TulsaPeople September 2021 by TulsaPeople

THE RISE OF GIRLS’ WRESTLING OPENS DOORS

TULSA’S BIRTH DISCREPANCIES September 2021

THE WOMEN’S ISSUE

A glimpse into the lives of 5 Tulsa moms

SHIFTING THE MENTAL LOAD 4 FIRST-TIME MOTHERS Chelsea Walker with sons James, 6, and Oliver, 10 months

LIFE AFTER BABY

CHEERS TO 15 YEARS OF RESTAURANT WEEK

Growing Darrell & Dolores Moorman Owners, Daris Contractors

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Tulsa Hills 7858 South Olympia Avenue 918-986-9250 South Memorial 10506 South Memorial Drive 918-943-1050 SAND SPRINGS 102 South Main Street 918-246-5750

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SEPTEMBER 2021 | VOLUME 35 ISSUE 11

Carleigh Clark and Piper Weaver practice at Lady Outlaw Academy. See p. 48. for more on girls’ wrestling.

55 BEING A MOM IN TULSA

83 TABLE TALK

· Mother-daughter marathon duo.

44 TULSA CITY LIMITS

· Mecca Coffee Co.’s centennial.

A photo essay on what it looks like along

In this multi-part feature, TulsaPeople

· Philbrook MIX returns with

· New life for former Moton building.

our city’s borders.

talks to women navigating becoming

· Upcoming charitable events.

BY TIM LANDES

a mom during a pandemic, conﬁrms

· Radish takes root in the SoBo District.

the mental burden of motherhood and

· Three places for downtown sweets.

· Bagpipers unite.

48 THEIR MOMENT ON THE MAT

· A new gallery in Greenwood.

The rise of girls’ wrestling is opening

BY GAIL BANZET-ELLIS,

· As one fest returns, another begins.

doors and increasing opportunities.

BRIA BOLTON MOORE AND

· Where to see live music this month.

BY JOHN TRANCHINA

MORGAN PHILLIPS

52 DELIVERING SOLUTIONS

69 LIFESTYLE

25 ABOUT TOWN

How Tulsans are working to change racial

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

lively libations.

explores perinatal care for women. Also, ﬁve moms share their snapshots of motherhood.

SPECIAL SECTIONS 62

Women in Business Proﬁles

15th annual Restaurant Week

ON THE COVER: Chelsea Walker and sons James, 6, and Oliver, 10 months

· Party and lifestyle store Magpie lands in Gunboat Park.

maternal health disparities.

· Planting fall tomatoes.

BY BLAYKLEE FREED

· A trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. · Connie Cronley puts on a brave face.

· A new view at In the Raw VU.

MICHELLE POLLARD

7 CITY DESK

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FROM THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

On a cold, bright Wednesday in January 2020, my baby, Sonny, arrived in the world.

Volume XXXV, Number 11 ©2021. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, including created advertising in a proofed or printed stage. TulsaPeople Magazine is published monthly by

1603 South Boulder Avenue Tulsa, Oklahoma 74119-4407 P: 918-585-9924 F: 918-585-9926

The next day, the World Health Organization

As we enter another unforeseeable season,

declared a Public Health Emergency of Interna-

I hold on to this encouragement: Grow where

days became more uncertain, my new family, like

ues to try to do just that. Some days we lose all

tional Concern. As COVID-19 spread and the the rest of Tulsa, sheltered in place to brave the viral storm.

As the world seemed to shut down, every

family tackled the unknown terrain differently. With extra caution for the newest member of our

family, my husband, Maxx, and I resolved to be a trio, blessed with visits from family through

you are planted. Our small family pod continour petals. Other days we endure the rain. Some days we stretch tall in the sun. It feels as if every

moment lost with the outside world — birthdays,

playdates, fi rst holidays — we gain a moment, just us three, that wouldn’t have existed outside months of lockdown.

Even with my village at a distance, they did

screened windows and best friends dropping off

everything possible to encourage and support

child, but what does a new parent do when your

ers, past and present, who covered every base.

toilet paper. They say it takes a village to raise a village can’t come within 6 feet?

Most moms will tell you the newborn days can

feel impossibly hard: lack of sleep, help, clarity.

My experience is that the pandemic compounded this. Days were fogged by lingering uncertainty, a feeling fi rst-time moms of the pandemic share.

my husband and I in raising our son. Cowork-

Friends to laugh and lament with over video and

a window. For me, being a mother in Tulsa (and

These past 18 months have been even more

know how fortunate I am to have my family pod and village.

As we hope for more traces of normalcy in the

future months, I hear the advice of other moms

bond: “We birthed children and learned to be

and hard times fade. Look to the bright days

mothers in a slow-moving apocalypse.”

On p. 52, two local community leaders dis-

CREATIVE DIRECTOR ART DIRECTOR MANAGING PHOTOGRAPHER VIDEOGRAPHER

Madeline Crawford Georgia Brooks Michelle Pollard Greg Bollinger

ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Andrea Canada Josh Kampf Rita Kirk CONTROLLER Mary McKisick DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Amanda Hall INTERN Deborah Laker

MEMBER

TulsaPeople’s distribution is audited annually by

single moms to those who have lost someone. I

cies, deliveries and early motherhood moments. Destiny Green, new mom to Eve, sums up the

EDITORIAL CONSULTING Missy Kruse, The Write Company

now really experiencing.

many milestones unlike we fi rst imagined.

fi rst-time moms forced to forgo typical pregnan-

Anne Brockman Morgan Phillips Tim Landes Blayklee Freed

outside our home) feels like something I am only

challenging for some, from the heros who are

On p. 58, we introduce you to four other

EDITOR CITY EDITOR DIGITAL EDITOR ABOUT TOWN EDITOR

texts. Family for everything, even when through

Missed baby showers, laboring in masks, delayed family introductions, forced career changes —

PUBLISHER Jim Langdon PRESIDENT Juley Roffers VP COMMUNITY RELATIONS Susie Miller

who have come before me: The long nights blur ahead. TP

Langdon Publishing Company sets high standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable manner. This issue of Tulsa People was printed on recycled fibers containing 20 percent post-consumer waste with inks containing a soy base blend. Our printer is a certified member of the Forestry Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and additionally, meets or exceeds all federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act standards. When you are finished with this issue, please pass it on to a friend or recycle it. We can have a better world if we choose it together. Disregard any TulsaPeople subscription solicitation that is not directly mailed from the Langdon Publishing office at 1603 S. Boulder Ave. Contact Langdon Publishing directly if you are interested in subscribing or renewing your TulsaPeople subscription.

cuss the stark reality that pregnant and postpar-

tum Black Americans are 2.5 and 3.5 times more likely to die by causes related to pregnancy and

childbirth than their white and Hispanic neigh-

bors — and the work being done in Tulsa to address it. Follow Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative online to learn more about their important work in assisting better maternal outcomes. 6

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Madeline Crawford CREATIVE DIRECTOR

S AY N O T O H A T E

An addition to the 1931 brick building, seen on the right, at 605 E. Pine St.

Visit TulsaPeople.com for a gallery of more interior photos.

RESTORATION AHEAD T

GREG BOLLINGER

he historic Moton Health Care Center at 605 E. Pine St. is a shell of what it once was — ﬁrst, the site of a hospital for Black Tulsans built six months after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, then a clinic that provided health care to residents into the mid-2000s. After years of planned redevelopment, restoration is on the horizon thanks to a $4 million investment from the City of Tulsa that will support a partnership with the Tulsa Economic Development Corp. Creative Capital and Tulsa Development Authority. The TDA-owned property, vacant since 2006, will be redeveloped into the Greenwood Entrepreneurship Incubator @ Moton (GEIM) to support north Tulsa business owners. TP FOR MORE ON GEIM AND THE SURROUNDING AREA, SEE P. 20. TulsaPeople.com

NOTEBOOK BY MORGA N PHILLIP S

Peace and carrots Maryann Donahue came to Global Gardens as a grant writer in 2012. Since 2016, she has been executive director for the organization that teaches science and peace education to students across Tulsa through hands-on gardening. This spring Global Gardens will celebrate its 15th anniversary with GLOW gala on April 9 at Philbrook Museum of Art. The outdoor beneﬁt will feature chef James Shrader of Kitchen 27 and Palace Cafe, who will do some cooking with Global Gardens students between now and then. AS YOUR PROGRAMMING HAS CHANGED A BIT DUE TO COVID-19, HAVE STUDENTS IN YOUR PROGRAMS TALKED ABOUT HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS IMPACTED THEM?

HOW DO PARENTS RESPOND? Usually, as part of our outcome measurement at the end of the school year, we survey students directly, and then we also survey their classroom teachers to ask about our impact. But because we weren’t really working with classroom teachers in the same way this year, and most of the kids we were zooming with were actually at home, we also sent a survey to parents. Basically all the parents who responded to the survey said they saw us helping their students stay engaged in learning, stay connected and feel supported over the last year. They saw us helping their kids stay curious, improving their conﬁdence, all of those things. It was really delightful to read those responses from parents because we don’t usually ask them. FIND THE REST OF THIS CONVERSATION AT TULSAPEOPLE.COM.

TULSA HISTORY MADE OFFICIAL The following local sites were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021: Holland Hall’s Upper School (Walter Academic) Building 100 block of North Greenwood Avenue Daniel Webster High School district

Holland Hall’s Upper School in 1970, above, and now

Modus expands ride share program Modus, a nonproﬁt that pairs volunteer drivers with people who need a ride to medical appointments, job interviews and school, is now partnering with LIFE Senior Services. The partnership began in May as a way of getting senior citizens to vaccine appointments during the pandemic. The two organizations now work together to remove barriers in transportation to get seniors to dental appointments, counseling sessions and more. For more information, visit modustulsa.org.

MASKS WITH A MISSION

Masks by Jeanne Jacobs

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Tulsan Jeanne Jacobs and Sweet Tooth Candy and Gift Co. have partnered to support Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. At the shop, 3541 S. Harvard Ave., shoppers can purchase 3-ply face masks sewn by Jacobs for $10 each. One hundred percent of the mask sales are donated to the Food Bank. Since May 2020 the project has raised $6,000. “My Oklahoma upbringing taught me that we are responsible one for another, and that our job in life is to leave this world better than we found it,” says Jacobs, who is a member of the Food Bank board of directors. “Last year, my usually busy hands needed something to do, so I started making masks for my family and close friends, then expanded to supply masks for the volunteers helping to distribute meals.”

GLOBAL GARDENS: VALERIE WEI-HAAS; MASKS: MORGAN PHILLIPS; HOLLAND HALL: CHRISTOPHER MCCONNELL (TOP), COURTESY

Julie Smith, principal of Robertson Elementary School, one of Global Gardens’ alliance schools, and Maryann Donahue, executive director of Global Gardens, in early 2020

Because our program is student led, it’s discussion focused and it’s very driven by what students are feeling and experiencing and what their questions are. So there’s no way we could have possibly avoided the pandemic and COVID. For example, in our after-school program we begin every one of our sessions — and we did this on Zoom — with “Community Circle.” It’s a very important time for Global Gardeners. It’s when they have the opportunity to go around in a circle and talk about things from their day, or things in their life they want to breathe out, and things they want to breathe in, and no one interrupts them. Each person has their opportunity to use their voice in that way, and to talk about things that are on their mind, and everyone else just listens. That’s a ritual we very much stuck to over the last year. Students were talking, obviously, about all of the things that were happening to them and things they were afraid of, and things they were unhappy about. That’s just part of it for us. We don’t have a curriculum in the sense of, “Well, it’s week three, so we’re going to deliver this information.” It is much more about relationship building with students and about allowing them to take ownership of what we’re doing.

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BIZ WHIZ TEDC SERIES

Learn about Tulsa Economic Development Corp. Creative Capital and its clients. tedcnet.com

Covers

Tracy Smith reads with a student at Angel Academy Early Learning Center, her child care business of 15 years.

A PLACE FOR CHILDREN Child care centers are more than a livelihood for owner Tracy Smith. BY JULIE WENGER WATSON

hrough breakfast, “circle time,” centers, outdoor play, lunch and snacks, “It’s all about the children to me,” says Tracy Smith, owner of Tulsa’s Angel Academy Early Learning Center. Smith opened her fi rst child care center, Angel Academy One at East 21st Street and South Garnett Road, in 2006. Angel Academy Two, at East Pine Street and South Sheridan Road, was added in 2017. Between the two facilities, Smith employs 25 people and serves approximately 160 children ages 5 weeks to 12 years. For Smith, Angel Academy is much more than a business. “I come from a family of educators, so it’s my heart’s desire to have a place for children to come where parents can feel safe leaving them and where their children are nurtured, growing and learning — mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally,” Smith says. She says Angel Academy makes an effort to accommodate children with behavioral issues, with a counselor on-site at both centers to offer help when and where it’s needed. It’s something she believes sets her business apart from other child care facilities. “We really try hard to work with children,

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

whereas at some centers, if there are any behavior issues, you’re out the door,” she explains. “I don’t like for children to be bounced around, so we do our best to help them.” Angel Academy operates from 6 a.m.-6 p.m., and provides transportation to and from school when needed. Classes are taught in taekwondo, music and cooking, and children look forward to field trips, Smith says. With so many families in need of child care, Smith hopes to both expand Angel Academy One and open a third location in Westwood Plaza, near East 31st Street and South Sheridan Road. Smith will work with TEDC Creative Capital, a Tulsa nonprofit that assists small businesses, on those projects. The organization helped her get a loan to start her business 15 years ago, and she’s continued to work with them over the years. According to Smith, funding she received through TEDC last year enabled her business to survive the pandemic. “Angel Academy is my heart,” Smith says. “It’s a good place for children to learn and grow. Parents can trust us to care for their children.” For more information, visit facebook.com/ angelacademyelc. TP

Now she is Melanie JaeHee Chung-Sherman, a social worker and psychotherapist who has been in private practice in Allen, Texas, since 2011. But on TulsaPeople’s November 2000 cover, she was Melanie Waisanen, a 23-year-old education services assistant working for Dillon International Inc. One of the issue’s “40 under 40,” the rising leader and Korean adoptee spoke of her calling to “help other adoptees and their families understand, celebrate and embrace their differences as individuals and as a multicultural family.” Today Chung-Sherman says that calling has expanded as she has honed specialties working with transracial adoptees, people of color and marginalized communities. “For adopted folks, our identities are not one-dimensional in terms of our adoption experience alone,” she explains, “but that is a big part of our lives and how we navigate the world.” Since marrying in 2004, Chung-Sherman made the decision to legally change her name to reflect her birth name and to more fully embrace her Korean identity. The need for adoption and racially inclusive services for transracial adoptees is so significant Chung-Sherman, who is licensed to practice in Texas, is in the process of becoming licensed in four more states, including Oklahoma. “This is such a specialized field,” she says. “In the United States, there’s only a handful of us doing this work.” She mentors therapists in the field of child welfare, where she shares her training and experiences around foster care, adoption, mental health, identity-based stress and trauma-inclusive care. Raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Chung-Sherman lived in Tulsa from 1999 to 2001 while working for Dillon. Though her understanding of the complexities of international adoption has since grown, the experience is informative in the work she does today. She and her spouse live in the Dallas area with their two sons. — MORGAN PHILLIPS

GREG BOLLINGER

REVISITED

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ROOTS

Elizabeth Frame Ellison speaks to VEST members at a networking event July 21 at Mother Road Market.

Listen to Kaitlin Butts’ single “How Lucky Am I” on the Sept. 1 episode of Tulsa Talks: A TulsaPeople Podcast.

HOW LUCKY IS SHE Rising country musician Kaitlin Butts is a Union alumna. BY STEPHEN HUNT

ike most country music artists, Kaitlin Butts calls Nashville home. However, her roots remain in Tulsa where she graduated from Union High School in 2011 before attending college in Oklahoma City at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music in Bricktown. She’s been making music ever since, but the seeds for her career were sown back home. “My mom (Dana McClebe) took me to gymnastics lessons, and I was singing and dancing in the mirror the whole time,” the 28-year-old says. “They then put me in musical theater at Theatre Arts Tulsa in Broken Arrow. That’s where I thrived. I’d go to school and then do voice lessons, dance lessons, acting. I’ve always loved performing.” Listening to 1990s country like The Chicks and Shania Twain inspired her to pick up a guitar. So, at 15 her mother hired someone to teach her how to play. “I loved looking at these women who played their own instruments, wrote their own songs and sang them really well,” says Butts, who

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

self-released an album, “Same Hell, Different Devil,” in 2015. In 2017 she wrote “How Lucky Am I” as a Valentine’s Day present for her husband, Cleto Cordero, also a Nashville-based recording artist. She then created a video using footage from their wedding and of them as a couple. That video generated nearly 9,000 views its fi rst month on YouTube and to date has nearly 600,000 streams on Spotify. “It took me so much time and I worked really hard on it, but it was worth it because it’s cool to look back and remember every little bit,” Butts says. “Every little clip is a good memory.” Butts, the daughter of Tulsa homebuilder Bill Butts, performed this past April at Cain’s Ballroom and will perform Sept. 17 in Pryor as part of the Born and Raised Music Festival. Like most artists, she maintains a healthy presence on social media, including an Instagram account for their dog, Hank. “I want people to know who I am outside of singing and writing songs,” Butts says. “People underestimate how valuable social media is. I really love it.” TP

After years of meetings with Tulsa business leaders, Elizabeth Frame Ellison was tired of being the only woman in the room. The president and CEO of the Tulsa-based Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation and her friend Erika Lucas — founder of StitchCrew, an Oklahoma City-based entrepreneurship organization — began talking about creating a membership network of female executives. COVID-19 propelled the dream into reality. “It really hit home last year when we saw the disproportionate effect the pandemic was having on women in the workplace,” who often took on virtual schooling and caregiving responsibilities, Lucas says. This past November the two launched VEST to help women in positions of authority connect in order to learn and grow professionally. To date the membership organization has hosted speakers, as well as coaching sessions, on virtual platforms. The organization’s name is a call to literally vest — give power to — women. “Investing (in women) is one of the most productive, profitable and efficient things we can do (as a society),” Lucas says. VEST membership is mutually beneficial across three categories: Emerging Leader, VP and C-Suite. Members are supported through professional development, mentorship and promotion, and also learn about talent attraction and retention, according to Frame Ellison. Currently in beta stage, VEST has 45 members statewide with plans to expand recruitment, as well as in-person events. Next, VEST seeks to become a talent bank and speakers’ bureau that will partner with companies and organizations who want to put more women in positions of power and give them a platform to share their voices, according to Lucas. Frame Ellison says Tulsa seems to have fewer women in leadership than other markets, and VEST hopes to do its part to change the tide. “I truly believe the more representative the conversation is, the better the outcome and the more impactful,” she says. To apply or nominate a woman for VEST membership, visit vesther.co. — MORGAN PHILLIPS

FERNANDO GARCIA; VEST: GREG BOLLINGER

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PASSIONS

Pictured with a Box of HOPE, Linda Pulver is cochair of the Tulsa Metro Out of the Darkness Walk in September, Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. The walk is 9 a.m.-noon, Sept. 25, at Riverwalk Jenks. Registration is free at supporting.afsp.org, and donations beneﬁt the Oklahoma Chapter of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Jeannie McDaniel and Theresa Smith run on Gathering Place trails as they train for marathons in all 50 states.

