AY About You October 2023

Bright lights line streets, build ings, pathways and trees dur ing Silver Dollar City’s An Old Time Christmas presented by Humana, running November 4 through December 30. With nearly 7 million LED lights, a state-of-the-art 8-story animated Christmas tree, an all-new glittering bell display two stories in the air, a light parade, holiday foods and more, Silver Dollar City shines brilliantly as USA Today’s 10Best five-time cham pion for Best Theme Park Holiday Event

Throughout the streets of The City carol ers sing and stroll, while the centerpiece of Joy On Town Square, an 8-story Christmas tree, and surrounding lights glow spectacularly. Even brighter is Christmas in Midtown with its remarkable display of light tunnels, wreath portals, flying angels and special effects—some 9-stories tall! For thrill seekers, rides soar under the Ozark Mountain starlight with all the Christmas lights visible below. Plus, craftsmen in the Christmas spirit demonstrate glassblowing, wood carving and pottery, creating one-ofa-kind heirlooms.

The City’s stages offer shows both during day and during the night, including the longtime favorite production, A Dickens’ Christmas Carol, and returning fan favorite, Coming Home for Christmas, with a live band and multi-talentd cast of singers and dancers presenting holiday music, stories and family traditions. Other productions include The Living Nativity and, celebrating 50 seasons, the Saloon Frontier Fa-La-La Follies Rudolph’s Holly Jolly™ Christmas Light Parade winds through The City each evening with lighted floats, characters, dancers and performers. Guests aboard the Frisco Sing-Along Steam Train enjoy a Christmas story and sing-along to their favorite holiday tunes all while getting a unique view of The City’s staggering light displays.

To add to the festivities, menus offer a variety of seasonal treats, like the Holiday Dinner, featuring smoked turkey, ham, prime rib and trimmings; plus, a variety of sweets such as hot chocolate and wassail, s’mores or warm apple dumplings with homemade cinnamon ice cream. Tasting Passports encourage guests to sample their way through The City.

The two-month long holiday event boasts impressive statistics, including 680 miles of lights, 1,000 decorated Christmas trees, 600 wreaths and more than three miles of garland and ribbon, and so much more. You and your family and friends will make memories that shine for years to come at Silver Dollar City’s An Old Time Christmas!

Seafood

page 38

of the

Unlimited Creativity FINE ARTS

The Pulaski County Special School District boasts many dedicated educators and administrators from 26 schools across central Arkansas, which includes the DRIVEN Virtual Academy now in its third year with the District.

PCSSD Fine Arts teachers are committed to sharing their craft and passing along their knowledge and art to others.

2023 PCSSD Teacher of the Year and Joe T. Robinson High band director, Ben Light, says he comes from a family of educators, which is why he decided to become one as well.

“My success is owed to teachers who had more faith in me than I had in myself. I became a teacher to help young people grow to lead healthy and purposeful lives. I became a Band Director because music making is a deeply collaborative, intellectual, sometimes spiritual pursuit; music teaching and learning is requisite for any society to thrive. “

Maumelle High theatre director, Robert Birdsong, says, “I hope the students understand there is a gigantic world of entertainment beyond that 5.5 inch screen on their phones. I hope that the career choices of our students are informed by what we have to offer. I hope that they develop stronger personality and self-esteem, and that they leave here far more confident than when they arrive.”

“Confidence in the art room often translates to confidence in the regular classroom,” said Landmark Elementary art teacher, Kelly Emerson. “I believe if a person has ‘one thing’ which makes them feel good and proud, then that person will be ok. They will see a future for themselves and work toward it. The arts provide that ‘1 thing’ for many students and it is the reason they come to school. It is the reason that they work to achieve not only as an artist, but as an individual.”

And Sylvan Hill High speech and debate teacher, Jennifer Alaquinez said, “Fine arts is the application of multiple disciplines and allows students to synthesize, create, and showcase their individual talent. Fine arts education allows a more individualistic approach to the educational format. It appears differently for each child. Students are allowed success on an individual and group basis showcasing their talents.”

PCSSD boasts fine arts programs at every grade level to music classes, painting, orchestra, and printmaking.

ABOUT PCSSD

Pulaski County Special School District spans more than 600 square miles in central Arkansas and requires highly skilled and passionate personnel to adapt educational policies and personalization to 26 schools. Every school is accredited by the Arkansas State Board of Education. PCSSD has served schools across Pulaski County since July 1927.

PCSSD is committed to creating a nationally recognized school district that assures that all students achieve at their maximum potential through collaborative, supportive and continuous efforts of all stakeholders.

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Joe David Rice, born in Paragould and reared in Jonesboro, probably knows Arkansas as well as anyone alive. The former owner of an outfitting business on the Buffalo National River and the state’s former tourism director, his "Arkansas Backstories" is published by the Butler Center.

Amy Gramlich is a wife, mom, blogger and public school educator proudly planted in Arkansas. She loves to celebrate all occasions big and small with fun outfits, creative recipes and fresh home decor (which must always include plants). She enjoys all the details that go into planning the next trip or party.

Kelli Reep is a writer and public relations practitioner in central Arkansas. When she isn’t looking for the best pie in the state, she is being ordered around by three cats. She likes to read, cook, sleep and help out when she can.

Photography in Searcy, has been a professional photographer for more than 15 years. In her spare time, she and her husband, Chad, enjoy raising their two children, fishing, camping and engaging in volunteer ministry work.

Jason Pederson spent 20 years as KATV’s Seven On Your Side reporter. He is now deputy chief of community engagement for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. He and his wife, Mary Carol, have two biological children and one bonus son. They are longtime members of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock.

Angelita Faller is the news director for the office of communications and marketing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A native of Newton, Ill., Faller holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s degree in digital storytelling from Ball State University.

Jamie Lee is a native of southwest Louisiana, now residing in Little Rock. She is a freelance photographer and writer, focusing on food and restaurants. Jamie has been a photographer for 15 years, shooting seniors, families, portraits, branding and food. She also has over 25 years’ experience with marketing in the travel and tourism industry.

Little Rock native Becca Bona has been writing professionally for a decade. A fan of all-things-local, she enjoys focusing on the restaurant and beverage industry in central Arkansas.

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Please recycle this magazine.

Children of the RMS Titanic as Reported by Officer Campbell Life begins with baby steps, innocents at sea, each pair of shoes were on a path lined with Hope, Courage & Resilience.

When Titanic Museum Attraction co-owner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn announced to our crew we would see the debut of a major new exhibit focusing on the 135 children onboard the Titanic, I was delighted. Now that the exhibit is complete, I am overwhelmed. These exhibits resonate with a tenderness, a deep sense of love, which I believe is the key to why Titanic tugs a powerful, universal instinct within each of us.

Even Captain Edward J. Smith, depicted in photographs as a stern commander, expresses a rare tenderness and an imaginary world of bunnies and little birds when writing to his daughter.

“I could not catch a little bunny to send you my letter, so send you a card by this little bird.”

And depicted with surprising artistry in a series of swirling pen strokes, a little bird floats above the captain’s ornate cursive letters. In its beak, a tiny envelope addressed to Miss Smith.

