that the professional theater company does not do “mom and dad’s theater.”
“You’ll never see their version of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at our shows,” Kerwin said. “One of my main goals as artistic director is to introduce the idea to Oklahoma City that we need to reimagine a play for what our city or space is. Design should speak to the place and not just try to do the same performance that was staged in the past.”
Kerwin assumed her role in July 2021, a time when seemingly everyone was trying to understand how to move forward postpandemic. The Yale graduate (She earned her master’s in fine arts there.) faced big challenges: no infrastructure, very small staff, too few systems and no office space. Those are organizational issues, but there were community-facing issues, too.
“The overall sense I got when I arrived was the Oklahoma City was used to Shakespeare, musicals and a small body of specific plays,” Kerwin said. “Nothing wrong with any of those things, but that’s not our mission. I want people to know that our job is to push the form, not into the avant-garde category. No one should leave the theater feeling stupid, and avant-garde does that sometimes. That’s not who we are.”
Instead, Kerwin said she focuses on a few specific tasks beyond her primary duty to develop and execute an artistic vision.
“I’m trying to find the needle and move it, so that Oklahoma City gets shows that present modern forms that speak to who we are.”
That means upping diversity, both in casting and creators, making theater more accessible, both in form and cost, and developing a stable of professional local actors so we’re less dependent on imported talent. She’s well on her way in terms of diversifying the shows and actors, and pricing will follow.
“Too many shows are too expensive,” she said. “I was a student struggling to finish school, and I know I couldn’t have afforded $75 or $100 for a ticket. Theater is for everyone, so we’re working on adding a sliding scale approach that makes the performances accessible to a much broader audience.”
OUTSTANDING NONPROFIT INNOVATIONWe think you will look into the community, and you will see that we are able to do a lot. I think the impact that we have should be felt in the nonprofit project campaigns and that it speaks for itself. We are not doing this because we want press coverage; we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do.
JENNY LOVE MEYER, LOVE’S CHIEF CULTURE OFFICERNANCY ANTHONY describes her life as a “perfect storm of good luck,” which is a pretty humble way to describe 38 years spent developing the Oklahoma City Community Foundation.
When Anthony became executive director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in 1985, it had assets of $20 million and one other full-time employee.
As of 2021, the foundation now has assets of more than $1.6 billion, 47 fulltime employees, and makes average annual distributions to the Oklahoma City community of $46 million. That’s more than twice the amount of annual distributions now than the foundation had in total assets when she started.
“I don’t want to take credit for all this,” she said. “What I am proud of is we really do have an institution in Oklahoma City that is community based, and it is very geared towards local philanthropy. And that didn’t exist before.
It’s not just my thing or John Kilpatrick’s thing. It’s the community’s thing.”
She’s quick to deflect attention from herself and back to the staff she helped create and then cultivate during her tenure.
“I was just the cherry on the top of the ice cream,” she said. “It does take a whole staff when an organization is as big as we became. “
Anthony is from Kentucky, and she has two master’s degrees from Yale. She finished her doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma after following her husband here. Her educational path didn’t lead her to her work at the founda tion, but that didn’t dissuade her at all.
“It was fortunate to have fallen into something that worked well and I was interested to do,” she said. “What did I think I was going to do? This was clearly not part of the deal. Bloom where you are planted. This is where I am, and this is the skill set I have.
“Serve people well. Whatever you do, try and do it well.”
CATHY O’CONNOR has had her hand on just about every major development in Oklahoma City’s renaissance.
She left an almost-three-decade long tenure working for the City of Oklahoma City to start The Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City in 2011. The separate nonprofit contracted with the city and public agencies to work on economic development and redevelopment work around the city.
“It’s always great to have an organization or entity that has a focus on trying to create jobs, create a better quality of life and work to redevelop distressed areas,” she said. “And that’s what I really think is a gift that The Alliance gives to the city: It’s the group that wakes up and goes to work and that’s what they want to do. They can focus and work very hard to make Oklahoma City a better place.”