THE FAMILY THAT RUNS TOGETHER ... Mother-daughter athletes set their sights on ambitious goal. BY HANNAH MARSHALL

ulsa’s mother-daughter duo Jeannie McDaniel and Theresa Smith have set a monumental goal of running a marathon in all 50 states by 2023. They’re well on their way, having run marathons in 34 and 31 states respectively. McDaniel became an avid runner at a young age as an inexpensive way to exercise at any time of the day. She went on to be inducted into the Oklahoma Long Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2015 and has held the record in every distance run in Oklahoma at one point in time. Today, the whole family has an inherent love for running and meeting their personal goals. “There aren’t too many activities that can really cross all the generations,” Smith says. “Running and walking are things we can all do as a family.” Both women continue to be dedicated members of the Tulsa community. McDaniel was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives and served District 78 for 12 years. Smith is a certified professional accountant and has been a successful

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

business owner since 2009. The pair mostly had completed milestone runs close to home until 2018. As they both entered into new seasons of life, they were intentional about setting a fun goal to accomplish with one another. Running has provided McDaniel and Smith hundreds of hours and over a thousand miles together. It gives them plenty of time to catch up and stay connected with each other, while also inspiring the next generation in their family to set goals now and into the future. They have seven more marathons planned for this year and have a goal to end in either Alaska or Hawaii in late 2022 or 2023. “We typically do a string of states, three to five in a week, then make sure we recover before putting the next group of marathons on the schedule,” Smith says. Once they accomplish their objective, they intend to complete all of the half marathons in the national parks with other family members. “There’s a shared happiness with people when you run with them,” McDaniel says. TP

Linda Pulver was a student at Oklahoma State University when a friend gave her a handwritten pack of Scriptures that changed her life. “Things looked great on the outside, but I was hurting on the inside,” she says, referencing her parents’ divorce and her brother’s drug addiction. “When I would run at OSU, I would memorize God’s word. That helped me to not be so afraid.” Nearly 40 years later, Pulver is sharing some of the same Scriptures through her nonprofit, HOPE is Oxygen, which focuses on suicide prevention and restoring hope. Since 2017 the organization has given away 40,000 of its HOPE Packs, which hold business card-sized Scriptures, to widows, prisoners, people experiencing homelessness, trafficking victims, those in military service and many others. It also gives away art therapy coloring books and suicide prevention stickers. HOPE is Oxygen partners with grief centers to send Boxes of HOPE to families left behind after suicide. Nearly every gift in the boxes is touched by a person impacted by suicide. “The woman that does our photography writes on every card. She lost her sister to suicide,” Pulver says. “And the one that packs the Boxes of HOPE lost her son at 16. The people that deliver them for us have all lost somebody to suicide.” All the nonprofit’s resources are free and Pulver, who is a Realtor, plans to keep it that way as long as donors continue to support her work. So many years later, she still carries her dogeared packet of handwritten Bible verses. “I want to encourage people like I was encouraged and have been all my life through the crud I’ve been through,” she says. “And I want to do it as a gift back.” To support HOPE is Oxygen or request resources, visit hopeisoxygen.org. — MORGAN PHILLIPS

GREG BOLLINGER; PULVER: MICHELLE POLLARD

GIFTS OF HOPE

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I AM

Tatiana Watkins and Roberta Medina

I AM HOME LOCAL COUPLE RECEIVES STABLE HOUSING AFTER EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. STORY AND PHOTO BY TIM LANDES

oberta Medina and Tatiana Watkins are happy. They joke with each other and laugh as they relax in the living room of the apartment they’ve called home since May. On the wall behind them are signs stating, “Home is wherever I’m with you” and “Make up your mind to be happy.” On another wall are framed pictures of their daughter, Emily, at different stages of life. It’s their fi rst home together after 16 years as a couple. They’re still adjusting to a normal life. Sometimes Watkins catches herself washing dishes in the bathroom sink instead of the kitchen. They both find themselves eating food just because they can. They still often sleep on the living room floor instead of in their bed and awake before the sun rises out of habit from their days on the streets. “This is a new beginning. This is amazing,” says Medina, 39. “We’re learning who we are as people who are allowed to be free or allowed to cook. We’re allowed to kiss. We’re just allowed to be.” They enjoy fishing at Lake Bixhoma and spending time with their 1-year-old German Shepherd/Alaskan Malamute mix named Onyx after the protective stone. They volunteer for the Archer Denver Coalition, a program through A Way Home for Tulsa, an initiative that works to improve homelessness services.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

They do Sunday dinners with their daughter and her husband. Watkins, 35, delivers food for DoorDash and just started working for Mazzios. Medina is a homemaker. It’s all been an overwhelmingly positive adjustment to the life they’ve known since they met in a chance encounter in January 2005 in California. After falling in love, their time together has been full of adventures and sadness, but their one constant has been each other. They have lived in Utah and in Arizona, where they stayed on land operated by the Bureau of Land Management. There was one bush to provide them shade, so they moved around it as the sun trekked across the sky. In 2015, they relocated to Claremore to be closer to their daughter. They worked as dishwashers at Rogers State University, rented an RV from an elderly couple and joined a local Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall. However, church members eventually treated them badly for being lesbians and for not obeying other rules. Medina says she constantly thought about dying by suicide. They needed an escape, so in early 2019 they returned to California so Watkins could try to find and help her father, who was experiencing homelessness. “I couldn’t find him,” she says. “Someone called me and told he had died a mile away from

where I was standing at the time. He died homeless in the streets on Feb. 24, 2019.” After stints in California and Arizona, they returned to Oklahoma in January. Church members had shunned them, their stuff had been moved out of the RV and put in storage, and they had nowhere to stay. They drove to Tulsa and lived with Onyx in their car across from Hardesty Regional Library until the February blizzard hit. They read news about hotel rooms being available for those experiencing homelessness. They sought assistance, and City of Hope Outreach let them know a room was available at Trade Winds Central Inn through the nonprofit Housing Solutions. Then one day there was a knock at the door. They were being offered an opportunity to take part in a rapid rehousing program through Mental Health Association Oklahoma, which meant they could live for free for a year in a south Tulsa apartment while they work to build savings to be financially stable on their own. After nearly two decades of constant moves, they’ve found a home, and they’re happy. “We’ve been through a lot of different states, and there’s no place like Oklahoma,” says Watkins, who was born in New York City. “I’ve been around the world, been to India with my mom. We’ve been all over and I’m telling you, Oklahoma’s different. There’s something special about Oklahoma. We’re home.” TP

OUR FAMILY IS READY TO SERVE YOUR FAMILY

APPLAUSE

In their

OWN WORDS

SIPPING ON A CENTURY Mecca Coffee Co. celebrates 100 years in business. BY E.M. SPENCER

his year, Mecca Coffee Co. is raising a cup to its centennial. The secret to its longevity might be a willingness to both change with the times and hold onto the important things. Mecca originally opened its doors at West Th ird Street and South Boulder Avenue downtown as a specialty grocery serving the Greek and Jewish communities. The Pinos family founded the store, and its name, though its exact origins are lost to history, is perhaps a nod to the unique and exotic. Co-owner Michell Culbreath describes the early shop as a sort of New York-style deli with meats and cheeses, which also offered coffee and spices, along with other gourmet items. “We still have customers who were little kids that would go into that original store with their parents,” Culbreath says. Today customers find an eclectic offering of gifts, kitchen tools and novelties, boutique-style clothing and accessories, a wide offering of vinegars and oils, loose teas and a coffee bar to supply the thirsty shopper. For a time the store offered beer and winemaking supplies for home brewers when these items were hard to find elsewhere in Tulsa. But the mainstay is still coffee beans and spices.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

After its fi rst five decades, Mecca moved out of downtown to East 18th Street and South Boston Avenue, then to Stonehorse (later known as the Consortium, then Center 1) in Brookside, and eventually to East 33rd Street and South Peoria Avenue. At one point the store had a sandwich counter, which sold take-out-only sandwiches popular with local businesspeople. The store fell on hard times in the late ’80s and was in bankruptcy proceedings when Culbreath and her husband, Charley, heard about the opportunity, did their research and put in a bid. To their surprise, their bid was chosen. Seven years ago, the couple moved Mecca to its current location at 1330 E. 41st St. Michell admits they were a bit lost after buying Mecca. “I didn’t really even drink coffee at the time,” she says. But Culbreath remembers fondly the children who came into the store soon after they acquired it. Their parents propped them up on the counter and fed them whipped cream. Before she knew it, those babies had grown up, but were still coming in to shop. They still enjoy repeat customers. “The weekly regular people are the same people,” Culbreath says. “That’s how you get to know them, and you know them by their fi rst names.” TP

Tess Maune, News On 6 anchor and reporter, is arguably the most popular noodler in the state. She recently appeared on Tulsa Talks: A TulsaPeople Podcast and talked about the adrenaline rush she still gets a decade after first trying to catch a giant catfish with her hands. “If it’s a smaller fish, I might not get quite the same rush, but when I know it’s a big fish I’m about to go and catch with my hand, my heart will be beating. I’m still not sure what the sound is I’m hearing in the catfish holes, but underwater you can actually hear a thumping, which I think is the fish. Sometimes they’re worked up and it has nothing to do with me being there. They’re in this hole and they’re guarding their territory. “I just can’t describe that feeling, especially when it bites, and then you really feel it — and it maybe bites you up to your elbow. There is nothing like it. I do wear gloves. And I wear sleeves now because early on in my noodling career, so to speak, I was getting so chewed up on my wrists by the catfish. Their ‘teeth’ are like sandpaper, and so when I say chewed up, it’s just them rubbing against your skin. It just leaves these awful marks. I have scars, and it was becoming distracting on the news, so I was like, ‘I have to do something to keep from doing this,’ so I wear a double protection sleeve just to make sure I don’t get chewed up.” — TIM LANDES For more of this conversation, find Tulsa Talks wherever you listen to podcasts or at TulsaPeople.com.

GREG BOLLINGER

Michell Culbreath, co-owner of Mecca Coffee Co., and her 6-year-old granddaughter, Ainsley McEndree, who often helps in the shop

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THE WAY WE WERE

The original Moton building at 605 E. Pine St. now and (inset) in 1931

LAUNCH PAD

HISTORIC HOSPITAL BUILDING TO BECOME NORTH TULSA ENTREPRENEURIAL HUB.

oton Health Center played a huge role in the lives of many north Tulsa residents up until the building at East Pine Street and North Greenwood Avenue was left behind in 2006. By then the clinic was renamed Morton Comprehensive Health Services, and the organization moved into a new building at 1334 N. Lansing Ave. paid for with Vision 2025 funds. Enter Rose Washington and Michael E. Smith. Washington is the CEO of the Tulsa Economic Development Corp. Creative Capital (TEDC), and Smith is the president and managing partner of Pine Place Development LLC. Working together, the organizations look to rehab the building and the surrounding area. From the old clinic TEDC will launch the Greenwood Entrepreneurship Incubator @ Moton (GEIM), which Washington says will be “a new entrepreneurship hub” for north Tulsa. “We are excited to help celebrate the spirit of historic Black Wall Street in a historic space where greatness was literally birthed through the lives of many Black Tulsans,” she says. In 1921, the American Red Cross opened the Maurice Willows Hospital in north Tulsa to assist victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The current building — erected in 1931, according to its cornerstone — replaced the Willows Hospital as a new municipal hospital, which was eventually renamed for Robert Russa Moton (president of the Tuskegee Institute for a time). Later it was renamed for W. A. Morton, a doctor at Moton.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

A three-story addition, adding a little over 9,000 square feet, was made to the building in 1970, according to the Tulsa County Assessor. To encourage future redevelopment, in 2017 the City of Tulsa utilized two Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality grants to clean up the area, including removing asbestos and equipment from the main building. Now the structure is changing again with the City of Tulsa’s $4 million investment to help historically marginalized entrepreneurs in partnership with TEDC and Tulsa Development Authority (TDA), which owns the building. The program that will live in the old Moton building is an investment in and a step toward reclaiming the power and prestige of Black Wall Street, according to TEDC. GEIM (pronounced “gym”) will provide north

Tulsa entrepreneurs with business training and incubator space for their burgeoning businesses in the hopes that supporting them will directly and significantly impact the lives of north Tulsans. “GEIM will couple a beautifully restored location with culturally competent curricula, access to capital and other knowledge resources that will nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of Black Tulsans for years to come,” Washington says. That beautifully restored location? That’s where developer Smith comes in. “The hospital building sits on a 3.83-acre tract of land,” he explains, “and I’m doing everything outside of the hospital building. “This project will bring another level of singlefamily homes into the area — 12-16 really nice East Coast-style, vertical three-story townhomes — and then 64 units of multi-family,” Smith continues. The whole complex, a $20 million project, will be called Morton’s Reserve. Both organizations plan to start project design later this year. So, in addition to authentic, effective assistance in starting and running new businesses in north Tulsa, the former hospital and its surroundings will directly impact the area’s economy. Affordable housing? Another plus. This is overdue, Smith thinks. “I grew up in Tulsa. I always had roots here,” he says. “This opportunity came up six blocks from where I grew up. People don’t realize what north Tulsa is and could be.” TP

GREG BOLLINGER; INSET: ROTARY CLUB OF TULSA/BERYL FORD COLLECTION, TULSA CITY-COUNTY LIBRARY AND TULSA HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM

BY LUCAS BRADLEY

CHARITABLE EVENTS COMPILED BY AMANDA HALL

Tulsa Flight Night Benefits Tulsa Flight Night. TULSAFLIGHTNIGHT.ORG 10 Hues for Hope Benefits Global Foundation for Peroxisomal Disorders. THEGFPD.ORG Philbrook MIX Benefits Philbrook Museum of Art. PHILBROOK .ORG / VISIT / FUNDRAISING / MIX 10-19 Restaurant Week Benefits Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. TULSAPEOPLE.COM / RESTAURANTWEEK 11 Bingo Bash Fiesta Benefits Tulsa SPCA. TULSASPCA .ORG 14 Golf Tournament Benefits Restore Hope Ministries. RESTOREHOPE.ORG Western Days* Benefits Saint Simeon’s Foundation. SAINTSIMEONS.ORG / WESTERN- DAYS 16 Monarch Evolved Garden Party Benefits DVIS. DVIS.ORG 17 WALTZ on the Wild Side Benefits Tulsa Zoo. WALTZONTHEWILDSIDE.ORG 18 Carnivale: Rising Benefits Mental Health Association Oklahoma. BESTPARTYINTOWN.ORG 23 Evening of Giving Benefits Remodelers Council of Tulsa Home Builders Association. TULSAHBA .COM

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Press Your Luck Benefits Tulsa Press Club. TULSAPRESSCLUB.ORG Recharge* Benefits Sustainable Tulsa. SUSTAINABLETULSAINC.ORG / RECHARGE 24 A Return to Wine and Roses at Woodward Park Benefits Woodward Park educational programming and beautification. TULSAGARDENCENTER .ORG 25 By Your Side 5K Benefits Parkside Psychiatric Hospital and Clinic. TULSADOGRUN.COM

The Oklahoma Society Daughters of the American Revolution hosted a luncheon June 13 at Southern Hills Country Club beneﬁting the preservation of historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church at 311 N. Greenwood Ave. Phil Armstrong, project director for the 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, spoke to guests about the commemoration of the tragic event. The luncheon raised raised $10,000 toward a $20,000 gift to restore toward restoration of the church basement, called the Refuge Room, where people hid during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. It is the sole ediﬁce to have survived. Oklahoma Society DAR is a women’s volunteer service organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education and patriotism. It has 45 chapters across the state. 1. Phil Armstrong, interim director of Greenwood Rising history center 2. The Rev. Robert Turner, wife Shere Turner and their sons, Duece and Bobby; and Rick and Chris Macha of Bethany 3. DAR State Regent Teresa Cales of Edmond; Turner; and Vicki Hoskison, DAR state historic preservation chairwoman, of Tulsa 4. DAR members Shar Carter of Tulsa; Magen Runyan, Oklahoma Outstanding Junior, of Oklahoma City; and Erin Slauson of Tulsa

Vision Dinner Beneﬁts Tulsa Community College Foundation. TCCFOUNDATION.ORG / VISION 25-26 Home Remodeling Showcase Beneﬁts John 3:16 Mission. TULSAHBA .COM

26 DIG: Day in the Garden Benefits Tulsa Botanic Garden. TULSABOTANIC.ORG 27 Frank Rhoades Golf Classic Benefits Tulsa Boys’ Home. TULSABOYSHOME.ORG / TBH- GOLF- CLASSIC 28 Champions of Health Awards Benefits Oklahoma Caring Foundation. CHAMPIONSOFHEALTH.ORG

Girls Night Out Benefits Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. OKFOODBANK .ORG 30 Tulsa’s Finest Benefits Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. FINEST.CFF.ORG / TULSASFINEST Wild Turkey Gala Benefits Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness. RIVERPARKS.ORG *DEN OT ES A VIRT UA L E V EN T BEN EF I T S SUB JECT TO CH A N GE E DI T O R ’ S N O T E : T UL S A PEO PL E IS A SP O NSOR OF T HE HIGHL IGH T ED E V EN T S.