A tenderness expressing parental love, founded upon the powerful instinct within us to nurture, protect, educate, and prepare these new extensions of our species for a world which is not always easy or forgiving.

As I stand before each of these displays, it is the tenderness and the care, the sense of joy and deep desire to give them a world of the imagination, however brief their childhood might be.

Near Captain’s Smith’s imaginative letter, we have a carousel-themed storefront featuring vintage Edwardian Period toys, including drums, their metal bases ringed with letters of the alphabet, favorite storybook characters peeping in through the curves of these symbols.

The storefront includes representations of children wearing period clothes. One of the girls grasps the

string tied to a pull toy of the day: a little dog. There is also a wooden elephant, a schooner ship, a hefty wooden top, and period shoes. Dozens, many with tall rows of buttons or laces. Some have straps.

Completing the playroom, a wooden carousel horse manufactured by C.W. Parker Amusement Company in 1912. It is easy to imagine children of all classes shouting with joy as they ride, the horse gliding up and down as the carousel turns.

Joan Marie Pope Randall, one of only a handful of remaining direct descendants of survivors of the RMS Titanic, visited the Titanic Museum in Branson, MO. On display are her mother’s shoes worn on the Titanic. Louise Gretchen Kink was just 4 years old when she boarded the ship, a Third-Class passenger who accompanied her parents, Anton & Louise Kink. Now the shoes are part of the collection of treasures that share the stories of the 135 passengers and crew members who were age 15 or younger when Titanic set sail.

The human focus is what makes Titanic Museum

Attraction one of the most visited sites in both Branson and Pigeon Forge, and rotating exhibits such as this are among the reasons visitors return again and again.

All Treats This Month

It’s October, folks, and AY About You is bringing the treats! We love the changing leaves and the cooler temps around here, time when we can get out for a walk in the woods or a cozy evening by the firepit. If there’s a better time of year in Arkansas, we have yet to see it.

Our October editorial lineup is pretty sweet as well, as lots of things are going on all over The Natural State. We start with our Arkansas State Fair Guide, getting you ready for 10 days of funnel cakes, corn dogs, rides and great concerts. Also this month, we take you to Fort Smith for a look at the fabulous new U.S. Marshals Museum and to Hot Springs for a one-of-a-kind weekend at In The Trees. You won’t believe what they’ve packed into these luxury treehouses!

Fall is football season, and our editorial team has chased down superfans for Arkansas’s four Div. I programs to find out what lengths they will go to support their team. And we take you to seafood restaurants for this month’s Bucket List, perfect for grabbing dinner after the game.

We also focus our attention on something more serious; the issue of human trafficking and victims of violence. The U.S. State Department reports there are an estimated 27.6 million people currently held in modern-day slavery through human trafficking. In 2021, Arkansas saw multiple human trafficking cases filed, all involving underage girls forced into the sex trade. There’s no telling how many are still waiting to be discovered and rescued from this horrible existence. Our piece on PATH, an organization dedicated to battling this problem in Arkansas, is a must-read.

As if this weren’t shocking enough, violent crime in Arkansas is rampant; the state ranked first in the nation at 709 crimes per 100,000 residents, a full 5 percent higher than secondplace Tennessee. To let you know how bad the problem has become, New York is ranked the safest state at just 102 crimes per 100,000 people. Violence, whether domestic or via criminal activity, is threatening our way of life which is why we’re so proud of our cover story, Women’s Own Worth, which is standing up for victims.

At AY About You, we cherish our hometowns in this great state, and we want to see them made better for everybody. Together, we can reverse the tide of violence that has affected so many families, starting in our homes and neighborhoods. I invite you to join me in getting informed, getting involved and coming together to take back our communities.

We love you, Arkansas!

Experience a living kaleidoscope this fall at Dogwood Canyon. Explore nearly 10,000 acres of jewel-toned wonder at every turn with exciting outdoor activities like horseback riding, wildlife tours, hiking, biking, and more.

Tickets available at:

dogwoodcanyon .

READER FEEDBACK

MAUNE REACHES MASTERCHEF FINALS

“Watching from Bakersfield, CA. Go Jennifer!”

Letha Swain

YAKOUBIAN: “I’M NOT GOING TO LEAVE.”

“We are looking forward to seeing you on air again!”

Donna Edom

UPDATE: PERMIT FOR BRAUM’S STORES APPROVED FOR CONWAY!

“This is the best news I’ve heard all day! I loved the Braum’s in Emporia, KS. Now I’ll feel like I’m at home.”

Paula Ehrhardt

BIG FLAVORS FROM A SMALL TOWN: THE GRUMPY RABBIT

“This place is worth the drive from West Little Rock.”

Barry Steger

SHOTGUN DAN’S IS THE PERFECT PLACE TO KICK OFF THE PIZZA BUCKET LIST

“Best pizza around!”

Angie Speer-Wilkerson

HUNTER MEDLOCK HOMES

“Awesome job Hunter!!!! Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Everyone loves your designs!!!!!”

Jo Mitchell

WE’RE THE MILLERS: SEARCY FAMILY BONDS OVER FAITH, FOOTBALL

“Great family, love what they do for so many at church.”

Sue Anderson Ulrich

TRENDING ON AYMAG.COM

Todd Yakoubian: “I’m Not Going to Leave.”

New Restaurant Coming to the River Market

Malys Entertainment Coming to Conway

Iriana’s Pizza New Owner

Braum’s Conway Location

RACING / SMOKE-FREE CASINO / HOTEL / SPA / EVENT CENTER / DINING VISIT OAKLAWN.COM TO BOOK YOUR STAY.

5Top you just can't miss!

ARKANSAS GOAT FESTIVAL 2023

Oct. 7

Perryville City Park

Mark your calendars for the 2023 Arkansas Goat Festival, which will take place in Perryville. This event is free and open to the public. No dogs, please. This year’s festival will include a goat parade, live music, food trucks and more.

ASHLEY MCBRYDE - THE DEVIL I KNOW TOUR WITH JD CLAYTON

Oct. 15

Robinson Performance Hall - Little Rock

Arkansas’ own, Ashley McBryde, will be bringing her “The Devil I Know” tour to Little Rock this month. Known nationally for her country music, McBryde will also be bringing Fort Smith native JD Clayton to the Robinson Center stage.

THUNDER OVER THE ROCK

Oct. 21-22

Little Rock Air Force Base

Thunder Over The Rock will be coming back to the Little Rock Air Force Base for an air show unlike any other in the state. This year’s show will feature the largest STEM Festival in Arkansas as well as the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. The Vandenberg Gate will open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

HOT WHEELS MONSTER TRUCKS LIVE GLOW PARTY

Oct. 21-22

Simmons Bank Arena - North Little Rock

As a perfect family event, the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party will be coming to Simmons Bank Arena this October. Tickets start at $34 and discounts are available for kids ages 2-12.

“THE PRICE IS RIGHT” LIVE

Oct. 30

Robinson Center - Little Rock

“The Price Is Right” Live, the hit interactive stage show, will be making its stop at Little Rock’s Robinson Center for one night only. Enjoy playing the classic games that are featured on television’s longest-running and most-popular game show, and test your knowledge to win a variety of prizes.