And focus she has. She’s worked on revitalizing downtown OKC, helping bring the Omni hotel to the area and redevelop areas of town otherwise blighted.
“I really think a lot about the transformation in downtown Oklahoma City,” she said. “It was a place no one really wanted to go in the late 90s, and so much of what has been built was built in the last 15 years. And The Alliance was very much a part of that. We’ve been involved in the land for Scissortail Park, and land for the convention center. And all of that development came together. It’s been good urban-planning-type principles pushed forward through tax incentives.”
After leading The Alliance since its inception 11 years ago, she’s now opened her own consulting firm working with cities and developers across the nation. She said The Alliance can serve as a model for what can be done when city government, public agencies and nonprofits work together for public good.
“Pulling the rope in the same direction, we can get the impossible done,” she said.
former Oklahoma City Community Foundation executive director
Cathy O’Connor
The Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City former president and CEO
ROY WILLIAMS became president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber 18 years ago, working in a much different city than the one he is now set to spend his retirement years enjoying.
“We worked to make this a better place,” he said. “Once you make this a better place, suddenly businesses are attracted to it. It breeds more and more opportunity for you to be successful as a community. We’re working to build a better community. And when you build a better community, now you have something to sell.”
In Williams’ tenure, he worked closely on almost all of the major projects that helped transform the city. Projects like the new convention center, the Omni Hotel development, growth at Tinker Air Force Base and the formation of the Innovation District are just a few of the big-name projects completed in recent years. And during his tenure, he’s credited with bringing more than 88,000 new jobs to the metro area and an additional $7 billion in capital investment.
“I was a collaborator, and I was able to help identify people that I could bring to the table that could help solve problems and build
a bigger, better city,” he said. “You have to be able to convince city leaders that these problems are important, and they can help solve them.”
Williams spent a long time working to fix what was broken in Oklahoma City, and he said the next generation of Oklahoma City economic development leadership needs to stay the course.
“It’s not broken,” he said. “I don’t know that anyone needs to come in here and say, ‘I need to take this in a new direction.’ You need to work hard on the collaboration and relationships civic leaders and corporate leaders and elected leaders have made and get their commitment to keep this momentum going.
“When can we rest? When can we stop doing what we’re doing? The moment you slow down or stop, your competition blows past you. This is a marathon. You can’t stop. You can’t stop and say we need to enjoy where we are. Your competition would eat you alive. You have to wake up and run faster than your competition. Never slow down. Feel like tomorrow you have to do 100 percent more than you did yesterday.”
We’re proud to present powerful women leaders guiding OKC businesses to success. Empowering women to lead can have direct, financial benefits to the forward-thinking companies that chose such bold direction. We salute these companies – and these women – who are shaping the business landscape in the 405.
Adaptation Financial, Inc is an Oklahomabased Hybrid Independent Registered Investment Advisory firm focusing on helping clients build a legacy with a roadmap to their financial future. This focus is met through the firm’s variety of financial services – insurance assessment, property & casualty, estate planning, retirement strategies, investments, education funding, and business solutions.
“I began my career with a passion for helping women discover that they can control their finances, and this passion remains my main focus today,” said financial advisor Jill Olsen. “Whether a woman is single, married, or divorced, they need to know that they can take charge of their financial world.”
Adaptation Financial, Inc. operates on
a family-oriented culture that welcomes voices from all fronts. The firm has a vision for the care and services provided today to continue to be provided in the future. The goal is for our grandchildren to be helping our clients’ grandchildren in the future.
To bring this vision to light, Adaptation recognizes the importance of diversity on the leadership team.
Women on the leadership team are creating a pathway for future generations. The legacy of the firm is beginning with Avery and Ashton Niemann – daughters of CEO and Founder Alan Niemann.
Adaptation Financial female leadership team members are:
• Shanon Rivera, Executive Assistant to CEO and Founder;
• Avery Niemann, Chief Administrative Officer
• Ashton Niemann, (Future) Director of 403B Business
• Jordan Collier, Director of Marketing
• Krista Paramore, VP of Talent Acquisition and Development
• Jennifer Johnson, Director of Operations and Development.