COURTESY

9 Chapters: Featuring Mateo Askaripour Beneﬁts Tulsa City-County Library’s Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service. EVENTS.TULSALIBRARY.ORG

Shine a Light on Historic Preservation Luncheon

paradise never sounded So Good.

Tickets On Sale Now Tickets On Sale Now Sammy Hagar Eli young Band Feb 1 & The Circle SEP 11 Foreigner Feb 13 TANYA TUCKER SEP 16 Styx Feb 20 Earth Wind & Fire SEP 17 Trevor Noah Mar 13 Sheryl Crow SEP 25 willie nelson & family mar 15 Santana OCT 1 candlebox mar 26 REO Speedwagon oct 9 brett young mar 28 All performances All performancessubject subjecttotochange. change.

i Parad se

C OV E

Live Music

RIVER SPIRIT CASINO RESORT · Tulsa

RIVER SPIRIT CASINO RESORT · Tulsa 19572_THE COVE - Tanya Tucker 9/16/21_Poster_v1.indd 1

7 Nights a Week in 5 o’Clock Somewhere Bar Fridays & Saturdays in Margaritaville! 7/7/21 11:17 AM

Visit margaritavilletulsa.com for a complete schedule.

81st & RIVERSIDE • (888) 748-3731 • RIVERSPIRITTULSA.COM

ABOUT TOWN

GREG BOLLINGER

Pipers Bill Tetrick and David Marshall, and drummer George Tabor of City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums

PIPES AND DRUMS

ulsa’s annual Scotfest kicks off Sept. 17 for three days of music, games and dancing in celebration of Scottish and Irish culture. Saturday begins with solo piping and drumming competitions at 9 a.m., and the day continues with group performances, including locals in the City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums band. Read more about the band and festival on p. 36. TP

TulsaPeople.com

SEPTEMBER 10-12

Travel back in time millions of years at Jurassic Quest inside the Cox Business Convention Center. Attendees will see more than 100 life-like dinosaurs, rides, interactive science and art activities, photo opportunities and much more.

1-5

Get in a tropical state of mind with a trip to paradise at “Escape to Margaritaville,” a musical featuring hits from Jimmy Buffett, at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Is that a hurricane warning I hear? The University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane opens its season at Chapman Stadium against the University of California-Davis Aggies.

Find your next treasure as the Tulsa Flea Market returns to the River Spirit Expo at Expo Square.

Have a ball as FC Tulsa takes on the Indy Eleven for a match at ONEOK Field. Games also Sept. 11, 18.

10-12

Hear about the fascinating life of Oklahoma’s Kate Barnard as author Connie Cronley discusses her new book “A Life on Fire” at Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. Learn tips and how-tos for prepping your vegetable garden so it’s ready for next spring at the Tulsa County Master Gardeners’ virtual Lunch and Learn.

Peruse dramatic photographs inspired by ﬁlms by director Wes Anderson as Philbrook Museum of Art opens its latest exhibit, “This is an Adventure: Accidentally Wes Anderson.” Continues through Jan. 2.

17-18,24-25 Opa! Drive through the 60th anniversary Tulsa Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and indulge in culinary delights like gyros, baklava and

saganaki. Enjoy Greek music and dancing while you’re in line.

17-19

Journey to the Highlands without getting on a plane. Scotfest returns to the Broken Arrow Events Complex for three days of games, music and food.

In need of some retail therapy? Visit more than 100 local storefronts and nearly 60 pop-up vendors during the inaugural TulsaGo Small Business Crawl. Buy a $10 pass and take advantage of more than $6,000 in special offers and discounts. Gathering Place hosts Poppa Foster and the Grits, Mark Gibson Trio and And Then There Were Two for a night of non-stop music on the Great Lawn.

Festival, and Circle Cinema is hosting a screening so Tulsa audience can join in voting for their favorite pictures.

Join the community outdoor potluck and jazz performance at Vernon A.M.E Church. Pianist Christopher Parker and vocalist Kelley Hurt will play “No Tears Suite” to honor the 64th anniversary of Little Rock Central High School’s desegregation. Rather than the crack of a bat, hear the tapping of kegs as the 11th annual McNellie’s Harvest Beer Festival goes down at ONEOK Field.

30-Oct. 10

Eleven days of entertainment, rides, food and fun return as the Tulsa State Fair returns to Expo Square. TP

Ten short ﬁlms make up the Manhattan Short Film COURTESY

Be mesmerized as the dancers from the Ballet of Puerto Rico perform at the Holland Hall Walker Arts Center.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

MUSIC LISTINGS 3-4 HANSON: AGAINST THE WORLD Cain’s Ballroom

TANYA TUCKER The Cove at River Spirit Casino Resort

8 ANDY FRASCO AND THE UN Cain’s Ballroom

17 18TH ANNUAL ’80S PROM Cain’s Ballroom

10 URBAN COWBOY: MICKEY GILLEY AND JOHNNY LEE Hard Rock Live

EARTH, WIND AND FIRE The Cove at River Spirit Casino Resort

THE FRONTMEN Osage Casino Skyline Event Center

20 THE WOOD BROTHERS WITH ANDREA VAN KAMPEN Cain’s Ballroom

11 THE CADILLAC THREE Cain’s Ballroom

23 TECH N9NE Cain’s Ballroom

UNCLE KRACKER Hard Rock Live

CLAY WALKER Hard Rock Live

SAMMY HAGAR AND THE CIRCLE The Cove at River Spirit Casino Resort

12 UMPHREY’S MCGEE Cain’s Ballroom

14 LOST DOG STREET BAND Cain’s Ballroom

24 BLAKE SHELTON BOK Center

25 PECOS AND THE ROOFTOPS WITH JACOB STELLY AND CANAAN BRYCE Cain’s Ballroom

TOP 10 SCIENCE MUSEUM The results are in for USA Today’s Readers’ Choice awards, and we are proud to announce we’ve been voted the 9th Best Science Museum in America! USA Today assembled a panel of industry experts to identify the top 20 science museums in the U.S. The publication then opened the list to voting, asking the public to choose their top 10, and YOU helped us receive the #9 spot! Thank you for helping the Museum win this national recognition!

INTRODUCING SCIENCE ON A SPHERE! Guests interact with our brand-new Science on a Sphere, a large sphere hanging from the ceiling in the Current Science Studio that displays space and Earth-based content from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NEW MUSEUM HOURS!

SHERYL CROW The Cove at River Spirit Casino Resort

16 SYLVAN ESSO Cain’s Ballroom KANSAS Hard Rock Live

YOUR MUSEUM HAS REOPENED!

SEE THE FULL LIST OF SHOWS UPDATED WEEKLY AT TULSAPEOPLE.COM.

The museum is open every Friday and Saturday from 10AM to 5PM, and on Sundays from 12PM to 5PM. Monday thru Thursday, we are closed. (Note: Noble Planetarium is open, but Omni Theatre and WaterWorks are still temporarily closed. Stay tuned for updates!)

Fort Worth Museum of Science & History 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107 TulsaPeople.com

COMMUNITY

Sweet puppies abound at Woofstock

Tulsa artist Sam Lee Regan paints inside Edison Studios, 4040 W. Edison St.

FUELED CREATIVITY FORMER SERVICE STATION IN WEST TULSA TRANSFORMED INTO LOCAL ART COLLECTIVE STUDIO. STORIES BY ETHAN VEENKER

t fi rst, Tulsa artist Lisa Regan was looking for a personal studio — something big enough for painting and, of course, metal smithing. After all, forged creations and whimsical designs from the founder and lead artist of Garden Deva can be found all over town, in neighborhood parks, in local gardens and ornamenting area homes. For the past few years, she has worked out of Edison Studios, 4040 W. Edison St. The property had many past lives since it was built in 1955, including a gas station and service garage. “When I looked at it … I didn’t really think twice about it,” Regan says of the former fi lling station, which she purchased in 2017. However, its 2,800 square feet was big enough to share with other artists. “I like to have a tribe more often than being alone,” Regan says, so it made sense for Edison 28

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Studios to become home to a creative collective. Four other artists work alongside Regan in the building. At the time of writing, they include Steve Blesch, Zac Heimdale, Hali Howard and Sam Lee Regan, Lisa Regan’s son. Though there is no real unifying aesthetic to the collective, each artist is a painter with branches in other media, like Regan herself. Though the studio isn’t explicitly open to the public, there is additional space in the building rented out for various events like workshops, exercise classes or art shows. The rate is $85 a day, and as Regan puts it, “I welcome collaboration in Tulsa, so if anyone’s interested in doing something, I’m happy to talk to them.” Visit the studio’s Facebook page at facebook. com/edisonstudiostulsa to see upcoming events or to reach out about renting space for your own projects. TP

Join the pack of people and pets at the 15th annual Woofstock this month in Jenks. The gathering of more than 40 Oklahoma animal rescue organizations, local pet businesses and other nonproﬁts includes live music, friendly competitions and an animal adopt-a-thon. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own pets, and admission is free. For families interested in growing, participating rescue organizations will bring a roster of animals in need of a home. Every adoption includes a free microchip, ID tag and goodie bag from Oklahoma Alliance for Animals. “Oklahoma has a huge pet overpopulation problem,” says Erin Shackelford, executive director of OAA Tulsa. “We desperately need people to come out and adopt, so events like Woofstock are critical in helping us ﬁnd homes for pets.” OAA also offers $20 microchipping and $5 ID tags for animals who attend Woofstock. This year, rescue organizations will go head-to-head in the “Grooviest Booth” design contest, vying for the $500 cash prize, and local pets will face off in the “Grooviest Pet” costume contest. Hundreds of pets have been adopted from prior Woofstock festivals, and Shackelford says OAA hopes to see those numbers rise with each successive year. The festival is from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Sept. 18, at Riverwalk Crossing, 300 Riverwalk Terrace. Find out more at animalallianceok.org/events/woofstock.

EDISON STUDIOS: GREG BOLLINGER; COURTESY

FIND YOUR GROOVE, FIND A PET

Legendary leading ladies BROADWAY SONGBOOK BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL AND MEGAN HILTY October 10, 2021

Tickets on sale now!

CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL SUSANNA PHILLIPS November 4-7, 2021

SARAH COBURN JANUARY 29, 2022

SPECIAL VALENTINE’S DAY EVENT

BERNADETTE PETERS FEBRUARY 14, 2022

ART SPOT The last “Oh, Tulsa” exhibition was in 2019 at Living Arts of Tulsa, 307 E. Reconciliation Way.

Sequena “Queen” Alexander owns Greenwood Gallery, 10 N. Greenwood Ave., Suite B

ART ON BLACK WALL STREET GREENWOOD GALLERY ALSO SERVES AS A HUB FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS. STORIES BY JESSICA BRENT

equena “Queen” Alexander did not grow up here (she’s from Grand Prairie, Texas) but her family’s entrepreneurial roots run through Tulsa. Her great-great-grandfather Edward Goodwin Sr. purchased The Tulsa Star in 1921 and renamed it The Oklahoma Eagle newspaper. Her late grandmother Marlo Alexander owned Marlo’s Beauty and Wigs. Her cousin, Ricco Wright, is the owner and curator of Black Wall Street Gallery, which formerly was located in the Greenwood District but has since relocated to New York City. What was once the Black Wall Street Gallery is now Greenwood Gallery, and Alexander is at the helm. A lifelong artist, Alexander started her career as an eyewear designer, but her medium shifted over the years from eyeglasses, to painting on glass, to enamel on glass. She began selling art through the Black Wall Street Gallery while still in Texas, then felt pulled to relocate to Tulsa three years ago. She began working at the gallery, hosting events, and connected with the local arts community. When the Black Wall Street

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Gallery closed its Tulsa location, Alexander was approached about continuing her work with a new gallery of her own. Greenwood Gallery is home to recurring community events like a book club, chess practice (5 p.m. on the fi rst and third Mondays) and a vendor pop-up called Circulate Sundays (2-6 p.m. on the fi rst Sunday of the month). “I love the events because they allow the community to network and curate ideas,” she says. As owner of the gallery, Alexander’s intentions include “giving other entrepreneurs space to market their products, giving artists a platform and investing in Black art.” The Greenwood Gallery — located at 10 N. Greenwood Ave., Suite B — is open to the public from 1-6 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday. “We are curated for access,” Alexander says of the venue. “We are free to get in unless it’s a ticketed event.” But bring your wallet because the gallery has a shop and, while the Founders Room features exhibitions of educational importance, the art on display in the main gallery is always for sale. TP

Living Arts of Tulsa’s recurring “Oh, Tulsa” opens its sixth exhibition Sept. 3. The title of the show is open for interpretation, but Sina McLin, gallery and communications manager at Living Arts of Tulsa, says the show is meant to be a love letter to the city. The biennial show ﬁrst opened in 2011. “We might have a lot of local artists in other shows,” McLin says. “But Tulsa is not the theme of those shows.” Each “Oh, Tulsa” piece is selected from a competitive pool of entries and arranged by a guest curator, someone with ties to the city. This year’s guest curator is Tulsa artist Daniel Mooney, who also works as an engineer for the Seattle-based indie game production company Midwinter Entertainment. McLin says the selected works are wide ranging. “Videos, sculpture, painting, photographs — pretty much any type of art you can think of, we normally have,” McLin says. The common denominator is Tulsa. Entrants are required to be a Tulsa artist or to have created works about Tulsa. With close to 10,000 square feet of gallery space, the show will feature 80 to 100 pieces. Throughout the month, Living Arts of Tulsa will host artist workshops and interactive programming celebrating the city. The show runs through Oct. 8. Gallery hours are noon-4 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, and 6-9 p.m. during First Fridays. Tuesday and Wednesday are open by appointment only for visitors who prefer to distance. Admission is free. “We don’t want there to be a barrier to entry to view contemporary art,” McLin says.

ALEXANDER: GREG BOLLINGER; COURTESY

A love letter TO TULSA

EXPLORE the possibilities Private tours offered by appointment Monday-Friday from 3:30-4:30 p.m. For virtual campus tours and more information about admission or tuition assistance, call 918-879-4755.

Learn more at hollandhall.org/open-house.

TulsaPeople.com

Benjamin Liggett

ART SPOT

David Grosshans’ woodburning work

Tulsa guitar maker Benjamin Liggett curated “A Luthier’s Tale,” which ends this month at 108 Contemporary.

STRINGS OF THE CENTURY LOCAL GUITAR MAKER CURATES EXHIBIT CELEBRATING THE CRAFT OF INSTRUMENTS. BY BLAYKLEE FREED

he collection of stringed instruments on display in the Tulsa Arts District showcase more than a century of craftsmanship and music history. Thousands have stomped and danced on the wooden body of the guitar by Oklahoman Roger Cowan — in its previous life as the floor at Cain’s Ballroom. Custom guitars from Jersey Girl Homemade Guitars in Japan have traveled thousands of miles. They can be found at “A Luthier’s Tale” at 108 Contemporary, which shares a wide selection of stringed instruments in an ode to luthiers: the artists who craft them. Guest Curator Benjamin Liggett, the luthier who owns Liggett Guitars, says fellow local luthier Lou Lynch (Tulsa Violin Shop) was instrumental to the exhibit, which ends Sept. 19. Lynch helped Liggett connect with private collectors and craftsmen around the world to bring the compilation of instruments to Tulsa, and he is featured in the exhibit’s intro video. From orchestral instruments to banjos and custom electric guitars, the exhibit presents a variety of strings and includes niche pieces that explore unique aspects of music, like the archtop guitar on the east wall with F holes resembling those on a violin. “In the early 1900s, they were making these guitars. They looked like violins, but there’s no sound post,” says Liggett, who trained at the

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, Arizona. “The result was a guitar with less sustain — the note dies quicker. If you’re playing lots of single notes in succession, you don’t want a lot of sustain because all the notes bleed together.” Liggett appreciates the stories behind pieces, like one of the encased violins toward the front of the exhibit designed by Yellow Eyes guitarist Will Skarstad, who primarily plays black metal (a lo-fi subgenre of heavy metal music often portraying anti-establishment themes). “He grew up in a violin shop, and his dad is really well known, so he was very excited to be in the show,” Liggett says. “The finish work on the back, the crackling, all that stuff is intentional, and I love it.” Two free concerts in connection with the exhibit will be held this month, as well. For details and links to RSVP, visit 108contemporary. org/event/a-luthiers-tale. TP SEPT. 10 SHELBY EICHER AND THE TULSA PLAYBOYS 7 p.m., Guthrie Green, 111 E. Reconciliation Way SEPT. 16 TU STUDENT CHAMBER GROUP CONCERT 7 p.m., 108 Contemporary, 108 E. Reconciliation Way