Creating Medlock Construction fashions

an Oasis

luxury into central Arkansas spaces

Just outside the city limits of Hot Springs is a new housing development that rivals anything one might see or visit in cities such as Nashville, Tenn., or Perdido Key, Fla. A series of 15 townhouses known as “tall-skinnies” are rising out of the ground as part of Urban Edge Estates on Lake Hamilton on Thornton Ferry Road. These three-story homes are ultra-modern and unlike almost any other condominium or lake estate available in Arkansas today.

Brad Medlock encountered tall-skinnies while visiting Nashville where his daughter, a social media manager, worked with some country music singers.

“We would travel to Nashville to visit our daughter, and we started staying in these tall, skinny townhomes,” Medlock said. “I was fascinated by the rooftop deck with all kinds of seating and a putting green. The economy of space in the home without sacrificing all the modern amenities families are looking for today impressed me. I knew this would be a perfect addition to Hot Springs."

The concept might have been new, but the quality craftsmanship and attention to detail that is going into the homes is well-known to those who had experienced Medlock Construction’s work in the past. Clients are immediately drawn to the eye-catching design and luxury finishes, but there’s equal attention paid to the structural elements that make a Medlock Home a sound investment that stands the test of time.

“I travel all over the United States and try to bring the latest technology and design back here to Arkansas,” Medlock said. “All my subs have been with me for 25 years plus,

and as a company, we are a well-oiled machine. There’s quality in our design, both in what you can see and in a lot of extras that people don’t see as far as using zip board, taping all the seams, using deck shield on the decking for radiant barrier. It’s what has built our reputation over the past 30 years, and it goes into every house we build today.”

Another element that is a throwback to an earlier age of homebuilding is how Medlock is known for keeping his hand directly on more steps of the process than many builders. What he does not handle personally is built to his exacting standards or it is not built at all.

“When you’re talking about what separates my homes from other stuff, I run my own trim crew, I run my own tile,” he said. “Everybody who comes on my job, they know that I know what a good job looks like, and they know what I expect. I’ve been there and done it in my career, and I don’t settle for anything less than what I would do. I’m not asking anybody to do anything I haven’t done myself.”

Part of what years in the residential construction business has given Medlock is an uncanny nose for location, something he put to good use when planning the Urban Edge Estates.With all the modern amenities installed in each unit, these townhomes can serve as entertainment centers for families year-round, regardless of the season or weather in Arkansas. A linear fireplace offers a contemporary design and, like a traditional fireplace, serves as the focal point of the space. Linear fireplaces are convenient because they can be started with a remote control, thermostat adjustment or wall switch, eliminating messy wood logs, gas starters and ash removal. In linear fireplaces, the flames are turned on and off instantly, making them ideal for zone heating.

Soundbars are also a much-sought-after advancement as the most effective way to get better audio quality from a television, Medlock said. Another advantage of soundbars is how simple they are to install. With no speakers or wires to manage, they deliver a theater surround sound experience without the installation headaches.

The first phase of the development will be ready for viewing and purchase by the first of next year and the remainder completed by summer 2024. Medlock said the lakefront homes will have two-car carports, and the lakeview homes will have two-car garages. All homes will have a front porch and rooftop deck, full-size and state-of-the-

art appliances, soundproofing and energyefficient construction.

Each home also includes 12-foot ceilings with a cloud ceiling on the main floor. Cloud ceilings, a system installed on the same plane that has horizontal openings to the structure above on all sides, are becoming increasingly popular in residential and commercial construction. The cloud ceilings at Urban Edge Estates consist of panels separated by gaps, which sit beneath the structural ceiling of the ground-floor entertainment room.

These ceilings come complete with RGB LED lights, which provide efficient and effective lighting in kitchens while creating a cozy atmosphere. Other placements for RGB LED lights include under cabinets and along toe kicks, under shelves and beds, along stairs, and above closets. These lights can be left on all night because they are made to run constantly for a long time without overheating or causing any safety risks.

“The entertainment room is for everyone,” Medlock said. “Kids can go upstairs, where there will be built-in bunkbeds and their own bathroom. The bunkbeds will come with builtin stairs for the top bunk so it will be easy for an adult to get in and out of if they choose.

“The rooftop deck will have a glass wall on the front of it so you can see the lake, mountain and skyline while relaxing, and the walls on either side of the deck will maintain privacy from your neighbors. We will be installing iron fencing and a gate for security as well as a privacy fence from the road and the neighbors next to Urban Edge Estates.”

Other amenities offered by Urban Edge Estates include a property owners association, bulk boat slips, grass front yards and easy access to everything that makes Hot Springs the state’s entertainment hub.

“These townhomes are just minutes from Bathhouse Row, Oaklawn and the casino, gokarts and putt-putt golf, and directly across the street is a direct road to Lake Ouachita,” Medlock said. “There’s a grocery store within a block, and there are all kinds of restaurants and shopping close by. There is always something going on in Hot Springs, no matter what time of the year.”

While there are a few tall-skinny townhomes in downtown Little Rock and a few being built in midtown Hot Springs, Urban Edge Estates is the only development of tallskinny townhomes in Garland County.

Medlock's introduction to residential construction was through his father, who would build a home during the summer and enlist his teenage son to help him.

“Dad worked in sewer utilities, building wastewater treatment plants in Jacksonville and North Little Rock,” Medlock said. “When I was in junior high and high school, he would make me field and grate the foundation, do dirt work with a tiller, get into a drain and pick out rocks. I was always active, and it was his way of keeping me out of trouble.

“It also taught me how to look at a piece of ground and see where it was level and where it would fall. I got to where I could see where I would need to run a tiller down through for a drain to make it fall from point A to point B. At the time, I didn’t like what I was doing because it was hot and manual labor, and I was a kid who wanted to be out doing anything else, but it set me up for my career.”

Medlock did not choose construction initially; in fact, he has a pre-med degree and planned to become a doctor. However, he says he is not an “inside person,” and he started his own businesses to work for himself.

“Dad didn’t really start out building homes until he retired,” Medlock said. “I had been in home building for about 12 years when Dad decided to help, and now my son, Hunter, is picking up where I’m leaving off.”

A lot of entrepreneurs who can boast of 30 years of success begin to look for opportunities to slow down, but that is apparently not the case for Medlock. At the same time Urban Edge Estates is coming out of the ground in Hot Springs, he’s also working on a new development off North Lake Drive in Sherwood comprised of 27 lots, 11 of which are on the lake.

“I’ve just been building in the area for the last 25 years and I can tell you that we’re definitely running out of lots here in this area,” he said. “We’re going to sell lots to builders and we’re also building a few pre-sold our-

selves. We’re very excited about the potential for this development.”

Medlock said throughout his career, building homes has always been a challenging profession, and that’s definitely the case since the pandemic. Besides escalating cost to build and higher interest rates, the supply chain has not completely smoothed out yet, which prolongs lead times.

“It depends; some materials are harder to get and some aren’t [since COVID],” he said. “Windows used to be a two-week lead time and it’s three months on a lot of stuff now, even today. That means the companies that are successful are the ones who are able to plan and manage things. As I like to say, perfect planning prevents poor performance.”

