From the Publisher

Greetings from the new owners of Sophisticated Living Nashville! My name is Dave Mahanes, and my wife Melissa and I are thrilled to be reintroducing this fantastic publication to Nashville’s sophisticated community. I am a retired career banker who grew up in Nashville. Melissa and I met when we were both living in New York when Melissa managed a contemporary art gallery, and I was an investment banker. Melissa is from Greenwich, CT, but was very familiar with Nashville as a proud Vanderbilt graduate. We moved down to Nashville with our two sons, Jack and Charlie, when living in a 30-story high-rise building in Manhattan had somehow lost its luster. What an incredible journey it has been to be part of the Nashville community for the last 18 years.

Melissa and I have always loved reading Sophisticated Living Nashville. We will continue to cover the best of all aspects of living in Nashville, including fine homes, dining, wine, travel, motoring, art, antiques, books, fashion, jewelry, and society coverage. In particular, Melissa and I are very passionate about Nashville culture and philanthropy. To that end, we plan on profiling Nashvillians who have a unique story to tell regarding those topics. Also, we will be advertising only the best of the best of what Nashville has to offer.

Since we closed on the publication’s purchase in August, it has been an exciting journey. Previously, Melissa has run a graphic design business (Kalligraphia) and co-chaired many events. She will be managing the creative aspects of Sophisticated Living Nashville. The networking aspect of what I do now is similar, but media is very different from financial services. For me, it’s a refreshing change. Since we acquired the magazine, we have had the opportunity to have a personal sampling from a new chef, Jorge Gonzalez at Tavern at Bobby; see where Kenny Chesney stores his wine at Nashville Wine Storage; tour The Register, a spectacular new private club in near lower Broadway; and attend a private showing of Thomas Arvid’s breathtaking still life paintings of wine. Also, I no longer have a commute since our office is in our home!

Melissa and I look forward to getting to know our readers better and seeing them at Nashville’s stellar society events over the coming years, and continuing the precedent of excellence set by the previous owners. For peeks at Sophisticated Living Nashville, please visit our Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/sophisticatedliving_nashville.

Warm Regards,

Dave Mahanes, Publisher dave@slmag.net