You don’t need a pair of lederhosen to enjoy German-American Society of Tulsa’s Artfest this month. The free festival at the GAST Event Center will include light snacks and German-themed refreshments. Attending artists will exhibit and sell their work while meeting with patrons. GAST also will host a silent auction during the event, to which each artist will contribute a piece. Although most art for sale will not be Germanthemed, the pieces in the auction will be. Local musician Rick Fortner, who also serves as director of music at All Souls Unitarian Church, will perform, as will other local acts. Check GAST Facebook for lineup details. GAST’s Artfest is the brainchild of Jan Heffner and Christy Fell, longtime members. Artfest publicity chairwoman Cheryl Baker explains that Artfest launched this year, in part, to share the GAST Event Center with the community. “This gothic-style mini cathedral, with its vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows, is a gem located in the heart of midtown Tulsa that many have only visited while attending one of our two annual German festivals — Germanfest and Christkindlmarkt,” says Baker of the GAST Center, 1429 Terrace Drive. The 15 attending artists include Jacquelyn Riggs, Joey Frisillo, Kathy Soliday, Jezz StruttSherry, Yusuf Etudaiye, Larry Waid and David Grosshans, who specializes in fractal woodburning and plans to demonstrate his work during the festival. “We hope those attending Artfest will enjoy strolling through the exhibits, perhaps purchasing a piece of art, and seeing the GAST Center either for the ﬁrst time or at least through a new lens,” Baker says. — ETHAN VEENKER ARTFEST Sept. 18-19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday; noon-5 p.m., Sunday. | German-American Society of Tulsa Center, 1429 Terrace Drive. Free admission | gastulsa.org/artfest

LIGGETT: GREG BOLLINGER; COURTESY

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MUSIC NOTES

Coming in October:

THE ANNUAL DOWNTOWN ISSUE

TULSA PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sept. 4 Expo Square Exchange Center, 4145 E. 21st St. $10, admission; free for kids under 12

Tip Crowley, Cameron Clouser, Dalton Williams and Niah Berven of The Stifﬁes

ALL THINGS PUNK TULSA PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET CELEBRATES SUBCULTURES THROUGH MUSIC AND ART. BY JULIE WENGER WATSON

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

subcultures. Music, though, remains at the heart of the experience. Bands will perform during the day, with performances from The Shame, The Stiffies and The Penny Mob — check Facebook for the full lineup — and there will be a 21+ after-party that night. Merch includes alternative clothing like band shirts and skirts, Cozzaglio explains. “We also have an array of artists from dark art to more music related art,” which include local creators like Calamity Jessie Creations, Mickel Yantz, and Elizabeth Burton Designs, as well as out-ofstate artists. Bands will start earlier in the day around noon, Cozzaglio says, because Tulsa has a large younger scene. “There just aren’t a lot of all-ages shows, so that’s why we really like to incorporate live music during the event — so these kids can have somewhere to go to see music.” The Cozzaglios’ projects exemplify the punk rock ethos of DIY, direct action and individualism. “My goal is that I don’t want to work for someone else. I want to work doing something I love,” she says. “Between the Punk Rock Market and the Oddities and Curiosities Expo, and our punk festival, we’re working for ourselves, doing what we love.” For more information, visit facebook. com/tulsapunkrockfleamarket. TP

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PUNK ROCK: GREG BOLLINGER

hat started out in 2013 as a fun adventure with friends who shared a love of punk rock music and alternative culture has grown into a much-anticipated annual event drawing Tulsans of all ages, as well as visitors from across the state and beyond. The 2021 Tulsa Punk Rock Flea Market is the place to be if you’re on the hunt for a curated selection of records, CDs, cassettes and perhaps some spandex or stilettos to supplement your wardrobe. TPRFM co-founders Tony and Michelle Cozzaglio are no strangers to turning their passion and creativity into a unique and growing business. The Tulsa duo is behind Boulevard Trash, a midtown boutique and record label that specializes in new and used clothing, records and accessories. They also put on the national Oddities and Curiosities Expo, an annual touring collaborative of vendors and artists with a focus on the “strange, unusual, unique, dark and bizarre.” TPRFM is another extension of this couple’s love for and support of DIY culture and music, and it has grown from around 20 to close to 70 vendors over the years, according to Michelle Cozzaglio. It started to celebrate “all subcultures of punk,” but has grown to include a variety of

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MUSIC NOTES Michael Fields Jr. Bill Tetrick plays the Great Highland bagpipe and will perform with City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums at Scotfest.

LOCAL PIPERS AND DRUMMERS PREP FOR UPCOMING SCOTFEST PERFORMANCES. STORIES BY JULIE WENGER WATSON

igging into genealogy can lead to all sorts of discoveries: new friends, longlost family, maybe even vital medical information. For David Marshall, it led to a new hobby. At 45, the Tulsan took up the Great Highland bagpipe, a rather unusual instrument for a fi rsttime musician. Over the decades, the bagpipe has not only provided Marshall with a meaningful way to honor his Scottish ancestry, but also opened the door to many memorable experiences. In 2000, after only a few years of piping, Marshall joined over 10,000 bagpipers from across the world in Edinburgh to perform in a benefit for Marie Curie Cancer Institute of Scotland. The audience was full of dignitaries, and at one point, Marshall found himself just a few feet from Prince Charles. With City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums, Marshall has performed at countless college graduations, ceremonies and services, including several retirement events for Oklahoma State University’s former president Burns Hargis, and an Oklahoma State Congressional session. Th is month, you can catch Marshall and the COTPD at Scotfest, Sept. 17-19 at Broken Arrow Events Complex. In addition to the music, this celebration of Celtic culture also features athletic events, whisky tastings, vendors, dancers and more. On Saturday during the festival, COTPD will compete with bands from across the U.S. for honors and cash in the American Grade 5 National Pipeband Championship.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

When he’s not working his day job as Marshall Brewing Co.’s controller — Marshall is founder Eric Marshall’s father — he hones skills on the pipes with regular practice. Technically, the bagpipe is considered an “outdoor” instrument, so finding suitable space to rehearse can be difficult. “It’s always a challenge,” Marshall laughs. “It’s kind of crazy, but I do practice inside. I wait until no one’s home. At one point, I was banished to the basement in my other house,” adding that some of his fellow pipers practice in public parks early in the morning to avoid disturbing anyone. The COTPD also practices as a group every Thursday at Asbury Methodist Church. Marshall credits the group’s pipe major, Bill Tetrick, with helping him learn the instrument. “I tried to teach myself pipes for a couple of years, using the online types of things, and then I found the City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums,” Marshall says. “Our pipe major had been with a military band, and they’d sent him to Canada to learn to play pipes. He later retired from the service and kept piping and became our pipe major.” What started to acknowledge his ancestry has turned into much more for Marshall, who appreciates the instrument’s role historically and culturally, as well as its place in celebrations of all kinds. “If we don’t elicit a tear or two, we haven’t done our job.” TP For more information on Scotfest, visit okscotfest.com. For more information on COTPD, visit cityoftulsapipesanddrums.com

“Be prepared to be amazed,” says music producer and jazz bassist Michael Fields Jr. of the lineup for the second annual Jazz on the Green this month in downtown Tulsa. The free, family-friendly event features world-class talent, including award-winning smooth jazz, gospel recording artist and saxophonist Jazmin Ghent, and LA-based guitarist Adam Hawley, who has performed and/or recorded with artists as diverse as Lil’ Wayne, Jennifer Lopez and the Backstreet Boys, says Fields, the festival’s founder. In addition to top billboard artists like Ghent and Hawley, Fields says the festival will showcase up-and-coming musicians. In fact, that’s one of the original inspirations for creating the festival. “It’s kind of hard for a newbie like myself to get on the festivals,” says Fields, a touring musician. “The guys who’ve been in the industry a long time are the most sought after, so I just had the idea to create my own festival for artists like me that may not have a chance to do a festival.” Although Jazz on the Green is in its second year, due to the pandemic the inaugural event in 2020 was virtual. By all accounts, it was a big success, with the livestream garnering close to 10,000 views that night. Fields already has plans to grow the festival next year. “My goal is to go two days,” he says. “I want to introduce a Sunday jazz thing. There are a lot of good gospel jazz artists.” TP SEPT. 4 JAZZ ON THE GREEN 6 p.m. Guthrie Green, 111 E. Reconciliation Way jazzonthegreen.net

PIPES: GREG BOLLINGER; COURTESY

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ON STAGE

Leslie Long (Joan) and Will Carpenter (Nick) star in the two-person Theatre Tulsa production of “The Guys.”

THE GUYS Aug. 27-Sept. 5. Liddy Doenges Theater, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. Second St. Visit tulsapac.com for tickets or call 918-596-7109.

BEAUTIFUL AND MUNDANE THEATRE TULSA PRODUCTION TELLS STORIES OF AMERICAN HEROES.

t’s a play about “The Guys,” but two women — both with strong Oklahoma connections — are bringing it to life on stage. Theatre Tulsa’s production of “The Guys” is about fi refighters in New York City, directed by Laura Skoch. The two-person play is a timely commemoration of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. The guys of the play’s title never appear on stage, at least not in person. But their voices are heard through the New York City Fire Department captain eulogizing them, as he tells a journalist about four of the eight fi refighters under his command who died that day. Yet, it is not a morose play — the captain remembers a fi rehouse fi lled with “day-to-day joy” and “beautiful mundanity,” according to Skoch. Skoch describes her Tulsa cast as “stellar,” including veteran Tulsa actors Leslie Long and

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Will Carpenter. The play debuted off-Broadway, starring Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray, on Dec. 4, 2001, at The Flea Theater, seven blocks from Ground Zero. It has been performed in all 50 states, 15 countries and as a feature fi lm of the same name. The story of 9/11 is more than a news event to Tulsa native Skoch; it’s personal. She was living in New York when the planes struck the towers. “It was hard being there,” she says. “Surreal.” The Holland Hall graduate with a master’s degree from Columbia fell in love with New York, where she lived for 17 years. After a stint in London, Skoch returned to Tulsa. Playwright Anne Nelson, born in Fort Sill, moved 17 times before she was 12 and considers Stillwater her hometown. It is where she attended junior high and high school and where she has family and friends. She is a journalist (war correspondent in El Salvador and Guatemala) and author (“Red Orchestra” about Nazi Germany media and “Suzanne’s Children:

A Daring Rescue in Nazi Paris,”) a graduate of Yale University and she teaches at Columbia University. She plans to be in Tulsa for the opening weekend productions. “The Guys” was written from her own life, based on her journalistic experiences of the September 11 attacks. “It means a lot to me for ‘The Guys’ to be produced at Theatre Tulsa,” Nelson says. “In many ways, the play is an ode to a city and as a girl from Stillwater, Tulsa was my fi rst ‘big city experience.’ We still mourn and celebrate the brave fi rst responders we lost in 2001,” she says, in the same way we remember the heroic emergency medical workers of the COVID-19 crisis. Among those more recent heroes, she mentioned Debbie Rusher, who worked in Tulsa as a paramedic for more than 20 years. Rusher died in December after battling COVID-19 for more than a month. “Like ‘the guys,’ she gave her life for others and that is a noble thing.” TP

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ON STAGE

AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE Oct. 8-16, Liddy Doenges Theater, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, 110 E. Second St.$18-$22. Season passes at americantheatrecompany. org; individual show tickets at tulsapac.com.

Tulsa playwright David Blakely’s adaptation of “An Enemy of the People” opens Oct. 8.

SERIOUSLY, FUNNY

AMERICAN THEATRE CO. SEASON KICKS OFF THIS MONTH WITH TULSAN’S PLAY. BY CONNIE CRONLEY

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Blakely’s adaptation is set in Cushing, Oklahoma, where oil fracking is lucrative. He says it sticks close to the original plot: “The actions of some people threaten the livelihood of the citizens of a small town who depend upon one industry for a good portion of its economy.” The play reflects today’s political, economic and social environments, Blakely says. “The pandemic has accentuated this situation. Over the past year or so, municipalities have suffered economic decline because closing businesses.” Ibsen was considered a poet, but when he wrote about social issues, people burned his plays in the street, Blakely says. “An Enemy of the People” was a turning point in his career. “Ultimately, history branded this play, and Ibsen, about societal issues and not a poetic meditation.” History also branded it a comedy; though Ibsen called it a drama, the audience howled with laughter opening night. Blakely’s adaptation is a comedy. “Good comedies are not light fluff ; they are about important issues,” he says. “‘An Enemy of the People’” takes its subject matter very seriously — just not soberly.” TP

Laurie Carlson, American Theatre Co. board chairwoman; Greg Roach, actor; and Melanie Fry, actor and ATC board member, attended a gathering this summer with ATC colleagues. The group reminisced about ATC hits over the decades, like shows with Eddie and the Ecclectics (Roach played Tony Antonio, Fry directed) and with the Martels (Fry played Joyce Martel, and Roach played Bubba Martel).

BLAKELY; TIM LANDES; COURTESY

merican Theatre Co. opens the 2021-22 season with the world premiere of “An Enemy of the People” commissioned from Tulsa playwright David Blakely. The play, written in 2019, is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name, and is directed by Kathryn Hartney. Ibsen’s 1882 play is set in a Norwegian spa town where science clashes with economy. The classic theme of a courageous individual who dares to stand alone against an entire town is so appealing, the play has been adapted many times, from a Broadway play by Arthur Miller to a movie starring Steve McQueen. “The Ibsen play is about the morality of pursuing an action you know is right even when it is opposed by those you seek to help,” explains Blakely, associate professor of theater at Rogers State University and former playwright-inresidence emeritus for Tulsa’s Heller Theatre Company. “I think the question of the play is about individual responsibility, leadership, scientific research and the danger of activating mob mentality. It is also a complicated question about the responsible thing to when the economic engine of a community is also a potential means of destruction.”

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OCTOBER 16, 2021 BILL ACHEFF • SCOTT L. CHRISTENSEN JOSH ELLIOTT • SHERRIE MCGRAW PAUL MOORE • JOHN MOYERS PEREGRINE O’GORMLEY GRANT REDDEN • MATT SMITH For ticket information please call 918.336.0307 ext 101 Exhibit will be on display through Dec. 31, 2021

Josh Elliott, Morning Chores, 2017, oil, 18 x 54 in. Collection of Susan J. Roeder

Peregrine O’Gormley, Harbinger, 2016, juniper, 12 x 12 x 9 in. Collection of Jack Handey

John Moyers, Pulse of the People, 2017, oil on linen, 36 x 36 in. Collection of the artist

Grant Redden, Stirring Up the Locals, 2019, oil, 28 x 30 in. Collection of Tim & Cathi Newton

Paul Moore, Hopi Snake Dancer, 2011, bronze, 42 x 19 x 5 in. Collection of the artist

M U S E U M

W I L D L I F E

P R E S E R V E

1 1) One of the few Tulsa city limits signs. This one is on the west side along 73rd West Avenue, just north of West Edison Street.

Exploring Tulsa’s city limits A ROAD TRIP AROUND T-TOWN LEADS TO DIVERSE VIEWS OF NATURE AND LIFE ALONG OUR CITY’S BORDERS. STORY AND PHOTOS BY TIM LANDES

For a gallery of images from Tulsa’s city limits, visit TulsaPeople.com.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

I’VE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. Maybe it’s because that’s where I grew up in a nearby community. Maybe it’s because there’s a part of me that misses the peace and quiet that comes with living on the outskirts. Throughout this summer I tossed my camera bag in the passenger seat and went for drives beyond my midtown bubble to see what life is like along Tulsa’s city limits. I dodged potholes and waved at farmers, dump truck drivers and bicyclists. I got to enjoy an evening summer breeze as it blew past the prairie. In the southwest corner on West 91st Street, I talked to a tomato grower on her second-to-last day of business for the year. On the northside along 56th Street North, I spent time with a man who closed his indoor skatepark business due to the pandemic and was returning to his roots at an outdoor skatepark, where he pushed the limits of his 40-year-old body. At the southern tip of our city near East 131st Street and South Sheridan Avenue, I admired the sun setting over a neighborhood pond as multiethnic residents strolled past on the sidewalk of the new housing edition. Another evening I spent time near 273rd East Avenue watching a deer eat in an east Tulsa ﬁeld until the sky was too dark to capture another image. To the west, much of our city’s border is currently under construction. A new Gilcrease Expressway expansion will soon be full of speeding commuters, where if they look to the east, they will see the BOK Tower peaking over trees. It was nice to go for drives and explore a part of our city we normally pass through coming to and going from Tulsa. Sept. 18 is 918 Day, a civic holiday celebrating all things Tulsa. Maybe these images will inspire you to get out and go for a ride and enjoy the views.

2) One of the resident dogs at Tomato Man’s Daughter located in the southwest corner of the city limits at 2515 W. 91st St. 3) Addison Valley housing edition, just south of East 121st Street on South Sheridan Road, is full of sold signs and new construction. This area marks the southern-most portion of the city. 4) Village Congregation Church sits beyond a locked gate at 1825 W. 91st St.

4 TulsaPeople.com

5) Bird Creek ﬂowing into Tulsa with lots of rainwater in early July after passing under an East 56th Street North bridge. 6) Jeremy Racine takes advantage of a quiet Sunday morning at Skatenorth Park, 2910 E. 56th St. N. 7) Bicyclists travel west on East 56th Street North, which is the northern city limits boundary.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

5 12 11

TULSA CITY LIMITS

4 3

12 8) There’s nothing but prairie grass and trees in Tulsa at East 41st Street and west of South 257th East Avenue. 9) When entering Tulsa on East 31st Street just west of South 273rd East Avenue, there’s a tree archway at the boundary with open field views on either side. 10) A memorial for fatal car accident victim Jaedan Doris Paul sits at the corner of South 257th East Avenue and East Admiral Place. 11) A deer enjoys a solitary evening in a field running along East Admiral Place east of the Creek Turnpike. 12) A semi pulling a flatbed loaded with heavy equipment drives north on North 4040 Road. The northeast corner of the city limits is full of semis traveling all directions along the city limits. TP

TulsaPeople.com

Broken Arrow senior wrestler Ki’Eisha Cathey and coach Cassidy Jasperson inside the high school’s wrestling gym. Cathey is the reigning state champion in the girls’ 185-pound weight class. Jasperson is a former Texas state champion and competed on the collegiate level at Oklahoma City University.