Of course, Medlock could just be content to rest on his laurels and enjoy the spoils of a three-decade career, but given the choice of sitting on the veranda or building one, he said he still chooses the latter, especially with creative projects such as he has now.

“I’m one of the few people who’s doing the skinny houses in Arkansas, period, and the only one in Hot Springs on water,” he said. “That’s the exciting part about Urban Edge Estates, which I think will be a huge deal from the shortterm rental aspect. The Sherwood development is a totally different concept. I just thought it would be a nice opportunity to take advantage and do both.”

Besides, Medlock said, he has always derived great satisfaction from producing a superior product using his own two hands.

“I haven’t slowed down much, although I’ve tried to,” he said. “The thing is, I get bored really easily. If I have 30 days of nothing to do, I’m out finding something else to do. I like starting stuff, new ideas and the challenges that brings. I still get out and do dirt work. In fact, I did all the dirt work for Urban Edge

Estates. When you do it on your own and you get the right equipment to work with, it's way more rewarding. I feel fortunate that my work is more of a hobby now. I’ll always have projects, and I've already got a couple other projects I'm wanting to do as soon as I can get freed up enough to do this.”

"All the lots are available for purchase now, and property owners can work with their builder for their home, or we can build it for them.”

Amy Baker, owner of Amy Baker Designs in Hot Springs, described her style as rustic modern.

State of Natural A Mind

Amy Baker Designs, Hot Springs

Growing up in the Natural State, Amy Baker was always inspired by nature and her feeling of attachment to the outdoors influenced her design style as an adult. Raised in the construction business, she graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway with a bachelor’s degree in interior design.

She moved to Hot Springs more than a decade ago before launching her design studio in 2017. Today, she is happy to be surrounded by the natural beauty that has always been her muse. In addition to her growing clientele and list of projects. Baker is also a mother and is most at peace when spending time with her boys on Lake Hamilton or enjoying the many other things Hot Springs has to offer.

AY About You: Where are you from, originally?

AMY BAKER: I am originally from Conway but have been in Hot Springs for 13 years now.

AY: What led you to want to go to school for interior design?

BAKER: My mom was an interior decorator, and my dad was a contractor as I was growing up. I loved and understood the construction process from being on job sites with my dad. I worked for my mom throughout my teenage years, and I knew it was what I was meant to do.

AY: What was it about interior design that was so intriguing to you and called you to follow it as a career path?

BAKER: I felt like it just came to me naturally. Colors and space planning was somewhat second nature. I wanted an outlet to use that creativity.

What was the interior design program like at UCA? What are some memories of of your time in the program that you are most fond of?

BAKER: The interior design program was wonderful at UCA. It was small enough that you knew the instructors and students and formed great friendships along the way. There were many handson classes ike woodworking, art and sewing, so you got lots of variety.

Was it always in the plan to start your own business? Were you looking to start your design studio immediately or work for someone else? Once I graduated, I started looking for my first job and I ended up getting a job with a designer in Hot Springs, which is why we moved from Conway. I ended up working for several designers along the way before I started my

How long have you had your own design studio in Hot Springs? I opened my own design studio, Amy Baker Designs, six years ago.

AY: Starting out, were you mostly working on residential projects or on the commercial side?

BAKER: Mostly residential, but there were also a few smaller commercial projects.

AY: How has the design landscape changed since you graduated from UCA to what it is today?

BAKER: When I graduated the only digital program we learned was AutoCAD. Shortly after I graduated, all of the digital design software exploded.

AY: How would you characterize your own design style or technique within your work?

BAKER: My personal style is rustic modern. More recently I have had the opportunity to do more of my own personal aesthetic, but I really just focus on what my clients want, and I do a lot of more transitional projects as well.

AY: What does your typical design process look like when working with a client from concept inception to completion?

BAKER: First, we have a phone conversation and discuss the scope of the project, then an onsite meeting to discuss the style, construction and overall look of the project. That’s when we typically meet with contractors or any tradesmen that will be on the project.

We then have a meeting to look over the presentation and place orders, and at last, we get to do the fun part, which is the installation of the project and the reveal.

AY: What are some of your favorite aspects of your line of work?

BAKER: Design is always changing and always challenging. No two projects are the same, and no two clients have the same needs and wants. We get a lot of variety in our line of work. Every project has its challenges and we, as designers, are always challenging contractors to execute new ideas.

AY: Tell me about your work with the In The Trees project in Hot Springs.

BAKER: The treehouse project was a dream to take on. When we first met and started discussing the concept, I knew this was going to be great.

The modern aesthetic is my sweet spot, so I knew that this was going to be a fun project to be a part of. I love nature and being outdoors, so I could really visualize what they wanted this resort to be.

AY: What are some tips you could give a home owner in terms of decluttering or reorganizing, be it their whole house or a given room?

BAKER: Get rid of all the items you haven’t used in the past year. If it isn’t a family heirloom or something that brings meaning to your life, let it go! There is something so freeing about getting rid of clutter.

AY: What are your thoughts on a homeowner who wants to do projects themselves? What are areas that would be good starting points in terms of basic, small steps?

BAKER: Have a very clear plan of what your abilities are. My husband and I remodeled our first home ourselves and man, was it time consuming. A lot of times you get started and realize you need a professional. Easy small projects like painting are a good place to start.

AY: What’s the worst thing that a homeowner can do on their own when they look to redo their home?

BAKER: Anything electrical or having to do with plumbing. Those are things that should definitely be left to the professionals.

AY: Have you ever been called on to handle a job or project where the homeowner tried to do it themselves but were unsuccessful?

BAKER: Many, many times! It’s very common for a homeowner to start a project and get overwhelmed. There are a lot of materials to choose from and lots of decisions to make.

AY: What advice would you give to a young designer just starting out or one who wants to start their own studio?

BAKER: Go work for a few seasoned designers first. You will learn things about business that are great and maybe discover some things that you don’t want to do. Experiencing different avenues of design is the best way to know how you want to run your business. I learned many valuable skills in the first few years of my career.

AY: What are some things that you want AY readers to know about your work?

BAKER: I want my clients to love their homes. The spaces I design are beautiful but also very comfortable and practical for your stage of life. My work is always going to work for you and your family.

Building In the Trees

David Murphy Construction

When David Murphy started remodeling houses more than a decade ago, he had no way of knowing just how far – or how high – the job would take him. After moving back to his hometown of Hot Springs in 2012, Murphy continued to grow a reputation and customer base, but he held on to his job as a creative director for an advertising firm. Then, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a boom in the construction industry.

“My phone was ringing off the hook, and I thought, ‘If this is what I really want to do, I have to be able to give 100 percent,” he said. Murphy knew he couldn’t continue to pursue his construction dream while also working full-time in advertising, so he made the decision to leave the advertising industry and focus solely on growing his own business, David Murphy Construction.