Why Adaptation Financial? Because adaptation is a process of adjustment, of transformation. Adaptation is what you do to thrive in changing conditions. Adaptation is what we do to help you achieve success— however you define it.
Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Financial planning services through Adaptation Financial Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Cambridge and Adaptation Financial Advisors are not affiliated.
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The Specialized Recruiting Group, a division of Express Employment Professionals offers an individualized approach to professional placement that focuses on recruiting and professional consulting at the highest levels of business leadership and C-suite positions.
Led by Bettye Taylor, a 29-year veteran in the recruiting arena, her team facilitates a tailored employment solution to each of their client companies by providing a customized search strategy to find candidates who cannot be reached through traditional methods of recruitment.
Professional staffing is more relevant than ever because the job market is more competitive than ever and finding a recruiting partner that can do the legwork for companies to seek out not only competent candidates but candidates that really fit, is an invaluable resource. SRG’s success lies in a targeted approach as opposed to others who rely on a shotgun approach. The difference is in listening.
“The most important thing I can say we do is that we really listen. I see what we do as a privilege and a mission to help companies thrive by providing quality talent and you can only do that if you truly listen. This is about the long-term relationship, not the quick transaction,” says Bettye Taylor.
The Specialized Recruiting Group is a tenured team and under Bettye’s leadership you can count on their consistency and commitment to this community and to their clients across the following industries: Accounting & Finance, Information Technology, Engineering & Manufacturing, Creative Professionals, Human Resources & Operations, Legal and the Non-Profit sector.
So, when it’s time to Hire Higher, contact Bettye Taylor and her team at the Specialized Recruiting Group.
BETTYE TAYLOR, CPSS REGIONAL DIRECTOR 405.717.8382
A passion for community service. It is what husband and wife Dick and Glenna Tanenbaum are passionate about. For 25 years, the team watched Garnder Tanenbaum Holdings grow into the company it is today. “Our love for Oklahoma City and our desire to work side-by-side with our children is what drove us to build our company into what it is today – an international development firm with a worldwide reputation for excellence,” said Owner Glenna Tanenbaum.
“I aspire to be a leader in this industry,” said Representative Associate Jacquelyn Skurkey. Legacy Financial Advisors assists clients with future financial planning by providing them peace of mind. “People sometimes feel overwhelmed and avoid planning for their financial future,” said Jacquelyn. “So, they put off creating a strategy. However, by offering a road map for them to follow, we can assist business owners and individuals with a means to convert their hard work and goodwill into an income stream they can’t outlive.”
Gardner Tanenbaum Holdings has served Oklahoma City and surrounding communities for over 60 years specializing in aerospace, industrial, commercial and multi-family developments. “To our family, the work we do is much more than buying and selling properties,” said Tanenbaum. “We take pride in contributing to Oklahoma’s economic expansion by developing communities where families can work and live comfortably. We are committed to making Oklahoma City an even better place than it already is.”
Jacquelyn and Legacy Financial Partners, LLC, invest in the local community. Located in Oklahoma City, they understand that unexpected changes are a part of life and focus on helping people achieve today’s reality with tomorrow’s dreams. Legacy Financial Advisors helps clients with complex topics such as investments, estate planning, major purchases, benefit selections and business succession planning.
The talented women in leadership roles are attributed with helping guide Gardner Tanenbaum’s success. Chief Operating Officer Cindy Murillo implements all aspects of the company, including project development, contract coordination and site planning.
“We assist clients in developing a comprehensive personal plan for various stages of life,” said Jacquelyn. “Our ideal client is someone who values professional advice and may realize they are not experts in everything. Small business owners also need professional guidance to help with cash flow management, cost controls, self-employment taxes, tax mitigation strategies and succession planning.”
Principal Becky Tanenbaum-Mallace, daughter of Dick and Glenna, oversees Tanenbaum Equity Partners – a subsidiary for real estate investments. Finally, Human Resources Director Debbie Bruner maintains more than thirty organizations in addition to accounts payable.