THEIR MOMENT ON THE MAT

RISE OF GIRL S’ W RE S T LING IS OPENING DOORS A ND INCRE A SING OPPOR T UNITIE S.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

MICHELLE POLLARD

STORIES BY JOHN TRANCHINA

OKLAHOMA STATE NOT QUITE READY TO ADD WOMEN’S WRESTLING

i’Eisha Cathey proved she could take ‘em to the mat when she won an individual championship this past February at the Oklahoma State High School Wrestling Tournament. A Broken Arrow High School junior, Cathey pinned all three of her opponents in the 185-pound weight class and plans to continue wrestling at the next level. Now a senior at BA, she is one of a growing number of girls who have taken to the recently sanctioned sport. It’s not that females couldn’t previously be on a wrestling team, but they had to compete on the boys’ squad. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association officially sanctioned girls’ wrestling. Now the sport is growing significantly across the state, and girls like Cathey are finding new opportunities to earn scholarships to compete in college — just like the boys in the state have been doing for generations. “I’m telling you, it’s exploding,” says Broken Arrow girls’ wrestling coach Cassidy Jasperson, herself a former wrestler. With three individual champions — including seniors Allison Hynes and Olivia Brown — among the 10 different weight brackets, the Broken Arrow Tigers won the fi rst OSSAA team state title this year. With about 24 girls on the high school squad and another 26 in its junior high program, Broken Arrow is one of just a handful of Oklahoma schools that has its own girls’ program, with a dedicated girls’ coach, separate from the boys’ wrestling team. “We’re like a sisterhood,” Cathey says of her team.

The high school was ahead of the curve, hiring Jasperson in 2019 before the OSSAA sanctioned the sport, because they already had a blossoming girls’ wrestling scene. With a rich tradition in boys’ wrestling that has seen the school win 21 state championships — 11 in the past 12 years, including 2019, 2020 and 2021 — BA Executive Director of Athletics Steve Dunn says adding the state’s fi rst girls’ program was an easy decision, regardless of its sanctioning. “Our community is just crazy about wrestling; there’s such a tradition of excellence in our program, it just made a lot of sense to provide those opportunities for young ladies in our youth, middle school and high school programs,” Dunn says. “We saw we had a lot of girls who were wrestling and making their way through our program,” he explains. “We’ve had girls’ wrestling in our boys’ program for many years, and we knew we were out in front of the OSSAA in terms of their sanctioning of the sport, but we also knew it was just a matter of time because it’s a trend across the country. “Whether other schools followed suit, whether (OSSAA) was able to do it this year or last year or in five or six years, we knew eventually they would, and we were willing to travel and provide opportunities for our kids.” Before its official girls’ state wrestling tournament in 2021, OSSAA fi rst held an exhibition of girls’ wrestling in 2020 alongside the boys’ state tournament, on the same mats, and liked how it went, according to Todd Goolsby, assistant director of OSSAA. Plus, nearby states Missouri (2019) and Kansas (2020) also sanctioned girls’ wrestling, so that made the decision easier.

Oklahoma State University is one of the most decorated Division I colleges in wrestling. So what about women’s wrestling? Coach John Smith has a history of involvement in female wrestling, including coaching the U.S. national team to a secondplace ﬁnish at the 2017 World Championship tournament, but right now, OSU is not quite ready to take the plunge. “We are closely watching the landscape with that,” says new OSU Athletic Director Chad Weiberg. “Yes, we are aware of the growth in Oklahoma, the growth in Texas and other states around us. We have a proud wrestling tradition here and have for a long, long time, and I believe, if that is something that continues to develop, we’ll be part of that. But at this point, we’re just going to continue to monitor and watch that growth.” It will likely take multiple universities adding programs for OSU to take the next step into that arena. “Ideally, there would be some sort of simultaneous growth, because that helps with competition, right?” Weiberg asks. “In terms of travel — where are you going, who are you competing against, and that kind of thing.”

WRESTLERS ASPIRE TO CONTINUE FUELING RISE OF WOMEN’S MMA FIGHTING

Even casual sports fans will remember the hype surrounding female mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey a few years ago, as she became the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship female division before losing her title and fading from public view. But since then, the competition in women’s MMA fighting has remained fierce and has steadily gained popularity at all levels. Even in Tulsa, where Dale “Apollo” Cook has been putting on his XTreme Fight Night showcases periodically at the River Spirit Casino Resort, women’s bouts have often been a key part of the lineup. Jaymee “Ambush” Jones, who is from Tahlequah, was a regular combatant and crowd favorite, fashioning an 8-3 record from 2013-16, although she has since retired to raise her children. Cook says the pipeline of local women has dried up a bit recently, but he is still on the lookout for the next generation of female fighters. “I love women in combat sports, but I can’t find any

in Oklahoma,” Cook says. “The last girl star I had was Jaymee ‘Ambush’ Jones — she was a tremendous draw and a tough fighter. “Maybe the (rise of) women’s wrestling in high school in Oklahoma will change things. As a result of no up-and-coming talent, we haven’t had a female fight in a couple of years. The last girl I promoted, Montana De la Rosa, was from Texas, where women’s wrestling is big. She was a state champ and is now a star in the UFC.” Broken Arrow girls’ wrestling coach Cassidy Jasperson believes the rise of MMA, and the popularity of female fighters, also has helped fuel the increase of girls’ wrestling. “Just exposure to females in combat sports (helps),” Jasperson says, adding that a few of her girls have done jiujitsu. “It kind of leads them into that realm. There’s not jiujitsu in junior high or high school right now, that’s not a school-sanctioned sport, so wrestling is pretty similar.” TulsaPeople.com

CREATING A CULTURE THE GIRLS’ WRESTLING BOOM HAS BEEN ONGOING FOR SEVERAL YEARS, WITH MORE AND MORE STARTING THE SPORT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Local wrestling clubs such as Lady Outlaw Wrestling Academy are the key to the next generation learning the sport before they reach high school. Ashley Pagonis has been coaching girls in the area for 13 years, but it wasn’t until 2017, when girls of all ages were still wrestling in boys’ competitions, that she got a big group of them together at once. She began hosting 20-30 girls, some of whom would drive two to four hours to Tulsa to train with her every Sunday because they weren’t getting enough attention on their own boys’ teams. Later that year, the Oklahoma Kids Wrestling Association ﬁnally created a separate category where girls wrestled girls in club competition. With greater demand, Pagonis opened Lady Outlaw Wrestling in 2018. Initially she coached more older girls, primarily in the 15-and-under age group, but that has shifted signiﬁcantly. “All of my girls have really been older until these last two years,” Pagonis says, when she began teaching 7-and-under and 9-and-under groups. “It’s really cool because the older girls, some of them wrestled for years in (boys’) clubs and just got (overlooked) before they got attention,” she says. “Now you’ve got all these other little girls starting to wrestle, and the coaches are more competitive about it.” And as they get more direct instruction and attention from coaches, they’re getting better and using more highlevel technique, something Pagonis noticed at the most recent youth state championship meet. Additionally, clubs are popping up all over the state that are focusing on girls. “I think it’s going to explode at the youth level,” says Broken Arrow High School girls’ coach Cassidy Jasperson, who also is coach and director of the local club Arcane Wrestling Co. The youth clubs compete against other clubs around the state, and then there are several tournaments throughout the year that pit teams from different states against each other. While Oklahoma is a bit behind other states at the high school level, they aren’t quite as far behind at the younger ages. “I feel like Oklahoma is getting there. We still got a lot of stuff to learn, but we’re getting there,” says Tiara Revan of Broken Arrow High School, who also wrestled in the National Duals. “We have a lot of good wrestlers in Oklahoma.” “I think it’s going to take a few years (for Oklahoma to join the group of top states in the nation),” Jasperson says. “I think there’s talent here. It’s just not that established yet.” Like anything new, more people need to buy in to the idea. She adds, “It’s a tradition, it’s a culture you create, and a culture takes years, typically, to instill and make solid.” 50

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

MICHELLE POLLARD

Ashley Pagonis is the owner of Lady Outlaw Wrestling Academy, a local wrestling gym and team that competes with others across the state and region. Inset, Paityn McCann and Braelyn Williams practice.

“After we saw the successes of our exhibition year, we decided to go ahead and make it an official championship activity,” Goolsby says. “I think probably the fact that other states around us jumped in and made it official helped make it a priority in Oklahoma. In our minds, Oklahoma is a leader in the sport of wrestling, and it made the most sense to sanction the girls, as well.” With heightened visibility, more girls are giving it a try, both at the youth level and in high school. “I think it’s only going to get bigger,” says Jasperson, 24, a former state champion high school wrestler from Houston, Texas, who also competed for Oklahoma City University. However, “Wrestling is a little intimidating for people when there’s not a culture here yet,” she adds. Maybe a male relative wrestled, but it’s truly a fi rstgeneration sport. “These girls have a lot of courage to try this out when they’re already teenagers.” Sophomore Tiara Revan also competed this year. After touching the mat for the fi rst time as a freshman at the beginning of the season, she placed third in February at the East Regional at 107 pounds, qualifying for the state tournament, but was forced to miss it after testing positive for COVID-19. Now, fully recovered, she continues to wrestle, and in June, helped represent Broken Arrow at the Junior Women’s National Duals tournament. “I was looking for a sport to play, and my counselor offered wrestling,” says Revan, a former basketball player and now 2021 Folkstyle National All-American. She tried wrestling and loved it. Having a female coach in Jasperson has been important to Broken Arrow’s success. She is one of the rare women in the state who has already lived the experience these girls are seeking. “I’m younger, I’m a short little thing, I look like half the girls I coach, so I think there’s an appeal,” says Jasperson, a multiple NAIA All-American at OCU. “They see this little blond girl as the coach and think, ‘OK, it can’t be that brutal.’ I think that is a huge draw — having somebody they can relate to.” “We trust her and her experience,” says Cathey, who has been wrestling for three years now. “She knows exactly what we’re going through. She looks out for us. She always has our back. We don’t have to share our coach with anyone else.” As of this summer, nine Oklahoma schools have dedicated girls’ wrestling coaches, with several more planning to hire one before next season starts, according to Goolsby. Wagoner, Claremore and Fort Gibson all had individual state champions this year. Since 2018-19, the number of registered female wrestlers has more than tripled, from 98 to 362. Additionally, 98 schools have at least one girl wrestling. That means more attention on recruitment and promotion, including the fact that wrestling can pay for college. “I’m hoping to get a full-ride scholarship to college through wrestling,” Revan says. “I didn’t know that was possible when I fi rst started.” TP

a irt u

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

For the health and safety of our guests, we have decided to hold a virtual event.

Join us online for a virtual reception from 6:00 to 6:30 and a virtual program from 6:30 to 7:15. Go to WesternDays2021.com Live Auction | Premiere Silent Auction | Live Raffle Drawing “Lots of Love” Ask for Life Enrichment

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DELIVERING solutions How T u ls a ns a r e work i n g t o cha n ge r acia l mat er na l he a lt h d is pa r it ie s. BY BLAYKLEE FREED

WHAT IS MATERNAL MORTALITY? The death of a person while pregnant or within one year of the end of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy, according to the CDC’s Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System.

Dr. Syeachia Dennis, assistant dean for equity and community engagement and associate professor at OU-TU School of Community Medicine 52

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

GREG BOLLINGER

ore people in the United States die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth than any other industrialized nation. The most recent data available shows from 2018 to 2019, maternal mortality rates increased by 2.7 per 100,000 births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Significant racial and ethnic disparities persist — pregnant and postpartum Black Americans are 2.5 and 3.5 times more likely to die by causes related to pregnancy and childbirth than their white and Hispanic counterparts, respectively. Oklahoma is ranked 38 in maternal mortality with 33.9 deaths per 100,000 live births; Black and Indigenous people are three times more likely to die from childbirth or childbirth-related complications than white people, according to the Metriarch Data LookBook Vol. 2. Though the numbers reflect a dreary outlook for expecting parents, local organizations, doctors and advocates are working to change health outcomes. Dr. Syeachia Dennis, a family physician and assistant dean at the University of Oklahoma-University of Tulsa School of Community Medicine, puts some of the numbers into perspective: Some of the overall increase in maternal mortality can be attributed to people having babies later in life, which can go along with more chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes and obesity. But digging into the racial health disparities reveals something deeper. “I think specifically when you’re looking at marginalized populations — Indigenous people, Black people — you definitely have to look at social determinants and structural determinants of health,” says Dennis, assistant dean of equity and community engagement. When Dennis was in medical school in the early 2000s, she was taught Black and Indig-

enous populations have extra risk factors with pregnancy. “It was just kind of laid out there that those are the people who are at risk for all these different things — premature labor, preeclampsia …” but it left her wondering why these disparities existed between demographic groups. There have since been studies that show it is not just about varying lifestyle factors, Dennis says. “We see that especially for African Americans, even if you have someone who’s from a high socioeconomic status, has an education, they still are more at risk for an adverse outcome during their pregnancy, than someone who doesn’t have their level of education who happens to be white. We’re beginning to understand there is a social context, a structural context, to that, including racism and including the fact that chronic stress increases the weathering on the body.” Weathering causes physiological responses in the body that increase the risk for diabetes, obesity, hypertension, stroke and more, Dennis says. “Those are the things a lot of marginalized populations carry into a pregnancy, that then contribute to their increased risk of adverse outcomes.” Thus, the gap in health outcomes is two-fold: Some health disparaties begin long before a patient gets pregnant, and racism in the health care setting also plays a role, Dennis says. Implicit and explicit bias can influence providers to rely on their own assumptions about a patient more than the patient’s experiences. For the past five to 10 years, Dennis has seen more training on implicit bias in the field, and communities are addressing health care access. However, an increase in access does not necessarily result in better health outcomes because not all access is equal. Patient education and self-advocacy are other keys to better health outcomes. Dennis is working with Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative, a local nonprofit with programs that address maternal health disparities, to develop a program for those planning to get pregnant in the next year. “We’re working to develop a preconception group (with) shared medical visits to increase people’s understanding about improving their health before they get pregnant,” Dennis says. “It’s almost like Lamaze, but before you get pregnant.” “Patients, especially those with comorbidities (hypertension, obesity, diabetes) go through a series of classes designed to ensure patients understand how these different conditions impact health and how you can improve those different conditions.” The idea is to learn how to better manage chronic conditions before pregnancy and learn how to advocate for yourself within the medical system. Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative started in late 2019 as a community-based doula program that provides doula services to expecting parents. The organization also trains individuals to provide doula services on their own, Director LaBrisa Williams says. “When we say community-based doula training, we mean we employ people who are

Left, LaBrisa Williams, seated, director of Tulsa Birth Equity Initiative Below, Lauren and Brandon Oldham worked with a doula for the birth of their daughter Olivia in December 2020. Read the full conversation about their experience on TULSAPEOPLE.COM.

from the same community they’re serving or have some shared lived experience,” Williams says. “We serve teen parents with doula services, and we partner with and get a lot of referrals from a program out of Tulsa Public Schools called Strong Tomorrows (which helps expecting students through high school).” One of TBEI’s doulas was a Strong Tomorrows student. “She has shared lived experience because she was a teen parent (in the) program, so really having some foundational connection to build that (doula-parent) relationship on is important,” Williams says. TBEI-trained doulas are with a family during the prenatal, childbirth and postnatal phases for up to three months after childbirth “to make sure parents and support folks have all they need,” Williams says. The organization will hold doula trainings in September, which are free and open to the public for registration and publicized on TBEI’s Facebook page. “Our mission is to equip families in Tulsa to have healthy births with dignity and to reduce maternal health disparities,” Williams says. “We really envision a Tulsa in which all people are centered and respected before, during and after pregnancy.” Next on the agenda, TBEI will launch a program called “Creating Safe Spaces for Black

Women” this year, Williams says. It is hard to say exactly what it will look like because it will be community driven, but the program will include engagement sessions and group get-togethers. TBEI is hosting listening circles where Black women and Black mothers can share what they need from group. “Some (sessions) will be based around wellness activities and reducing stress, but it’s really just a safe space for them to come connect and be in a safe space with peers,” Williams says. For Dennis and others in the medical community, addressing health care disparities is a matter of revamping education and training aspiring physicians with community-minded practices. “(We’re taught patients and physicians) can work together to really make these changes in patients’ lives, and we can, and we do — it happens all the time,” Dennis says. “But I think just grappling with the fact that the context our patients live in is such a large contributor to our patients’ health. “My work is getting our med students, our learners, to really understand that and then figuring out how we can use our power and influence to improve the policies and systems impacting our patients’ health. Because at the end of the day, those are the things that are going to be the controlling factors that get communities healthier.” TP TulsaPeople.com

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BEING A M

IN TULSA

Motherhood could be described as equal parts joy, exhaustion, love and fear. This wonderful dichotomy is somewhat indescribable, but we asked several Tulsa moms to try. The subject of motherhood is explored in this multi-part feature about women who became firsttime moms in the midst of a global pandemic, the mental burden of motherhood, and post-baby health and wellbeing. Five moms, each in different stages of motherhood, share their snapshots of life with children. BY GAIL BANZET-ELLIS, BRIA BOLTON MOORE AND MORGAN PHILLIPS PHOTOS BY MICHELLE POLLARD TulsaPeople.com

Snapshots of Every mother’s journey is different. Here’s a glimpse into the lives of ﬁve Tulsa moms — some new, some experienced. BY BRIA BOLTON MOORE

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

For Chelsea Walker, motherhood looks like “going from 0 to 10.” Frantic when her boys are hungry, to fun with “lots of tickles, hugs, kisses and messes.” Walker, 30, is mom to Oliver, 10 months, and James, 6. She works full time as a nurse practitioner in a pediatric primary care clinic. “With an infant and a special needs child, they both are pretty dependent on my spouse and I,” Walker says. “Spending time with and supporting them both equally can be challenging. They also can’t communicate their wants and needs, so trying to figure that out while avoiding meltdowns is always fun.” Walker and her husband, Wes, adopted James — who has Dandy-Walker malformation, a congenital brain defect — when he was 2. “He mostly gets around by wheelchair but can walk in his gait trainer and communicates with some words and signs, but it is very limited,” Walker says. As a mom, Walker finds joy in dressing her boys in matching outfits and seeing them learn new things — like Oliver starting to babble and talk. “I love watching their friendship grow,” Walker says. “Oliver just loves his big brother and will follow him all over, and James just loves to entertain.”