David Murphy Construction serves a number of clients in and around Hot Springs by performing new commercial and residential construction as well as remodels. Murphy’s partnership with real estate entrepreneurs Sarah and Lee Medley has proven especially successful; a local realtor referred Murphy to the couple in 2020, and the Medley’s hired Murphy to remodel two homes in historic downtown Hot Springs. Those projects were successful, and Murphy subsequently completed six more projects for the Medley’s which led the couple to hire Murphy for their most significant project to date.

In the Trees resort, a collection of cabins and treehouses nestled in the picturesque mountains around the Spa City, is the most impressive of

Murphy’s recent projects with the Medleys. While a number of the structures are still in different phases of construction, the units that opened in May of this year have already garnered much positive attention, thanks in no small part to Murphy’s masterful work on the aerial getaway.

“It was 2021 when they took me to the top of the mountain and told me their vision for the property,” Murphy said. “We spent several hours on the mountain dicussing their vision for the future resort.”

Other than a few reference photos and the general idea pitched by the couple, Murphy was able to let his creative juices flow in regards to the design. “They gave me the creative freedom to design a project that was outside the boundaries of typical construction, which makes this a unique project for all of us,” he said.

The project also has special meaning to Murphy because it gave the

builder, who comes from a family of engineers, an opportunity to work alongside his father in a professional capacity for the first time.

“I’ve been around building design work my whole life, but having the opportunity to work alongside my father on the engineering aspects of this project has made In The Trees special on a personal level.”

Murphy’s idea for the units focused on a minimalistic profile that would not only avoid sticking out but would actively complement the natural surroundings.

“Aesthetically, I wanted the structures to be in proportion with its surroundings. I didn’t want them to overwhelm the location. It was also important to me for them to blend in. We used concrete and steel, letting the steel patina and then treating it so it would achieve a look that would blend with nature,” Murphy said. “The way the tree houses are designed, the support structures take on a tree-like appearance.”

Murphy was also careful to give the entire space a feeling of openness. Rather than having their eyes drawn to the foundations, utility lines, and other potential eyesores, guests can see underneath the elevated structures and straight through to the view that lies beyond. That idea is carried over on the inside as well, with an emphasis on glass and big windows to invite natural light and let the outside in.

“It’s a unique project, probably a project that most builders won’t ever see in their lifetime,” Murphy said. “It has a dramatic look to it when you first see it, and the outdoor space is what really provides the guest with the treehouse experience. Each cabin and treehouse has its own deck, and each treehouse contains a separate elevated platform with a private hot tub, connected to the house by a 12-foot steel bridge.”

The cabins and treehouses at In the Trees are meant to strike the perfect balance between a luxurious stay and a natural escape, all while sitting high in the air to allow for unobstructed views of the Ouachita Mountains.

“It’s really hard to get a sense of the scale until you see it in person,” Murphy said. “They’re not small units. They’re nice cabins and treehouses, and guests have all the amenities they need.”

Of course, bringing the Medleys dream to life took more than just great designs. The builder had a number of challenges to contend with, not least of all the demands of the site itself.

“The whole property is 540 acres of old forestry land,” Murphy said. “There was zero

utilities and zero infrastructure other than a few four-wheeler trails and an overgrown road.”

On top of getting utilities in place, all the other amenities that take In the Trees from primitive camping to luxury resort had to be hauled up the mountain and lifted up into the sky-high units. Getting a hot tub platform built 31 feet off the ground is one thing. Pulling everything together in a way that is as functional as it is stunning, on the other hand, is a testament to Murphy’s skill.

“The slope of the mountainside is a challenge, trying to leave as many trees as possible while working around them without damaging the natural surroundings takes time,” he said. “A majority of the work is done using lift equipment, scaffolding, and ladders. You’re in the air, for sure.”

There was a definite learning curve, he added, but he has relished tackling the project’s peculiarities head-on. With Murphy at the helm, each new unit is bound to be as appealing as the last, offering guests an exciting new way to revel in the beauty of the Natural State.

“This has been a rewarding project,” Murphy said. “I feel really blessed to be able to do it.”

Luxe

Tree Line above the

In the Trees provides natural retreat in the heart of Spa City

Hot Springs is known for being a relaxing getaway in central Arkansas and a place of wonderful adventures and entertainment. Now Spa City is home to a stunning new lodging escape too. In the Trees provides cabins and tree houses with luxurious features, breathtaking views and every amenity one needs to escape the stress and demands of modern life

I had stayed in tree house developments in the past, and so thought I had seen everything when I was invited to treat my husband to a weekend getaway for his birthday. Was I ever surprised! The sumptuous touches and peaceful setting of In the Trees went way beyond anything I had ever experienced.

Our one-bedroom treehouse included all the perks of a luxury resort, including a hot tub, outdoor fire pit, electric fireplace, vinyl record player and even a heated bathroom floor, which we were told were installed in every unit.

The thing that stands out about In the Trees is how a stay here is completely customized to the individual guest. Even our shampoo and conditioner were customized to smell like the woods when you are washing your hair. Our hosts had definitely thought about every detail. Our hosts also went the extra mile to ensure a quality experience by providing Caraway cookware, Kassatex bedding and fluffy bathrobes. The goal here, as we would learn, was for everything the guest touches and feels to be the best stuff they have ever used and I’m here to tell you they have succeeded.

Here are just a few of the delightful extras Ryan and I enjoyed during our stay: A charcuterie board was waiting for us upon arrival. Chef Alex Zumwalt, owner of Your Culinary Solution in Hot Springs, cooked us a private in-room meal of pan-seared salmon, followed by his signature lemon pound cake with blueberry compote. It was incredible.

People who know me know how much I love Arkansas adventures, and we found them while zipping along the mountain bike trails in nearby Northwoods and Cedar Glades. The only thing better than these two nationally recognized biking areas was the in-room couple’s massage we got afterward.

One of the things to love about In the Trees is its proximity to Hot Springs’ Central Avenue, a ribbon of entertainment, dining and libations

running down the heart of the city’s historic district. The street connects Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, Superior Bathhouse Brewery, The Pancake Shop and Deluca’s Pizzeria making it easy to visit these landmark spots, after which we went back to lounging in our luxurious tree house.

A small touch that really lent to the ambiance was the eclectic assortment of vinyl records available to be played in the rental. We were particularly taken with an old Andy Griffith album that set an excellent mood. In today’s world of digital music, many people have forgotten how romantic a vinyl record can be. As we sat by the fireplace and listened to the rich music, we could also hear nature all around and behind us. It was peaceful and quiet and relaxing and altogether perfect.

We asked the owners, Sarah and Lee Medley, how their vision for In the Trees began. The couple said they had stayed at something similar and really enjoyed the experience. It so happened the couple was just getting into the Airbnb business, and it did not take long to combine the two.

“The whole experience was really unique,” Sarah said. “What started out as this almost funny dream morphed into, ‘Oh, we can actually do this, and we can actually build some really cool tree houses.’”

The Medleys are mountain bikers who had fallen in love with the Northwoods and Cedar Glades trails in Hot Springs. When a 540-acre patch of land near the trails and the bustling downtown area opened up, they decided to purchase the property.