Jacquelyn is passionate about being a licensed female advisor and part of a husband-and-wife team. “Usually, a life event such as marriage, baby, divorce, buying or selling a business, or settling family estate matters causes someone to seek a financial advisor,” said Jacquelyn. “There are approximately 7,000 female business owners in the Oklahoma City metro area, and I am passionate about reaching them.”
“Our family has been blessed with prosperity,” says Tanenbaum. “We are successful, we enjoy the fruits of our labor but we love sharing our mazel. Gardner Tanenbaum is dedicated to giving back to the community because Gardner Tanenbaum is a proud citizen of this community.”
N ROBINSON AVE GARDNERTANENBAUM.COM“I aspire to be a leader in this industry,” said Representative Associate Jacquelyn Skurkey. Legacy Financial Advisors assists clients with future financial planning by providing them peace of mind. “People sometimes feel overwhelmed and avoid planning for their financial future,” said Jacquelyn. “So, they put off creating a strategy. However, by offering a road map for them to follow, we can assist business owners and individuals with a means to convert their hard work and goodwill into an income stream they can’t outlive.”
Jacquelyn and Legacy Financial Partners, LLC, invest in the local community. Located in Oklahoma City, they understand that unexpected changes are a part of life and focus on helping people achieve today’s reality with tomorrow’s dreams. Legacy Financial Advisors helps clients with complex topics such as investments, estate planning, major purchases, benefit selections and business succession planning.
“We assist clients in developing a comprehensive personal plan for various stages of life,” said Jacquelyn. “Our ideal client is someone who values professional advice and may realize they are not experts in everything. Small business owners also need professional guidance to help with cash flow management, cost controls, self-employment taxes, tax mitigation strategies and succession planning.”
Jacquelyn is passionate about being a licensed female advisor and part of a husband-and-wife team. “Usually, a life event such as marriage, baby, divorce, buying or selling a business, or settling family estate matters causes someone to seek a financial advisor,” said Jacquelyn. “There are approximately 7,000 female business owners in the Oklahoma City metro area, and I am passionate about reaching them.”
Securities and advisory services offered through Centaurus Financial, Inc. a registered broker/dealer, a member of FINRA and SIPC and a registered investment advisor Legacy financial Advisors, LLC. And Centaurus Financial, Inc. are not affiliated companies. Supervisory Branch Address 2300 E. Katella Ave., Ste 200, Anaheim, CA 02806
10005
Whether photographing the local music scene, leading the run club for Sweet Yield Studio, or rowing for the Riversport OKC Masters team, Gemma Harris has earned the title of “OKC’s Renaissance Woman.” Harris brings over 20 years of experience managing an array of industries across the U.S. and abroad. For the last six years, she has been the Operations Director for Airosurf Communications, which provides innovative wireless solutions for businesses and rural Oklahomans.
In 2020, Harris launched The Hold Space OKC to provide consulting services focused on human resources, business management, accountability coaching, culture development, and embracing the delicate art of “holding space” for people. “It is designed to work with you at your own pace and rhythm,” said Harris. “This variation invites you to be present and intentional by nurturing your mindset to become your own biggest cheerleader as an owner, manager, or solo professional.”
“I call OKC home,” said Harris. “Belonging is crucial, and I believe in the power to create compassion where it doesn’t exist and to understand others’ needs through objective communication.”
405.906.6099
airosurf.com | theholdspaceokc.com
Honoring the individuals, not-for-profits and companies who are making significant contributions to the greater social good in our region.
OKC’s newly re-elected mayor, David Holt, shows off his City Hall office, including a 5-by-8 foot painting by D.G. Smalling, an Oklahoma and Choctaw artist, shown behind him here. p.64
Christina Carter started a plant business after developing a passion for them after her mother passed away. Now, she has a growing – pun intended – plant business and community of plant lovers affectionately dubbed the Plant People, which also happens to be the name of the store.
BY KRISTEN GRACE PHOTOS BY LOGAN WALCHER
CHRISTINA CARTER’S HOUSE has always been graced by plants. Her husband became a reluctant enabler of her plant hobby, and over time began to appreciate them. However, she noticed a shift in her passion in 2016 when her mother passed away.