Some of Ana Esparza’s treasured family moments are movie nights with their favorite snacks: watermelon and oranges for Thiago, 3; Starburst candy for Sophia, 4; chips for Giovanni, 6; and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos with melted cheese for Charlotte, 11. Esparza, 27, stays home full time with her three children and stepdaughter Charlotte, who lives with her and her husband, Francisco Perez, four days a week. She says managing the children’s fighting is a challenge. “I try to hide my frustration from them because they eventually get to you, but that’s my job as a mother — just being there for my kids and doing the best I can so they can get along,” she says. “Every time they fight, I make them hug it out and give each other a kiss on the cheek and say sorry.” Esparza, whose fledgling eyelash business lets her work from home as she builds clientele, says she believes all mothers are heroes balancing so many responsibilities. “It can get so hard at times, having to cook all day long, clean all day long, and my kids are still so young they make a mess out of nothing,” Esparza says. “I’m constantly staying busy.” At the end of the day, Esparza slows the pace for bedtime, telling her kids make-believe stories or reading one of their favorite books like “Llama Llama Red Pajama” while rubbing their backs.

motherhood “Since my boys are seven years apart, I am in two different seasons of life,” says Thuy Bui, mom to Nicholas, 17, and Tyler, 10. Bui, 38, tries to keep up with her teenager’s schedule. “He is part of the Broken Arrow Pride (marching band), and he also has his ﬁrst job this summer, so even though he can drive, I am always double-checking schedules to make sure he gets where he needs to,” she says. “Because he is driving, I am always worrying about him.” Married to Duy Lai, Bui spends time with Tyler while big brother is at practice. “He is becoming so independent, yet still loves hanging out with mom,” she says. “He can adapt to any situation and is always just so happy and smiling.” Bui says she is learning to let her sons gain independence. “As moms, we immediately want to take care of every single little thing for our children, and we forget they need to learn to do it for themselves.” Bui runs a blog (heythuy.com) and an online hair accessories company, MICALE LYNN. “I try hard every day to ﬁnd a balance between work and being a mom, and most times I just have to give myself a lot of grace because being a small business owner and running your business out of your home is not an easy task,” she says. “At the end of the day, my No. 1 priority and job is being the best mom I can to my two boys.”

One of the highlights of Laura Bryant’s day is the car ride after picking up her 7-year-old daughter, Clara, from school. “Sometimes I am picking her up only to drop her off with my mom, who watches her most of the time,” Bryant says. “However, those 10 minutes in the car are great to ﬁnd out about her day and sneak in some talking time.” Without any distractions, Bryant says Clara “will go over ﬁne details” of her day like who she sat by at lunch. Bryant, 39, works full time as a real estate agent with McGraw Realtors and is married to Todd, who “understands my crazy schedule.” She says it’s challenging to balance work and being a mom with a career that does not stop at 5 p.m. or take a break on the weekends. “I am always at the ready for clients and also try to be present for my family when home,” Bryant says. “Clara knows I work, but it’s hard when she wants your attention and you have time-sensitive work, so I feel just a constant tug from both ends. Or, often times, I will have something planned with her and need to reschedule if work comes up.” Bryant and Clara love to ride their bikes, play at Gathering Place and go on ice cream dates. “I enjoy seeing life through her eyes and her perspective on things,” Bryant says. “I am always amazed by the things she says and the ideas she comes up with. She has a very creative mind.”

Charlotte Shillingford describes motherhood as “an amazing, life-altering event that begins the day you hear that heartbeat.” Shillingford, 65, is mom to two daughters: Tyne, 36, and Brie, 31. When Tyne was born, Shillingford worked as a registered nurse on the 3-11 p.m. shift. Husband John brought their daughter to her to breastfeed before Tyne eventually learned how to bottle feed. “I was so much more relaxed with Brie,” Shillingford says. They attended Hillcrest’s employee child care center, whose employees “had a hand in raising both girls. Their values seemed to match mine: discipline, truthfulness, respect, curiosity and fun.” When they were young, Shillingford recalls asking the girls to clean up their room before they could play. Upon inspection, she was confused by what a good job they did. Twenty Barbie dolls were nowhere to be found. “I opened the closet door and was showered with the dolls, stuffed animals, clothes — all the things,” Shillingford says. “Pick your battles. This was one I let go.” Today the hurdle isn’t picking her battles, it’s picking her words and when to share them with her adult children. “The challenge is not providing an opinion unless asked,” Shillingford says. “Instead I’m going to continue watching how they navigate through life with or without my opinion.” Shillingford says an important thing she has learned about motherhood is the value of our time. “It was, and still is, important to spend time, be present,” she says. Shillingford is now MeMe to a 6-year-old grandson, Brie’s child. “He is my sunshine.” TP

TulsaPeople.com

Born in e storm Amber Barnes and son, Maddox Jacob

Maria Korphage and son, Beau

Destiny Green and daughter, Eve

Gail Banzet-Ellis and son, Ruston

Becoming a ﬁrst-time mom during a global pandemic BY GAIL BANZET-ELLIS 58

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

regnancy, delivering a baby and navigating life with a newborn are some of the most challenging yet rewarding moments of motherhood. But what happens when you must adjust to all those major life changes during a global pandemic? As a fi rst-time mom who gave birth to a son in July 2020, I can attest to the fear, anxiety and loneliness women around the world endured to become mothers amid the threat of COVID-19. Many of us share the same story. We began to work from home in spring 2020; COVID was a mystery for expecting mothers; and our baby showers were either canceled, socially distanced come-and-go events or hosted on Zoom. Spouses or partners were not allowed to accompany some of us to our checkups; we worried about testing positive for COVID when it was time to deliver; and we felt the guilt of embracing joy when people were sick and dying around the world. While pregnant, Amber Barnes experienced the traumatic loss of her grandfather and a close friend to COVID-19. As a hair stylist, she had reduced her work hours due to a tough case of morning sickness. Although her shop shut down for a while, she did return to work once it reopened and worked until a few days before giving birth. After she had her son, Maddox Jacob, a month early in December, she worried about protecting him from invisible, deadly germs. “It was an intense and wild time,” says Barnes, now a stay-at-home mom. “Now I focus on all the sweet moments I have with him like cuddles, breastfeeding and watching him develop. He’s familiar with video chat and is more observant of people in person.” Maria Korphage, a director of human resources for a charter school in Tulsa, gave birth to her son, Beau, in February after a high-risk pregnancy with gestational diabetes. Like Barnes, she also experienced family tragedy while anticipating her son’s arrival. Korphage’s out-of-state parents contracted COVID, and her father suf-

“You’re in this bubble of new baby life where you’re learning about her and taking care of her, and then you look out the window and everything is on ﬁre. We birthed children and learned to be mothers in a slow-moving apocalypse.” — Destiny Green fered an unexpected traumatic spinal cord injury. The circumstances delayed a visit from her family. “You have this idea of what having a baby will be like, and nothing really happened according to the plan in my head,” she says. “The reality of things hit a little harder during COVID.” Despite the challenges she faced, Korphage says welcoming her baby into the world put things into perspective. Since visitors weren’t allowed in the hospital, she cherished those few special days when she, her husband and son fi rst learned to become a family of three. “There’s a silver lining to everything. My son is our greatest joy in all this,” she says. “In really hard times, people and communities are willing to step in and fi ll the gap when you don’t have that traditional support system nearby. The greatest gift we can give to expecting mothers is a sense of encouragement and understanding.”

Fortunately she found such support. Her church family provided meals for two weeks, local and cross-country friends showered the family with gifts and the hospital staff provided plenty of advice before leaving for home. Freelance photographer Destiny Green is grateful for the virtual baby shower a friend hosted for her in a backyard setting. It was one of the only times she left the house before giving birth to her daughter, Eve, in December. “My husband and I were very concerned that one of us would test positive at the hospital (a positive rapid COVID-19 test for husband, Ben Anderson, at the hospital could mean Destiny would deliver without her husband in the room), so we were super careful not to go out or do anything during my pregnancy,” she says. “Once we brought her home, it felt like the rest of the world was starting to move on and we were still stuck in the house.” Between her daughter’s colic, the pandemic, riots across the country and the historic insurrection at the Capitol, the fi rst few months of 2021 felt bizarre to Green. “You’re in this bubble of new baby life where you’re learning about her and taking care of her, and then you look out the window and everything is on fi re,” she says. “We birthed children and learned to be mothers in a slow-moving apocalypse.” The four of us now hold membership in the club of motherhood, but we feel we earned extra stripes during COVID. As we each process the experience in our own way, we look at our babies and hope for brighter days ahead. Green wonders if her daughter and the other babies born and conceived during the pandemic will share a unique bond. “For an entire grade of children, their origin story was written during one of the most tumultuous periods in our history, globally,” she says. “They were born in the storm, and I wonder how that will shape their lives and bind them together.” TP TulsaPeople.com

Shifting the MENTAL LOAD Make the grocery list. Find a costume for the school play. Schedule dental appointments. Bake the birthday cake. For most moms, the list goes on and on. “I think for the mothers we interact with, shame and guilt are pretty strong emotions,” says Faith Crittenden, senior program director of Family and Children’s Services. “They are holding themselves to a standard of, I have to get all these things done; I have to get my job done; I have to get the kids where they’re supposed to be; I have to have meals ready to go; and if something slips between the cracks, there is this comparison between my expectation of what I think a good mother is and what I’m doing.” Crittenden says they miss the fact they are only human. Women in the U.S. spend two more hours per day on housework and child care than men, according to a 2020 report by Oxfam and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Similarly, working moms are taking on more of the increased household chores than working dads (85% versus 79%), cooking more (67% versus 48%), cleaning more (63% versus 53%) and doing laundry more (59% versus 40%), states the 2021 Modern Family Index by Bright Horizons. The report also says nine in 10 parents are worried about their mental load and that of their spouse or partner. “Of the families we are working with, the mothers are reporting an increased struggle with feeling helpless or hopeless or feeling anxiety,” Crittenden says. Cultural expectations and behavior often play a role with the moms Crittenden works with. In summer 2020, Family and Children’s Services launched a Maternal Mental Health program focusing on women’s mental health during pregnancy and postpartum. Trained in perinatal-focused treatment, therapists work with moms confronting pregnancy and postpartum depression and anxiety, and a curriculum focuses on mom-baby bonding, parenting in the first five years and emotions. More than 80 women have benefited from the program, which is funded by a George Kaiser Family Foundation grant. The program is available to anyone. “All parents feel it, but women most especially feel, I have to be so good at this. Why is the baby crying? I can’t soothe the baby. Is this normal?” says Lorri Perez, senior program director who oversees the Maternal Mental Health program. “There’s a lot of judgment on women for how having a baby should go.” — BRIA BOLTON MOORE

FAITH CRITTENDEN AND LORRI PEREZ OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES SUGGEST STRATEGIES TO HELP WOMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES DISTRIBUTE HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITIES MORE EQUITABLY. Redistributing tasks

Crittenden encourages families to have conversations like: “Mom is feeling overloaded. Are there things we think, as a family, we can do to help Mom? Let’s brainstorm.” Moments of solace

“What we talk about in working with women who are stressed is that there has to be a space for you to take care of yourself, even if it’s something small like reaching out to a friend or taking time to have a night with your partner,” Perez says. Informal support networks

“There are lots of informal supports that people can pull on, like getting more connected with their neighbors, reaching out to trusted family members, going to their churches and tapping into local support groups,” Crittenden says. Professional support

Perez says some signs a person should consider therapy or professional help include: not sleeping well, changing eating habits, lack of concentration, or ﬁnding it “difﬁcult to function in the day-to-day things that you need to do.”

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Drs. Alka Sood and Umang Sood

THE PERINATAL EXPERIENCE 9 a.m.-2 p.m. | Sept. 11, Oct. 16, Nov. 13, Dec. 11 Birth and Beyond Pediatrics, 10011 S. Yale Ave., Suite 200 Cost is $100 per couple and includes breakfast, lunch and take-home resources. Register in advance by calling 918-810-0941.

Life after baby Most women see an obstetrician during pregnancy and once after giving birth. At that point medical appointments shift to pediatrician visits for baby and possibly an annual gynecologist or well-woman visit for Mom. But where do new mothers go to discuss the ways their bodies and minds might have been impacted through giving birth? What about their partners, who also are trying to figure out “the new normal”? Dr. Umang Sood, Tulsa pediatrician and mother of two, says new moms often ask questions about their own wellbeing during their child’s check-ups. “So many times I will have new moms express their concerns to me about postpartum depression, pelvic floor issues, continued SI (sacroiliac) joint pain after baby, and they aren’t sure what they can do about it,” she says. Specialists exist for these areas, but new parents are often overwhelmed and unsure what’s normal and when to seek professional help. That’s why Umang and her mother, Dr. Alka Sood, also a pediatrician, created “The Perinatal Experience” for parents, regardless of whether they’ve just welcomed their first child or their fifth. The one-day, five-hour course brings together professionals in labor and delivery, massage, pelvic floor health, breastfeeding, perinatal mental health and pediatrics to help parents — especially mothers — navigate life after delivering a child. “I want to normalize conversation around controversial topics like sex after baby and postpartum depression,” Umang says. “I want women to feel like they have a place to turn for help after they have the baby because so many women don’t know who to turn to.” This program is new for Tulsa, according to Umang. Previously, “There were programs that help you get ready for labor and what to expect, as well as programs to help with learning newborn care and breastfeeding, but no programs to cover the gap in care for the mom that happens between delivering the baby and when you see your OB next. And these issues can show up anytime in the first year after having a baby and, thus, after the one postpartum visit with the OB.” The class is limited to eight couples to ensure plenty of time to ask questions and, if necessary, participants can make connections for follow-up care or even in-home visits. “I want couples to walk away feeling educated and empowered,” Umang says of the program. “I want them to have all the resources at their fingertips to help them through any trials and tribulations that may befall them in those early postpartum months.” — MORGAN PHILLIPS

Angela Harless AcrobatAnt

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Talitha Grether Grandfather’s Clock Gallery

Kristin Dotson Celebrity Attractions

Lisa Riley Pinot’s Palette

Julia Kirkendall Kirkendall Design

Karen Bruns and Saletha Fuller, CFP® DCH Financial Services

M E A DOW GOLD DISTR ICT Michelle Firment Reid

Tracy Spears Exceptional Leaders Lab

TulsaPeople is pleased to present this special section of Women-in-Business Profiles. Learn more about these leading ladies and their exemplary services in the following pages.

Marie Stephens Nothing Bundt Cakes

Sandra Mullins Final Touch Commercial Cleaning

Atelier MFR

Mary Beth Babcock

Kelly Fiddner Kelly Fiddner Farmers Insurance Agency

Mel Bean

Buck Atoms Cosmic Curios on Rt. 66

Mel Bean Interiors

Lisa Wakefield

Shannon Ferguson

Jenkins & Co.

TJ Woodberry Founded and Funded by Womxn

The Boneyard

Jill Croka Jill Croka Designs

Marcia Richards and Mariah Richards Upside Interiors

Jackie Rago and Debra Worthington Transcendent Tulsa

Becky Wheelus and Amber Southern Oma Salon

Kristin Dotson

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Tracy Spears

Celebrity Attractions

Exceptional Leaders Lab

For the past 38 years, Celebrity Attractions has brought the best of Broadway and more to Tulsa. CEO Kristin Dotson leads the company, which places great importance on relationships. “Whether it is with our patrons, our sponsors, the media or the incredible staff at the Tulsa PAC, we recognize the importance of a ‘win-win’ and make that our constant goal,” she says. The Payton family owned business presents national touring Broadway in five regional markets. Tulsa’s overwhelming support of Broadway allows the company to have a huge impact on the local economy. Dotson appreciates the responsibility of her position and takes pride in the role Celebrity Attractions plays in Tulsa’s vibrant arts scene.

For over 20 years, Tracy Spears has been delivering keynote speeches and leadership training to companies all over the world. She is the founder of The Exceptional Leaders Lab, along with business partner Wally Schmader. Their consulting group focuses on Team Executive Coaching and DEI Training. The two have written three books, “What Exceptional Leaders Know”, “The Exceptional Leaders Playbook” and “Leadership is a Verb”. “The virtual environment has actually been really good for our organization. It has allowed us to reach an even bigger audience”. Spears is Certified Speaking Professional and a member of the National Speakers Association.