At the time of our stay, five tree houses and cabins were available and two more were nearly finished. Sarah said the additional units should be open in time for the Güdrun Northwoods Mountain Bike Festival in November. Phase 1 will include 16 cabins and tree houses ranging from one- to five-bedroom units, and then the couple will work on the wedding venue, followed by more units or the restaurant. Other plans include the spa, a swimming pool, a garden and community hubs where guests can meet, shop and exchange records and books.

The couple has a background in real estate and property management, and they sold their short-term rental management business

to focus on In the Trees. They also moved their entire family to Hot Springs from Texarkana, charmed by Spa City's lively year-round atmosphere and because they realized its mountain bike trails rival those in northwest Arkansas.

“People are going to come just for these mountain bike trails, and this is where we wanted to do our Airbnbs because we believe in this town,” Sarah said. “We had known of Hot Springs, obviously, before that and had visited plenty of times, but that’s when we kind of shifted to really falling in love with the town and exploring the town more and more.”

The Medleys chose David Murphy, owner of David Murphy Construction in Hot Springs, to build the fantastic creations, having worked together on previous projects.

“A project like In the Trees wasn’t anything I forecasted. The mere size alone of this project compared to previous projects we had performed for them was vastly different,” Murphy said, adding that he first visited the site when the trees were bare in winter. “Every direction you looked had amazing views. I’m a creative person, so my head was spinning with ideas on how to make their conceptual vision for the property become reality.”

Murphy selectively removed trees to make as small of a footprint as possible at each building site. The result, as Ryan and I noticed immediately, was a landscape and view that remained natural and encouraged exploration.

“I wanted to create something that would provide a unique experience for guests that captured the beauty of the property,” he said. “Each tree house is located along a high mountain ridge that provides big views at treetop level. … Accompanied by high ceilings that would allow for large windows, it makes the tree houses feel as spacious as the views that surround them.”

The couple also worked with Amy Baker, owner of Amy Baker Designs in Hot Springs, to create an atmosphere in which guests feel like they are immersed in nature, even when they are indoors.

“The whole idea was to feel like you were at a luxury cabin in the woods,” Baker said. “We wanted huge windows for the gorgeous treetop views. We wanted to bring nature inside and for the structures to be modern in form but blend in with the nature around it. We wanted the whole feeling to be modern luxury.”

She added that the landscape’s colors and textures drive the interiors, which feature natural wood tones, rough-cut benches, barn doors and granite the color of river bottoms.

“We wanted it to be a place to cozy up, relax and unplug — a very comfortable feeling — a place for adventure or to relax and enjoy the mountains,” she said.

“This was a dream project, and I was honored to be chosen to be a part of something so exciting in my own community.”

Luxury bedding is just one of the sumptuous perks at In the Trees.

“We wanted it to be a place to cozy up, relax and unplug — a very comfortable feeling — a place for adventure or to relax and enjoy the

The loft provides a great place for kids (and dogs) to hang out.

No luxe getaway is complete without fantastic food, and here too, In the Trees delivered. Charcuterie boards and s’mores boards are amenities guests might not expect from a typical resort, and the forthcoming restaurant is set to be as fine as the lodgings. Sarah said the restaurant will cater to guests throughout the day. At breakfast, guests can grab a homemade muffin or granola bar on their way to the trails or downtown, or they can stay for brunch, which will feature menu items such as mimosas and eggs Benedict. Then the restaurant will transition to light sandwiches and beer for guests who want to mingle in the early afternoons, after a day of exploring. At night, the restaurant will dim the lights and light the candles for formal dinners.

“We have a lot of plant life on the mountain that can be used in foods — something like eight to 10 different herbs,” Sarah added. “We definitely want our food to use those in the dinner menu, at least.”

Future amenities are even more exciting. Situated near a creek and pond, the 150-person wedding chapel and event venue will have clean lines and large windows that allow the beauty of nature to shine, Sarah said. The space will host weddings on the weekends and corporate events and meetings during the week, Lee added.

The forthcoming spa will offer a full

range of services, including indoor and outdoor massages, to guests who are 18 and older, Sarah said.

“We are definitely going to be looking for talent outside of us to help us collaborate with that and help us with the vision there, people who have more experience in that area,” she added.

Also on the property is the foundation of an old house that was one of former President Bill Clinton’s childhood homes, Lee said, adding that Clinton recently confirmed for the couple that he lived there five or six months.

“We want to do something with that,” Sarah said. “We talked about that being where the garden is. We just think that’s a cool story and something people would want to visit.”

The couple also hopes to add a range of activities such as yoga classes, art classes, guided bike tours, guided hikes and more. Lee said he once attended a beekeeping experience and honey tasting that he may replicate.

“Keeping your mind open to new experiences is, to me, a key to happiness, and food is a really good way to do that,” he added. “We’ve had some experiences ourselves that have been

was one of the highlights of the stay.

kind of special in that manner, and we want that brought back to In the Trees.”

In the Trees is a family affair.

Not only did Sarah’s father help provide design and business input, the couple’s children have met guests, helped with chores and tested some of the amenities at the property.

Sarah hopes the youngsters will make plenty of memories there. The guests certainly have.

“The other day, we happened to be there when a husband was surprising his wife for her birthday. They pulled up and she was blindfolded and didn’t know where she was, and so he walks around the car and takes off the blindfold, and she just can’t believe it,” Sarah said. “Catching those experiences is really fun, and I hope to do that even more.”

All in all, In the Trees is a spectacular project providing a lodging experience unlike anything Spa City has ever seen. Do not miss your next opportunity to experience all Hot Springs has to offer with this unparalleled luxury experience.

The Whole Truth

U.S. Marshals Museum opens at last

In July, the doors finally swung open to welcome visitors and dignitaries to the U.S. Marshals Museum 16 years after the U.S. Marshals Service tapped underdog Fort Smith as its home.

Watching the stream of dignitaries at the dedication ceremony and the throngs of people who followed in their wake, Ben Johnson could not help but think back. Shortly after he landed in Fort Smith to take over as the museum’s president and CEO, he had a speaking engagement that changed the arc of the 53,000-square-foot, $50 million attraction.

Johnson appeared before a gathering of the U.S. Marshals Service Association. The crowd, comprised primarily of retired marshals, was cordial to the Nebraska transplant, but Johnson recalled a palpable undercurrent of frustration over the delays in finishing the national museum and a shallow well of patience for excuses or empty promises out of the head man.

That evening at a reception, Johnson was galvanized by a simple encounter he had with one of the most senior deputy marshal there.

“I was in the hospitality room talking to them, and there was one gentleman there who was 92 in a wheelchair,” Johnson said. “He was telling stories of being assigned to Ole Miss, guarding [first black student] James Meredith’s room, and this man looked at me and said, ‘Am I ever going to see this [museum] before I die?’

“I looked into his eyes, and I knew that all he wanted was to see this happen. That was when I came back, and I was like, ‘We gotta do this now. We owe it to them. We just need to get open.’”

Johnson and the museum staff made good on the pledge and have been enjoying overwhelmingly positive reviews of the museum for its authen ticity, comprehensive exhibits and use of technol ogy that brings the experience to life.

“It’s been great. Feedback has been awesome,” Johnson said. “We’ve had nothing but really positive com ments from folks: ‘This is so much better than I thought.’