“When you’re a kid, you don’t always appreciate why your momma has plants around,” she said. “I know there was an informal community of plant lovers among our parents, but I didn’t know how to connect to them. I always had a few plants, but after I lost my mom, I couldn’t go into any store with out buying more plants. When my oldest sister made a visit and questioned how many plants I had, I told her, ‘I think I’ve just been missing momma.’ She told me that she had been doing the same thing, and that it started for her at the funeral. She had taken home the funeral plants and had kept them alive for years. I think for many people, plants help us connect with a person they miss or are grieving. “
After making this realization in 2016, she began talking with friends and family. Four years later, Carter was running a shop with her friend, Brenda Flores.
“My business partner Brenda and our husbands were eating on our porch, and Plant People came alive over bloody marys and tacos,” she said. “Our jobs were put on hold because of COVID. Four years after my mother died in July 2020, we rolled the Tiny House out on the gravel lot at Tenth and Hudson.”
Although Flores left in May to pursue other work options, the two are still close, and Carter gives her credit for how much she was a part of their
Christina Carter stands inside her plant store, Plant People.early days. Now in a bigger, brick and mortar location at 1212 N. Hudson Ave., Plant People just celebrated its two-year anniversary.
In a shop stocked with plants from easy-to-care-for to exotic, Carter said she wants to create relationship with her clients and know about their plants.
“I don’t want you to just come in and buy a plant,” she said. “I want to know about the plant you bought two weeks ago. I’m still interested. Your plant has eight new leaves? Send me a photo! Let’s celebrate!”
And she said she is always available for advice for plant care — a bonus you can’t get at any of the big box stores.
Carter knows about every plant in her shop, what each plant needs and which plants are hazardous to pets. And she continues to provide help and care notes after the plant has been purchased. She said she admits to constantly reading and learning to further her plant knowledge.
“We love our plants,” she said. “We love plants being part of our conversa tion and the way this has formed our community — Plant People.”
And, if she doesn’t have what her customers need, she tries to refer them to local plant shops in the area.
Standing among her greenery, musing about the community she has helped build, Carter said, “We need to find a breath of fresh air somewhere in this world that we live in, and this shop and these plants can be that for people.”
Above: Inside Plant People. Left: Carter waters a plant inside the store.“We love our plants. We love plants being part of our conversation and the way this has formed our community — Plant People.”
— Christina Carter, Plant People owner
Three Oklahoma City leaders who work with the nonprofit community weigh in on why it benefits the metro to have businesses and leaders strive for more than just profits.
BANK OF OKLAHOMA VICE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR REGIONAL COMMUNITY RELATIONS MANAGER
“Working for a company that puts com munity at the forefront and makes certain that their employees know the importance of giving back strengthens the entire city by providing a workforce that is knowl edgeable about the needs of others during tough times. It also gives the employees a reason to be proud: Proud of themselves, their teammates and their leadership for helping others and providing their employ ees the means to do so. At Bank of Oklaho ma, one of our core values is to ‘actively ad vance the communities we serve,’ and I am so thankful that our leadership stays true to this and is constantly encouraging us as employees and citizens to work together to make OKC a better place to live.”
OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
“Purpose is everything! When businesses go beyond providing products or service to make an investment in their staff and communities, the result can be trans formational. Businesses create value by investing in our community — supporting our schools, charitable organizations, and civic life.
A purpose-led business provides a rallying cry for employees resulting in increased optimism, resiliency and hope, which translates to better health, productivity and a satisfied workforce that stays longer. Everyone wins!”
“One of the defining features of Oklahoma City is the impressive volume of organizations built upon a clear mission. The collective impact of so many entities leading with purpose creates a place where people want to live, work and build community together — Oklahoma City’s dramatic growth over the past decade is resounding proof of this assertion. At Oklahoma Contemporary, our mission is to encourage artistic expression in all its forms through education, exhibitions and performance. This purpose guides each choice we make, serving as a clarion call to action every day of the week. The benefit? Like so many firms in our community, our work drives the ongoing economic and cultural renaissance of Oklahoma City, perpetuating this virtuous cycle for generations to come.”