7506 E. 91st St. | 918-477-7469 | celebrityattractions.com

1638 S. Denver Ave. | tracy@tracyspears.com

TulsaPeople.com

FRONT ROW, R TO L: Lisa Wakefield, Mariah Richards, Marcia Richards, Becky Wheelus

TULSA

BACK ROW R TO L: Shannon Ferguson, Mary Beth Babcock, Amber Southern, Michelle Firment Reid, Kelly Fiddner

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

NOT PICTURED: Mel Bean, Jill Croka, Jackie Rago and Debra Worthington

Meadow Gold District: Women in Business Atelier MFR Art Studio + Workshop of Michelle Firment Reid 1344 B East 11th St. mfreidart.com 918.688.4658 Mel Bean Interiors Mel Bean 1402 E. 11th Street Melbeaninteriors.com

Buck Atoms Cosmic Curios on Rt. 66 Mary Beth Babcock 1347 E. 11st Street Buckatomson66.com

Jenkins & Co. Lisa Wakefield 1335 E. 11th St., Ste. E Jenkinsandcotulsa.com 918.794.7844

Jill Croka Designs Jill Croka 1513 E. 11th St., Ste. A 918.201.2711 Jillcrokadesigns.com

The Boneyard Shannon Ferguson 1306 E. 11th St., Unit C 918.200.9319 Shoptheboneyard.com

Upside Interiors Marcia + Mariah Richards (mom/daughter design team) 1335 E 11th Street, Ste. F 918.949.6999 www.upside-interiors.com

Transcendent Tulsa Explorations in Consciousness Jackie Rago and Debra Worthington 1401 E. 11th St., Ste. E 918.480.1050 Transcendenttulsa.com

Kelly Fiddner Farmers Insurance Agency Kelly Fiddner 1416 E. 11th St., Ste.2 918.406.6618 facebook.com/ GetYourInsuranceOnRoute66 Oma Salon Becky Wheelus & Amber Southern Oma.salon 1335 E. 11th St., Ste. C

Marie Stephens

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Nothing Bundt Cakes Making life sweeter, one slice at a time. Cake Dreams Do Come True! Sharing her delicious Bundt cakes has been a dream come true for Marie Stephens, owner of Nothing Bundt Cakes. From learning how to bake as a child in her mother’s kitchen all the way to owning two Nothing Bundt Cakes bakeries enables the owner to continue the tradition of creating special moments with her sweet treats. “I’m happy to share my love of baking and celebrating to Tulsans with a variety of delicious Bundt cakes--each made without compromise on ingredients,” she says. “We use real eggs and--a little love--to achieve product perfection, and then top each cake with our thick frosting petals”. For a lighter touch, guests can also choose a drizzle frosting. Creating a caring and high standard culture with her team is key to making sure each guest has a superb experience when they visit the bakery, call over the phone, or taste a sweet Bundt morsel. Marie truly feels that if her team is happy they will spread happiness to their guests. Mixing and whisking Nothing Bundt Cakes into the community is also an important ingredient for Marie. She believes we need to support all levels of our community to

lift each other during good times and difficult times so we each can foster a happier healthier community. Nothing Bundt Cakes offers 11 delicious flavors each day in four sizes. All flavors and sizes can be decorated for an extra splash of celebration fun. “Definitely consider adding balloons, greeting cards, and cute gifts to your delicious Bundt cake,” the owner advises. Visiting the bakery is the most tempting option to find your Bundt dream, but cake delivery and curbside pick-up are options. Guests can order cakes in-store, over the phone, or online.

7890 E. 106th Pl. S., Building V, Suite 10 918.970.4747 nothingbundtcakes.com

Lisa Riley

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Pinot’s Palette Looking for a fun way to celebrate an event like a birthday, date night, team building or a Girls’ Night Out? Look no further than Pinot’s Palette! For nearly 10 years, Pinot’s Palette has been the destination for friends to gather and “paint and sip” in a fun atmosphere. Here they can create memories and step outside their comfort zone in a safe way to express themselves. Local owner Lisa Riley found instant success when she opened the doors in 2012 to her Cherry Street location, and soon expanded to add studios at Jenks Riverwalk and on Broken Arrow’s Main Street. Riley is passionate about offering fun experiences for groups of friends, couples, families and coworkers to unwind and have a good time. “We bring happiness and positivity to the community, and we love seeing everyone smiling when they leave the studio,” Riley says. After all, Pinot’s Palette’s tagline is: Paint. Drink. Have Fun. While known as a great place for Girls’ Night Out, date nights and its weekly public classes, Pinot’s Palette also offers private events and company team buildings every day of the week. “We love what we do, and nothing makes us happier than when someone walks into one of our studios and says they have never painted before and seem hesitant, but when they leave they are so proud of themselves, hug our staff and thank them for getting them out of their comfort zone and having such a great time,” Riley says. “That’s what motivates us the most.” When she’s not holding a paintbrush, Riley serves on Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Small Business Connection Advisory Board and is on its legislative committee. She also is a proud member of Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) Tulsa Chapter, where she volunteers and mentors other small business owners. She is a six-year breast cancer survivor who helps guide others through that difficult journey.

1621 E. 15th St. | 918-794-7333 212 S. Main St., Broken Arrow | 918-893-6447 300 Riverwalk Terrace, Suite 160, Jenks 918-518-5433 pinotspalette.com

Angela Harless CEO, AcrobatAnt

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

AcrobatAnt Creatively simple ideas that work. A founding partner of AcrobatAnt in 2008, Angela Harless officially became the company’s CEO in January 2021. Since its inception, AcrobatAnt has served both local and national clients, and continues to expand its service offerings. Under Angela’s leadership, AcrobatAnt moved its Tulsa headquarters to MapCo Plaza, expanded operations to Dallas, and formed a strategic partnership with Aletheia Marketing & Media. Aligning with Aletheia dramatically increased AcrobatAnt’s research and reporting tools, as well as its media-buying power. “The partnership with Aletheia has helped expedite our vision for delivering robust insights and exceptional media deployment, optimization and reporting,” says Angela. “The ability to provide return on ad spend (ROAS) metrics along with world-class brand development, creative and digital services brings our vision into reality.” While tools and technology set the stage for success, it’s the team in Tulsa and Dallas that makes AcrobatAnt unique. The company mantra—To serve clients thoughtfully well—is accomplished by being disciplined stewards of client budgets, providing transparency, and creating brand-centric, purpose-driven creative solutions. “Thanks to our team, we’ve been fortunate to add more than a dozen new clients to the AcrobatAnt roster between the two offices in the first half of the year,” says Angela. “I can’t imagine working with a more talented group of people.”

918-938-7901 | acrobatant.com

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

DCH Financial Services Personalized planning for your financial goals Saletha Fuller and Karen Bruns are investment executives who share a devotion to putting a client’s best interest first and providing personalized, supportive financial planning services. In 2014, Fuller and Bruns purchased DCH Financial Services from founder Donna C. Hiner whom they had worked with for many years. “We remain an independent practice that provides investment guidance, retirement planning, smallbusiness retirement plans, college savings guidance and financial planning for short-, mid- and longterm goals,” Fuller says. Hiner’s passion to help women who were widowed or going through divorce understand investments, retirement and their financial future continues today at DCH Financial Services. “To this day we have many female clients who are business owners, newly widowed or divorced who look to us for guidance and education as they plan for themselves, and many times, their children,” Bruns says. “We work with women, men, couples, retirees and others to get them on a track to a successful plan for their future.” DCH Financial Services is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. © 2021 Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc.

Karen Bruns Investment Executive

Saletha Fuller, CFP ® Investment Executive

karen.bruns@raymondjames.com

saletha.fuller@raymondjames.com

2530 E. 71st St., Suite E | 918-496-0777 | dchfinancial.com

TulsaPeople.com

Chelsea Hanoch, Lindsay Henderson, Jackie Vu, Brooke Taylor and Madi Ambrose

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Final Touch Commercial Cleaning Company still growing after 36 years. “I have always believed that to whom much is given, much is required. The past eighteen months have allowed our team to use their blessings and talents to help protect our clients who put their trust in us every night,” says Sandra Mullins, owner and president of Final Touch, a commercial janitorial provider that has been in business 36 years. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, Mullins has learned to embrace the difference and maintain her steadfast work ethic. “If you are a woman and just starting out, my best advice is to surround yourself with the best people you know,” she says. “Tulsa is full of great resources and amazing people who are eager to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs and help them learn the ropes, as well as helping them deal with the disappointment that sometimes comes along with it.” While the company started as a way for Mullins to provide for her family, Final Touch has blossomed into a multi-million-dollar legacy enterprise that has recently expanded into five other states and provided jobs for an additional 40 people. “It is our mission to provide our clients with exceptional service while providing our team members a great place to work,” Mullin says. “It is important to show our clients that we are committed to protecting their patrons and employees by providing our staff with the latest training on how to prepare and respond to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak.” Final Touch uses superior products that include natural, non-toxic cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants for everyday use, and fogging and electrostatic spray technology. Final Touch employs more than 270 individuals who clean 10 million square feet each night.

Sandra Mullins

10404 E. 55th Pl., Suite C | 918.663.1919 finaltouchcleaning.com

TJ Woodberry, owner of Poppi’s Spa and Lounge and Executive Director of Founded and Funded by Womxn

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Founded and Funded by Womxn Tulsan TJ Woodberry inspired to help fellow female entrepreneurs. As a female business owner, TJ Woodberry wants to give other women advantages on their journey to entrepreneurship. A longtime businesswoman, Woodberry has owned and operated Poppi’s Spa and Lounge, 302 S. Frankfort Ave., since August 2019. Recently she established Founded and Funded by Womxn, an initiative committed to connecting women-led companies with accredited investors increasing Womxn ownership and representation on boards of these new emerging companies. “Women are soon to be the fastest growing investor population in the next five years, and the companies they will support represent innovations we believe will have inclusive impacts on society,” Woodberry says. She wants to activate women investors who can help these entrepreneurs accelerate their business — in fields such as artificial intelligence, mobility, finance, health, beauty, family and education. “Less than 1% of accredited women investors are deploying and less than 3% of women-led companies are receiving venture funding,” Woodberry says. “It’s time to change this.” The organization plans to educate others on investing and expose new and existing businesses to angel investors. In 2022 Funded by Womxn will host their Inaugural WxW Summit, which plans to connect founders and funders with one another.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

fundedbywomxn.com

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Grandfather’s Clock Gallery Offering clocks and repair plus luxury gift items What started as a childhood interest in mechanical things like music boxes and timepieces has turned into a career for Talitha Grether that has led to her owning and managing Grandfather’s Clock Gallery. She and her husband, Travis, purchased the business in 2017 after she had worked for original owners Harley and Mary Hunter for three years. While the repair shop is constantly humming with activity six days a week, some will find the store even more exciting than the restorations happening in the background. The store carries a wider selection of clocks than ever before, and Talitha has added music boxes, antique books, compasses, and hundreds of other luxury gift items fitting the aesthetic of any home, be it modern, mid-century, steampunk or minimalist. Every mechanical clock or music box can be serviced over the years as needed by Talitha and her team of clockmakers. It is Talitha’s wish that more women will get involved in the trades, as even today they are typically populated by men. Machining parts, restoring wooden furniture, assembling and disassembling complicated mechanical movements, using machines and making parts for antiques with missing pieces are all things Talitha enjoys and would love to see other ladies do the same.

Talitha Grether

3105 S. Winston Ave. | 918.742.1400 tulsaclocks.com

Julia Kirkendall

TULSA

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Kirkendall Design For nearly three decades, Kirkendall Design has been creating beautiful, functional interior design for both residential and corporate clients. Owner Julia Kirkendall is driven by delivering results that demonstrate the highest order of function and the greatest appreciation of beauty. To produce those outcomes, Kirkendall utilizes strategic thinking, while combining it with her willingness to take risks; integrating both is what has allowed her firm to flourish and become a leader of high-end design. “Our clients value authentic experiences and the peace of mind that comes with working with a professional designer,” she says. When Kirkendall Design works on a client’s project they believe “a beautifully designed home should be as personal as your signature.” “When I’m in a room and discover that personal touch, that signature of the person who lives there, I suddenly see the chapters of their life story, and to me, that’s beauty.” Areas of focus, in both residential and corporate interiors, include: kitchens and baths, interior finish selections, space planning, furniture sourcing, window treatments, art procurement, styling and paint consulting. As a female business owner for 28 years, Kirkendall has learned from lots of experiences along the way and has some advice for other women entrepreneurs: Go big. Growth and opportunity are limitless. The only limits are the ones you set for yourself.

11110 S. 82nd E. Place, Suite A | 918- 250-1650 kirkendalldesign.com | info@kirkendalldesign.com

TulsaPeople.com

Made with love for dogs

A range of all-natural hemp biscuits to help dogs both old and young lead healthier, happier, and very much calmer lives.

17 7 8 U T I C A S Q U A R E | O P E N M O N . – S AT. , 1 0 – 6 Come select a treat in our bakery case. Bring your dog with you!

Beaded beauties FLY INTO FALL CLUTCHING A BAG SURE TO ATTRACT A FIERCE FOLLOWING.

MICHELLE POLLARD

Queen Bee beaded mini clutch, $58; Mercedes stripe beaded leopard clutch, $62; both from Pavilion, 1826 Utica Square.

TulsaPeople.com

STOREFRONT

Dallas-based Kate and Co., a custom embroidery company, created this birthday table runner exclusively for Magpie. $60.

Magpie offers more than a dozen china patterns for rental or purchase in addition to linens and stemware. Brides also may register at the shop for their wedding china and more. Prices vary.

Custom cocktail napkins are an easy way to add a personal touch to your event. Starting at $28 for paper and $40 for linen.

Annie Brady

Making it personal EVENT PLANNER ANNIE BRADY OPENS A ONE-STOP-SHOP FOR CELEBRATIONS.

The craft cocktail trend is hot right now, according to Brady, and these items from Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. add a unique touch to your event. $13.50 for Bloody Mary Mix and $18 for Vermouth-brined olives.

BY KENDALL BARROW

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

munity than a retail destination — like life,” she says. The store opened June 8. The shop also houses the team’s offices as well as florist Megan Ferren of Poppy’s Garden, a Muskogee-based vendor with whom Brady often works. The result is an instant collaborative energy, something Brady knows is key when planning a successful event. She wants others to feel that same energy when entering the space. Whether you are looking for goods to create your own celebration or wish to hire Brady and her team, Magpie offers a resource for everything to bring your gathering to life — from paper goods and linens to china and cocktail mixers. Brady’s philosophy in event planning and in the store are similar: to offer creative, thoughtful, unique solutions for celebrations. “So many people feel the magic a highly detailed event creates, and they love being a part of that,” Brady says. “I want to try and bring that to as many moments in your life as possible. I’m hoping the shop will allow that.” TP

Magpie 415 E. 12TH ST. | 918-340-5945 | MAGPIETULSA.COM 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday

One of Brady’s goals was to partner with local vendors. Seeing that every celebration needs a cake, she asked Antoinette Baking Co. to develop a cake mix for the store to sell. $14, available in vanilla funfetti or chocolate.

Whether you’re turning 6 or 60, Magpie stocks paper goods from brands such as Meri Meri, Jollity and Co., and Lola Dutch in just about every theme imaginable. Prices start at $6.

MICHELLE POLLARD

ith a background in human resources and a degree in accounting, Annie Brady’s path to event planning was not one she saw coming. After years of chairing fundraising events and entertaining friends and family, however, the Tulsan’s talents as a hostess were apparent. When a friend asked Brady to plan her daughter’s wedding five years ago, the business began. Since launching, Annie Brady Design has planned and executed more than 20 weddings and more than 100 events. “Celebrating is such a personal experience, and we want to make it personal,” Brady says. “I like things well done. I have lots of different looks I love, which I think helps in creating events look like the client and not like me.” Unlike her career path, Brady says she has always seen herself opening a shop of some sort, and since planning events she noticed a need for something specific in the retail world. As soon as she found the right building, she knew it was time to open Magpie, a soiree shop named for her two children, Maggie and Pierce. Brady says she loves how the building, located in Tulsa’s Gunboat Park, feels nostalgic yet current. “I loved that it was a mixed spaced with other types of businesses around, feeling more like a com-

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Former broadcast journalist Mia Fleming is the author of “I Am Proud to Be Me-e-e!” READ MORE

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

In 2004, as part of a newborn screening program, Velvet and Jeremiah Watts’ 2-month-old son, Jeremiah Jr., was diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease, an inherited blood disorder that can cause pain, anemia, infection and other serious health problems. During a visit with Jeremiah Jr.’s pediatric hematologist, the couple received a book on SCD and a thermometer, since fever can signify infection or another complication, to better understand how to care for their son in his first five years of life. Faced with Jeremiah Jr. and Velvet Watts endless questions about SCD and its impact on Jeremiah Jr. and his family, the Watts found support through the Oklahoma chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. There they engaged with other families and helped spread awareness and education of the illness. But, a lack of funding closed the chapter. Velvet knew she wanted to continue the chapter’s efforts in Tulsa. “We had to have a place where families could go so they know somebody cares, that they’re not alone,” she says. In 2009, the Watts and five families from the original group started meeting on their own, and that was the beginning of Supporters of Families with Sickle Cell Disease. Today it is the only community-based organization in the state that exclusively assists families living with SCD and its associated disorders and traits. Whether it’s transportation, medication assistance or helping children with SCD go to summer camp, the nonprofit aims to guide families in their day-to-day lives. “We also have begun to expand into advocacy,” Velvet says, including addressing policy protocols for care and engaging elected officials about funding. Funding has been a challenge since forming the nonprofit, the couple says. “We are always looking for people who want to donate,” Jeremiah says. In Oklahoma, an estimated 1,700 families care for someone with SCD and another nearly 40,000 individuals might be impacted by the Sickle Cell Trait, according to Velvet. There are several therapies to maintain patient care, but there is no universal cure for SCD. “Those living with SCD require ongoing medical care, as this genetic disease may become progressively more complicated,” Velvet says. “Patients also may experience other health conditions (comorbidities). Patients need more comprehensive care, and continuum of care on the lifespan. Life expectancy may be three decades shorter than the average life expectancy for someone who may not live with SCD.” In the U.S., most people who have SCD are of African descent, but there also are those with SCD who come from Hispanic, southern European, Middle Eastern or Asian Indian backgrounds, according to the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. About one in 13 Black babies is born with Sickle Cell Trait in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Someone with SCT is unlikely to have symptoms of SCD, but it means they can pass the gene on to their children. For SFWSCD, the goal is to remain community focused. Velvet says, “There is hope.” — LAURA DENNIS

COURTESY VELVET WATTS

TULSA FAMILY ADDRESSES THE NEEDS OF LOCALS WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE.

For information about participating in Q&A from Tulsa Professionals, please contact adservices@ langdonpublishing.com.

VETERINARIAN

BEAUTY & WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

My older dog seems to move slower after the weather changes in the fall. Can dogs get arthritis?

What are the different types of laser treatments I can have on my face? What do each of them do?