‘This is so different than I thought.’ ‘There’s so much more history.’ This is American history. This isn’t just about the Wild West and cowboys; this is re ally 235 years of American history.

“Even the few places on the internet where I tell folks don’t go, and I won’t name where they are, but even those places have been very positive, which has been remarkable.”

The U.S. Marshals Service was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789 as a means to represent the fledgling federal government’s interests at the local level. President George Washington appointed the first 13 marshals, who were broadly empowered to carry out lawful orders issued by judges, Congress or the president. As per the National Park Service, the marshals’ principal function was to enforce orders and decisions of the federal courts, but early marshals were also tasked with a range of duties beyond their law enforcement responsibilities. Among these were paying fees and managing operations of federal trials, contracting for the feeding of prisoners, distributing presidential proclamations, and even conducting U.S. Census counts, which continued through 1870.

As the earliest federal law enforcement branch, the marshals performed functions for which later agencies would be created. During the Civil War, the marshals performed like the modern-day Department of Homeland Security, rooting out Confederate spies and confiscating property used to support the South’s cause. They were a forerunner to the modern U.S. Border Patrol and also had jurisdiction over counterfeiters until the Secret Service took over that role in 1865.

U.S. Marshals and their deputies had primary responsibility within the federal district and circuit courts to which they were assigned. As the nation pushed westward, more districts were created, necessitating the growth of the U.S. Marshals Service into remote, sparsely populated territories. Fort Smith was a prime example; the federal court for the Western District of Arkansas was created in 1851 and, for 45 years, held jurisdiction over 13 Arkansas counties and all or parts of Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.

Here, the work of molding a wild land into an ordered society was performed as the U.S. Marshals Service sought to bring order from horse thieves, bushwackers and other outlaws hardened by war, a job complicated by interactions between whites and the commingled tribes of displaced Native Americans forcibly moved to the Indian Territory. With 74,000 largely lawless miles to police, the marshals were a tough, seasoned core of dedicated frontier lawmen engaged in dangerous work.

The district was not without controversy as at one time, it was more famous for corruption than for maintaining law and order. That all changed with the arrival of Judge Isaac Parker in 1875. Parker, a no-nonsense Ohioan and former member of Congress who had earned a stellar reputation while practicing law in St. Louis, quickly signaled the start of a new era. On his first day on the bench in Fort Smith, he sentenced eight men to hang for murder.

Execution day was a spectacle thanks to sensationalistic East Coast newspapers that coined the epithet, “The Hanging Judge,” to describe Parker. A progressive advocate for equal rights and women’s suffrage and who opposed capital punishment, Parker disliked the label, but it stuck nonetheless.

Parker may have been misunderstood when it came to his sentencing record, but his high regard for the U.S. Marshals in the district was clear.

"Without these officers,” he once said, “what is the use of this court?"

Even with Parker at their backs, a marshal’s job was a dangerous one, especially in Fort Smith. During Parker’s 21 years on the bench, 65 deputy marshals were killed in the line of duty. The sacrifices were not in vain. The district quickly shed its shady reputation and was regarded as a model to be emulated thanks to the work of men like Bass Reeves, one of the first black U.S. Marshals in the American West.

Born a slave in Crawford County in 1838, Reeves’ life up through the Civil War is shrouded in mystery. One theory has him a war hero; another says he lived among Native tribes to escape his master. After the war, Reeves served as a guide for government officials wishing to travel through Indian Territory and, in 1875, was commissioned a deputy U.S. marshal by the forward-thinking Parker. Over the next 32 years, Reeves achieved great fame in his role, killing 14 outlaws and apprehending more than 3,000 fugitives, including his own son.

A hundred years after his death, the legacy of Reeves’ exploits and that of his comrades would play a major role in bringing the national museum to Arkansas. In 2007, former U.S. Marshals Service Director John Clark announced the decision that Fort Smith would be the home of the muse-

Even before we opened, I saw what happened when folks walked in and saw the quality of the experience and the building and the setting. They were blown away.

– Ben Johnson, president and CEO

“

um, citing the area as sacred ground. More marshals and deputy marshals died riding out of Fort Smith during the frontier era than in any other place or time in the nation’s history.

As big of an accomplishment as it was to be awarded the project, the announcement was just the beginning of the work to actually get it built and opened. That process that would lumber along for the next 16 years and was still not completed when Johnson arrived.

“Raising money is never easy, especially in a town as relatively small as we are and in a state like Arkansas, which is only 3 million people. There are a lot of organizations raising money, and we’re just another one of them,” he said.

“The initial capital campaign goal was $50 million, and that was to build the building, design and create the experience, outfit it with furniture and equipment, hire staff, and still have a little bit of runway knowing that we aren’t going to get a ton of money right away once we opened. We were at about $45 million when I got here. We’ve done $2.5, $3 million since, which is awesome. Fundraising will never end, but the light at the end of the tunnel is there.”

Some of the project’s issues can be chalked up to bad luck — construction and fundraising came to a standstill during the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance — but the project has had its share of critics from the word go. The longer things went, the louder the detractors became, and when a proposed local sales tax to support the museum was voted down at the polls in 2019, the discontent had reached a crescendo. The project suffered another public relations blow in 2022 with the resignation of Johnson’s predecessor, Patrick Weeks, after he was charged with two counts of felony aggravated assault with a firearm for pointing a gun at utility workers outside his home.

“Coming here, the challenge was really what they’d been through, years of up and down, of good news and bad news, and just coming off the biggest PR fiascos in its history,” Johnson said. “No. 1, of course, was just getting open but doing it in a way that’s sustainable, doing it in a way that makes people want to come here and engage with what we are doing.”

What followed was a multi-fronted attack on issues to get the museum open. Little Rock-based CDI Contractors leaned in around the clock to finish remaining construction while the museum hired Los Angeles-based Thinkwell to build the interactive exhibits that are found throughout the display area. Fundraising efforts never stopped, but many prospective donors had a wait-and-see attitude that caused leadership to seek an alternate financial strategy, including landing grant funding and the steady support of the local First National Bank.

To say there was a lot on the line as opening day approached was a colossal understatement.

“We are not a federally funded museum,” Johnson said. “We are independent or as independent as you can be while representing a federal law enforcement agency. My sincere hope was for folks to walk in and see the care and attention to detail and hard work, see the fact that we’d raised nearly $48 million. In Arkansas, that’s no small feat. This is people giving five bucks and 10 bucks all the way up to millions of dollars, but it was key that folks came out and saw the displays and listened to the stories to really see the 237 years of history.”

The early returns are that the U.S. Marshals Museum has accomplished all that and more. On every level — architectural, historical, technological and educational — the museum delivers an experiential tour de force that includes hundreds of artifacts on display, from photographs and weapons to a customized humvee urban assault vehicle nestled among high-tech interactive stations.

At one station, a group of animatronic marshals from different eras sit around a campfire sharing stories as images play across the walls. In a frontier saloon, a virtual-reality poker table deals cards that each impart a nugget of wisdom about the challenges of enforcing frontier law. In another, visitors compare their skills to the criteria required of marshal candidates, and in still another, they test their wits and decision-making ability while they decide the next move in an actual case.