Kelley Barnes Vonnie Garner Jeremiah Matthew Davis OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER DIRECTOR
Boyd Street Ventures, a venture capital firm providing funding and resources for startups tied to the University of Oklahoma, recently opened offices in Campus Corner in Norman.
The firm, founded by James Spann, is located in the longtime location of Harold’s clothing store, directly across the street from the university. In addition, Boyd Street Ventures also has created the Boyd Street Endowment Fund, which supports minority-led, gender-diverse, venture-backed companies and organizations that seek to develop and invest in the university technology transfer entrepreneurial community.
The new Renaissance OKC Downtown Brick town Hotel recently held its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring keynote speakers Oklahoma Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt.
“Oklahoma City is a major tourism destination, bringing in 7.5 million visitors a year,” Pinnell said. “The Renaissance OKC Downtown Bricktown will be a great asset to as we continue to welcome visi tors to town for everything from business confer ences to sporting events.”
The hotel features 10 floors with 182 rooms.
“Oklahoma City is experiencing a renaissance –with a lowercase R – in so many ways,” Holt said. “From business to the arts to nonprofits, we’ve seen incredible growth, and the Renaissance OKC Downtown Bricktown hotel is an important part of our growth and improvement.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt, Boyd Street Ventures founder James Spann, OU President Joe Harroz and Norman Mayor Larry Heikkila. Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell speaks at the event. Andy Patel, Anish Hotels Group president, cuts the ribbon to open the hotel. Attendees mingle at the grand opening.
Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma recently held its second annual Work the Runway fundrais ing fashion show at the Oklahoma History Center. Pro ceeds benefited the Goodwill Career Pathways Institute scholarship program, which provides free job training to youth, veterans and those re-entering the workforce after imprisonment.
Althea Neighbors, a Goodwill contract janitorial team member, represents the 50s era while showcasing clothing items that can be found at local Goodwill stores.
Stylist Brynlee Handy models a 60s-in spired look at the Work The Runway fash ion show.
Stylists and models posing together after a final walkthrough and closing out the 2022 Work The Runway fashion show.
Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma CEO Jim Priest makes a toast before commencing the annual Goodwill “Work the Runway” fashion show fundraiser.
Goodwill’s Good Threads boutique made its annual appearance at the Work The Runway event. Eventgoers were able to shop higherend items found in stores while giving back to the nonprofit’s mission of helping Oklahomans in need.
Edmond Goodwill Associate Taneka Miller models an early 2000s look.
MAYOR DAVID HOLT, Oklahoma City’s 36th mayor, who was just re-elected to his second term this year, likes to think of his office as the front door for Oklahoma City’s most important visitors. He said he averages about 10-15 guests in his office each week, which was remodeled two months after he took office in 2018.
On the wall behind his desk hangs a five-by-eight-foot massive paint ing, “Grand Buffalo.” Holt commissioned the piece from D.G. Smalling, an Oklahoma and Choctaw artist. “This is the first time, to my knowledge, of any Native American artist hanging artwork in the Mayor’s office. I just thought with 39 Native American tribes with their homes in Oklahoma, we should have something representative in this office.”
Mayor Holt worked with Jennifer Welch –of Jennifer Welch Designs and star of Bravo’s “Sweet Home Oklahoma” – to design the interior of the office. He wanted conversational and comfortable. The alpaca pillows accent the modern chairs. A pitcher from the Consul General of Mexico sits on the coffee table, a gift from a recent visit. On the right wall, a map of the city sits above a signed-by-the-artists Kings of Leon Lane sign from the street opening in 2019.
Right: Holt said his windowsill of awards accumulated by happenstance, just collecting over time. Now, he’s accumulated so many in the windowsill that he can’t shut the shutters without removing them.
Far right: Leaders from cities across the nation have given Mayor Holt Challenge Coins from their various cities.