Older dogs and cats can get arthritis, which is aggravated during weather changes, especially as the weather becomes stormy and colder. The most likely cause is low pressure in the atmosphere. Most animals will respond favorably to glucosamine/chondroitin supplements, but some will also need anti-inflammatories for pain. There are also prescription diets that are formulated for arthritis that are quite effective. Consult your veterinarian for the best treatment options for your pet.

There are various types of lasers used to treat varying types of skin conditions and concerns. For example, a popular laser treatment is IPL (Photofacial) that uses intense pulse light to target hyperpigmentation (dark spots) on the face while shrinking pore size and helping to improve the look of fine lines. It is a quick treatment with little downtime. On the other side of things is C02 laser resurfacing, which goes much deeper, to target fine lines, deep wrinkles and acne scars. This procedure yields wonderfully dramatic results but does require 3-7 days downtime. Then there are tons of in-between options. The best way to find out which is right for you is to schedule a complimentary consultation with you skin care professional. You can do so by calling 918-872-9999.

Dr. Mark Shackelford

Malissa Spacek and Dr. James Campbell

15th Street Veterinary Group 6231 E. 15th St. • Tulsa, OK 74112 918-835-2336 • www.15thstreetvet.com

BA Med Spa & Weight Loss Center 510 N. Elm Place • Broken Arrow, OK 74012 918-872-9999 • www.baweightspa.com

INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

SENIOR LIVING

I am 71 years old and have recently heard that I can make charitable contributions from my IRA that are not taxable. Is this correct?

I’ve seen so much construction going on at Trinity Woods for the last few years. What’s happening?

You are referring to a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) whereby an individual who is 70 ½ or older can direct distributions from their IRA to a qualified charity without being taxed. An amount not to exceed $100,000 per year is allowed for this purpose. Even though you aren’t required to take a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) until age 72, a QCD will satisfy that requirement but is not included as taxable income. QCD’s are particularly effective for people who do not itemize but make charitable contributions.

Trinity Woods has just completed a major community redevelopment project by adding a new assisted living building, two memory-care assisted living houses, a new main kitchen, the Cypress Grille restaurant and the Tranquility Wellness Spa. The icing on the cake is the new beautiful 14,000-square-foot Community Life Center. The “CLC” will be the heart and soul of the emerging vision of redefining aging at our community. It’s a place where anything can happen, billiards, reading, music, coffee talks, singing, learning, and entertainment on a professional stage. It’s a place where people from across the campus will gather, akin to a student union on a college campus.

J. Harvie Roe, CFP, President

Cari Owens, VP Marketing and Sales

AmeriTrust Investment Advisors, Inc. 4506 S. Harvard Ave. • Tulsa, OK 74135 918-610-8080 • hroe@amerad.com

Trinity Woods formerly Oklahoma Methodist Manor 4134 E. 31st Street • Tulsa, OK 74135 918-574-2590 • TrinityWoodsTulsa.com TulsaPeople.com

BEYOND CITY LIMITS

he National Park Service estimates people have visited the natural springs tucked in the Ouachita Mountains for thousands of years. Today, in addition to its 47 natural springs, Hot Springs, Arkansas, lures visitors with indoor and outdoor fun for couples, families and groups of friends.

Explore

Natural getaway HIDE AWAY IN HOT SPRINGS SURROUNDED BY NATURE AND PLENTY OF ACTIVITIES. BY BLAYKLEE FREED

1) Visitors can see and touch water at Display Spring, located behind the Maurice Bathhouse. 2) Thoroughbred racing at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort

3 74

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

3) Buckstaff Bathhouse, built in 1912, is the only bathhouse on the row to operate continuously for over a century.

Relax

Experience the thermal water from the nearby springs along the historic BATHHOUSE ROW. BUCKSTAFF BATHHOUSE, 509 Central Ave., has been operating longer than the area has been a U.S. National Park. Another on the row, SUPERIOR BATHHOUSE, has been converted to a craft brewery at 329 Central Ave. Home to the Arkansas Derby, OAKLAWN RACING CASINO RESORT, 2705 Central Ave., has been a popular thoroughbred racetrack since it opened in 1904. It’s since grown into a fullscale vacation getaway with an eight-story hotel, spa and multiple dining and drinking options. Oaklawn’s casino was completed in 2020 and includes 28,000 square feet of gaming space. The ASTRAL SPA offers relaxing services using locally sourced gemstones, and visitors can enjoy the renewing Himalayan Salt Wall or infrared sauna.

Entertain

Shopping antiques in Hot Springs is a hit yearround, but autumn is a time for festivals that celebrate local culture. September is packed with the HOT SPRINGS BLUESFEST, JAZZ FEST and BIKEFEST. The Arkansas’ Scenic Tourism Landscapes Photography Exhibit is traveling to locations around the state and will be on display at the Ozark Bathhouse, 491 Central Ave., through mid-September. Fall also brings fun with the RENAISSANCE FAIRE and the BIG BAND CONCERT SERIES highlighting orchestral talent. TP

OAKLAWN: COURTESY; BUCKSTAFF, SPRING: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Take the 26 miles of trails or drive through HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, 369 Central Ave., and stop at the scenic overlooks, escaping into nature without leaving the city. From HOT SPRINGS MOUNTAIN TOWER’s upper open-air deck, visitors can see the whole park. On the ground, autumn’s flora at GARVAN WOODLAND GARDENS, 550 Arkridge Road, begins with blooming hibiscus, late summer bulbs, roses, sage and fall perennials. Later, spot the blossoms of cyclamen, fall wildflowers and asters. Local birds abound and change by the season but include woodpeckers, warblers, vireos and larger birds like Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle and Great Horned Owl.

Tulsa Town Hall Opens the 87th Season! oct.

Kal Kallaugher

Editorial cartoonist for The Economist

nov.

David Brooks

Author, analyst for The New York Times, PBS, NBC, NPR

jan.

TO SUBSCRIBE

tulsatownhall.com or 918.749.5965 ALL LECTURES

are at 10:30 a.m. in the PAC Chapman Music Hall. SEASON SUBSCRIPTION

includes all five speakers for $100. Tulsatownhall.com

Karl Rove

(918) 494-5000 divinenailstulsa.com

Former Deputy Presidential Chief of Staff, author, analyst Fox News, WSJ

mar.

of Tulsa

5954 S. Yale, Ste. A • Tulsa, OK 74135

Closed Sunday for Church

Some of our Services

Nick Buettner

Blue Zone lifestyle expert, Good Morning America, CNN, TED

apr.

OPEN MON-SAT 10:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. PhD

PBS Finding Your Roots, filmmaker, Harvard University professor

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LIVE RACING DECEMBER–MAY

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-522-4700.

CASINO • HOTEL • SPA • EVENT CENTER

OAKLAWN.COM TulsaPeople.com

GARDENING

Ripe for the picking PLANTING FALL TOMATOES BY ALLEN ROBINSON

ABOUT TOWN • A-LIST • FOOD + DRINK CALENDAR • L IF ES T Y L E • DIREC TOR IES & MORE! FI N D M O R E O F TU L S A PEO PLE AT

MOST OF US LOVE OUR TOMATOES. It’s fun and rewarding to grow them from seedlings into fruit-bearing machines. Growing tomatoes is a great way to get the kids involved in nature. Homegrown tomatoes are less expensive and taste better than store-bought. But growing tomatoes in our climate can be a challenge. Why is that? Tomatoes were first found in the South American Andes mountains around 700 A.D. by the Aztecs, then brought to North America by Europeans many centuries later. This mountain environment provided cool nights and warm (not hot) days with plenty of moisture. Here at home, we strive to get them planted in early spring after the last frost to have delicious fruit before it gets too hot. Tomatoes will not grow below 50 degrees and will not set fruit until the nighttime air temperature reaches 55 degrees. The ideal soil temperature for planting is 60 degrees. Hotter than that, tomato fruit production drops off dramatically, commonly known as “blossom drop.” Although horticulturalists have developed cultivars that are pest and disease resistant, not much can be done about the Oklahoma heat. But there’s hope. What if the fruit could ripen and be picked in environmental conditions similar to the South America mountains? They can, and it is called fall tomatoes. The trick is to either get new tomato plants going during hot summer days or “baby” the spring vines through the torturous heat. Larger tomato varieties (16-ounce Beefsteak) can take as much as 100 days to produce and ripen. So, given our average first fall frost is late October, this means the plants must be started by late July to have a chance to ripen before the first killing frost occurs. Other varieties (8-ounce Better Boy) only take 75 days to mature, yet others (4-ounce Early Girl) can take as little as 50-60 days to ripen. So, if you get a late start, consider these. Instead of spring-planted tomatoes trying to ripen when it is getting hot, fall tomatoes are ripening when the air temperature is cool, yet the soil temperature is still warm enough for roots to prosper. If you encounter an early frost, simply drape some form of shade cloth over the plants to get through the night. Remember to remove it the next morning. If you plant late or get hit with an early hard freeze, go ahead and pick the tomatoes (even the green ones) and bring them inside. They will continue to ripen indoors off the vine. So, impress your friends with homegrown tomatoes around Halloween or even Thanksgiving. You will be impressed with the delicious flavor they deliver during that time of year. TP Thank you to Tulsa County Master Gardeners for their expertise in this subject matter. Allen Robinson has been a Master Gardener since 2010.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS Airco Service W Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma W George Kaiser Family Foundation W Laureate Institute for Brain Research W Bank of Oklahoma W Bruce G. Weber Diamond Cellar W Johnson Floor & Home Carpet One W MetroShoe Warehouse W Pardon My French W Chris Siemens, M.D., Eastern Oklahoma Ear, Nose and Throat W Gearhead Outfitters W Hicks Brunson Eyewear W Luminate Clinic W Margo’s Gift Shop W The Silver Needle W Southern Agriculture W Zero W The Dolphin Fine Linens W Exceptional Leaders Lab W Expressly Gifts W Gearhead Outfitters W Ida Red General Store W the lolly garden W Sun & Ski Sports W Utica Square W willamina W TulsaPeople

CareCardOK.com | #CareCardOK 10% off food, art, antiques and furniture. Some exclusions may apply.

MUSINGS

ME AND MY OX AND THE DITCH BY CONNIE CRONLEY

tried, OK? I tried to be upbeat and cheerful, bravely putting a good face on things, but then I gave it up. I saw the light when I read a magazine article by a man relating a horrible hunting trip in 10 degrees in the Missouri Breaks with ice floes banging against his canoe and weather so bad they couldn’t build a fi re. His companions were 30 years younger and 100 years more fit. He couldn’t keep up. All he could do was wallow in self-pity and sip Wild Turkey. Oh yeah, I said to myself. Like that. Just get down with it. If you’re going to be down, just go low down. His whining story cheered me up because I’d been going through a low period myself, harrowing even, and trying to be a survivor and not a victim. Then, I read how this man lost his university job, a publisher rejected his book and the only deer they shot fell into a crack in the earth. When he finally bailed and tried to get back to civilization, his truck died. Yeah, I thought, like that. When it’s bad, sometimes it just keeps getting worse. I like this guy. He didn’t put on a happy face. He just wallowed in it and then went home.

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

We all know it’s been one of the worst years of our lives. We’re stressed and exhausted and suffering from empathy overload from all the causes. We just want a little break. One of the most profound things a priest ever told me was simply: We’re all trying to get our own ox out of the ditch. Then it takes one little thing to push us over the edge. The cat is sick or the car needs new brakes or the coffee maker breaks. One woman told me what pushed her over was running out of toner in the middle of a printing job. These days I have a two-part philosophy: (1) everything is too hard and (2) nothing works. All this technology that’s supposed to make life easier and faster just seems like obstacles. I can’t get a Real ID because I don’t have the necessary original documents, and I’m having trouble getting replacement documents and the name on my birth certificate isn’t the same name on my driver’s license because I wasn’t married when I was born and so I have to get a copy of my marriage license. I pity the youths trying to get a driver’s license at tag agencies that are backed up for months. They’re just starting on this nightmare. Everyone is worn thin, and that’s making

people cranky and mean. I try to go the other way. I try to thank people profusely, praise them for their blue hair and green nail polish. I try to show a little compassion and a lot of gratitude. I gush over the people trying to help me. And I hope they gush down the line. We all need more gushing. What pushed me over the edge was neighborhood wildlife. The fi rst bunny I saw in my yard was adorable. Suddenly, bunnies were everywhere. I’m living in “Watership Down,” that novel populated by rabbits. I’ve never seen so many rabbits, and they’re all eating my garden. Then, one sunny afternoon I was sitting on the front porch talking on the phone with my sister when a squirrel jumped onto my lap. I screamed. The squirrel screamed. My sister was calm. “Dr. Oz did a show about that,” she said. “About squirrels attacking people. Could be they’re suffering anxiety from the pandemic, too.” However bad my day is, although I don’t have documents to prove my identity, at least I’m not trying to paddle a canoe in a frozen river. Although some days it seems just like that. I am awash with woe, rabbits and squirrels, and my ox is in the ditch. TP

Has your insurance agent disappeared?

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available anytime, anywhere. TulsaPeople.com/digitaledition

We are here to help, give us a call! DAVE BRYANT INSURANCE AGENCY INC. Since 1968 918-627-0191

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TulsaPeople.com

SEPT. 10-19

2021 PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS McNellie's South City

is a female owned & run

Biga Italian Restaurant

Melting Pot

company comprised of three

Bin 35 Bistro

Oren

Bramble Breakfast & Bars,

Bird and Bottle

Palace Cafe

located in Jenks, Broken Arrow

The Bistro at Seville

Peacemaker Lobster and Crab Co.

and Pearl District in Tulsa, along

Bluestone Steakhouse and Seafood

Prairie Fire Pie

with Bird & Bottle in the heart

Bramble Breakfast and Bar

Prhyme: Downtown Steakhouse

midtown, boasting the home of

Queenie's Cafe

the $4 martini!

(Broken Arrow, Jenks and downtown locations)

The Chalkboard

RibCrib

Daily Grill

(Harvard, Yale, Skelly and Sheridan locations)

Dilly Diner

Roka

Duet Restaurant and Jazz

Roppongi

Elgin Park

Sisserou's Caribbean Restaurant

Elote Fassler Hall In the Raw

(Vu, On the Hill and Brookside locations)

James E. McNellie's Pub Juniper La Tertulia The Local Bison McGill's on Yale

Society Burger

TulsaPeople SEPTEMBER 2021

Three Sirens is proud to participate in Tulsa Restauarant Week and serve its community– we look foward to seeing you!

(Cherry Street and South Tulsa)

Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe (Cherry Street and South Tulsa)

The Tavern The Vault Waldo's Chicken and Beer Wild Fork Yokozuna Blue Dome Yokozuna on Yale

Visit TulsaPeople.com/restaurantweek for complete menu options and descriptions. 80

Three Sirens Restaurant Group

Baxter’s Interurban Grill

bramblebreakfastandbar.com birdandbottletulsa.com

4-course Dinner for $45

(includes $7 donation to the Food Bank) *excludes tax, tip and beverage

BRUNCH Appetizer House doughnut holes (Daily rotation) Cured Salmon & Lox Bites Entrée Seasonal Omelet Crispy Potato Hash Bowl Vegan Breakfast Benedict Bourbon French toast

LUNCH

DINNER Appetizer Cheese Fondue Please choose one cheese fondue. Served with artisan breads and seasonal fruit and veggies for dipping. Salad Choose one salad from our dinner menu. Entrée Entrée includes seasonal vegetables and signature dipping sauces.

Appetizer Brussels sprouts Poké Tacos

The Classic Garlic Pepper Sirloin, Shrimp, Memphis-Style Dry Rub Pork, Teriyaki-Marinated Sirloin, Herb-Crusted Chicken Breast

Entrée Grilled Cheese and tomato Soup Local Burger & Fries (Sub beyond patty & cheese to make vegan)

Cooking Styles for Entrée Mojo - Caribbean-inspired, garlic, cilantro, citrus Coq au Vin - burgundy wine, mushrooms, scallions, garlic Seasoned Court Bouillon - Seasoned Vegetable Broth

DINNER Appetizer Lamb Lollipops Oil poached Artichoke hearts Salmon Skewers Entrée Pappardelle Pork Sugo Grilled Butternut Squash Dessert Apple pie cobbler Seasonal Sorbet and berries

LU N C H 2-course lunch for $18 (includes $2 donation to the Food Bank) *excludes tax, tip Sandwich, Drink, Cookie

B RU NCH 2-course brunch for $25 (includes $2 donation to the Food Bank) *excludes tax, tip Any Regular Menu Breakfast Item and Drink

Dessert Chocolate Fondue For a perfect ending to the experience, indulge in delicious chocolate fondue served with fresh strawberries, blondies, bananas, pineapple, marshmallow treats, pound cake and brownies for dipping.

S P E C I A LT Y C O C K TA I L Melting Pot Mule

THE LOCAL BISON

THE MELTING POT

QUEENIE’S

522 S Boston Ave Suite 103 (918) 561-6114

300 Riverwalk Terrace, Suite 190, Jenks 918-299-8000 • MeltingPot.com

1834 Utica Square • 918-749-3481 queeniesoftulsa.com TulsaPeople.com

Foodies Rejoice!

2021 PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS

THE BEST TASTING WEEK OF THE YEAR IS SEPTEMBER 10-19! BROKEN ARROW DOWNTOWN JENKS

BROOKSIDE ON THE HILL VU

SEPT. 10-19

DOWNTOWN SOUTH

Step up to the plate and fight hunger by joining Tulsa’s best restaurants for a 10-day celebration of Tulsa’s culinary scene benefitting the Food Bank’s Food for Kids programs! All prixe fixe menus served during Restaurant Week include an automatic donation to the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Food for Kids programs and proceeds will be matched up to $25,000 by the George Kaiser Family Foundation!

Lunch

2-3 courses

includes $2 donation

Brunch

2-3 courses

includes $3 donation

BENEFITTING:

Dinner

2-3 courses

3 courses

3-4 courses

includes $3 donation

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma

includes $5 donation

includes $7 donation