“Even before we opened, I saw what happened when folks walked in and saw the quality of the experience and the building and the setting. They were blown away,” Johnson said. “My hope and my goal is that once the general public comes around that first corner, they go ‘Oh, OK, I get it.’”

For a museum that has stood so close to the precipice for so long, the U.S. Marshals Museum might be forgiven for avoiding further controversy in its displays. Therefore, it says something to see the less-flattering chapters of the U.S. Marshals Service given equal billing with its accomplishments. Johnson said it was never a consideration to whitewash the periods when the country and the marshals were on the wrong side of history but to display those parts of the story as wider context for when they did or failed to do their duty.

“The question that historians are dealing with, whether formally in an academic setting or informally in a museum-based setting, is how do you tell a story effectively?” he said. “It has been a priority for this staff, even before I got here, as well as the Marshals Service itself, to tell the story — the good, the bad and the ugly. This is not a story where the Marshals Service is always the white hat coming in to save the day. On the same wall, within a few feet of each other, you have USMS being responsible for enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, while at the same time, Frederick Douglass becomes a U.S. Marshal.

“We also have stories of deputy marshals escorting little black girls to school in Little Rock and New Orleans who blatantly said, ‘When I was tasked with doing it, I didn’t think it was the right thing to do, but as soon as I walked with these little girls, my entire worldview changed.’ There’s no clear-cut good guy, bad guy in some of these stories; it’s a complicated mess of personalities and the historical era they’re in that we have the benefit of looking at from decades or centuries later. These are just people living their lives, making decisions in the moment, and it’s hard.”

Just beyond the main entrance, off a wide gathering space, a dignified vestibule awaits visitors’ attention. One wall is covered in copper plates, each bearing the name of a fallen member of the service, while an interactive display beckons guests to learn more about the names. Some entries go on for paragraphs, others a single line, but all share the intertwined roots of duty, circumstance and sacrifice. Nearby, a twisted hunk of steel stands on a podium as a relic of the World Trade Center.

Here, the most poignant chapters of the chronicle of promises kept have been recorded to be honored and retold for all time throughout the magnificent star-shaped building. Johnson smiles gently as he shares one more, the postscript to his 2022 encounter with the heroes aching to catch a glimpse of what many thought they would never see.

“The United States Marshals Service Association is having their annual convention here in Fort Smith. They’re having the largest registration that I think they’ve ever seen,” he said. “That 92-year-old deputy marshal is going to be here with his sons, the one who asked me, ‘Am I going to see this before I die?’ There’s so many more like that, and I just can’t wait to share it. I’ve told everybody for the last year, this is for him and everybody else like him.”

food

Seafood in the Natural State

There are a multitude of options when dining out across the Natural State. Barbecue? Diners can find it smoked, pulled, and shredded. (Don’t forget the sauce.) Tacos? Any diner who cannot find a great food truck around here is probably doing it wrong. Bar food? Where to start? But what about seafood? Sure, Arkansas may be for land lovers — the Natural State does happen to be landlocked, after all — but there are still more than a few places to choose from to satiate that craving for crab, shrimp or fish. Whether diners are in the mood for a Cajuninspired menu, a Southern-fried delight or just good-quality fresh fish, Arkansas has them covered. Don’t take our word for it; go explore what the deep blue offers in the Natural State for yourself. Grab some friends and head to your favorite spot, or check out some of the following:

Copper Mule Table & Tap

Arkansas natives Jamie and Rob Gaston opened Copper Mule Table & Tap in Bryant three years ago, and the Little Rock Heights location is only a couple of months old. The owners, who are from Helena, were living in Bentonville for quite some time before making the move to central Arkansas to be closer to family.

That was when the daydreaming started up. The Gastons began thinking about what it might be like if they had the perfect eatery right at their fingertips.

“We just kept saying to each other, ‘It’d be great to have an awesome authentic food option with amazing drink craft cocktails nearby’” Jamie said. “That was all it was in the beginning — a brainstorm, a business plan.”

Jamie’s background is in nursing, and her husband comes from corporate America. In their brainstorms — they went so far as to pen a concept — they envisioned a restaurant based around a copper mule, the vessel in which the traditional mule cocktail is served.

They knew they wanted to play off the color copper because the original plan included six or seven mule cocktails. The two eventually discovered they could not quit daydreaming about their ideas, so they finally decided to pull the trigger. They opened their doors in Bryant right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“That part was insane,” Jamie said, quickly adding that the community was extremely supportive, and Copper Mule was able to expand quickly. Ninety days after opening, the restaurant was able to provide more seating.

“The community just loved it, and because of their support, we were able to step up,” she said.

The couple wanted the food to be Southern fare, “the type of things you’d get from your grandma’s,” Jamie said. They originally opened with a chef who loved Cajun cooking, and they began to head that direction with the menu.

“The people just loved it,” Jamie said. “Even though we have a new chef now, we still use some of those recipes.”

The Heights location came to fruition through a right-place, right-time scenario. The Gastons knew they wanted a second location, a goal they had held more more than a year. They just did not know where.

“It was a Monday, and it was rainy,” Jamie said. “I was in my pajamas because we’re closed on Monday, and I just happened to be driving [through the Heights,] looking. I had my rain boots on, and I looked in this window, and lo and behold, there was a ‘For Lease’ sign.”

The Gastons managed to get the real estate agent on the line that day and made an offer. The couple had to completely redo the space because it had never played host to a kitchen before, but after eight months, they

were ready to open their doors in late August.

A former art gallery, The Mule — as it is quickly becoming known in the neighborhood — is a family-friendly, airy space with touches of novelty. A vibrant red-and-blue floral print adorns one wall, along with a stoplight and barber pole. Street signs and other memorabilia on the wall are curated to be more Heights-centric.

The bar is a lovely place for a date night, and there are a few TVs on the wall for those who cannot help but want to see the Hogs play.

Start

“I can’t wait to hear people in the neighborhood say, ‘Hey, we’re going to the Mule tonight,” Jamie said.

The restaurant and bar is also a great place to experience some unique seafood items with a Cajun flair. The menu boasts shrimp, crawfish, oysters, catfish and more. Plus, there is even alligator available to try, (and for those who like to debate whether ‘gator is seafood or not, just know it is delicious and worth a try.) The alligator toast from the appetizers list comes with sauteed holy trinity (onions, bell peppers and celery), cheese dip and green onion topping.

Speaking of cheese, there are plenty of ways to enjoy it with a sea protein of choice Cajunstyle at The Mule.

“People go crazy for our crawfish cheese dip,” Jamie said, but if that is not your cup of tea, diners can opt instead for crawfish mac and cheese or fried crawfish tails. Do not skip the crawfish etouffee for an entree. The dish comes topped with shrimp and served over rice.

It would not be a proper Cajun theme without a good po’boy, and Copper Mule’s do not disappoint. Choose from fried crawfish, oyster, shrimp or catfish, and be prepared for the sheer size of delectableness when it arrives at the table.

Those who prefer their seafood brought in a basket are also in luck. The Mule offers a choice of crawfish tails, oysters, shrimp and catfish, the latter two of which can also be ordered blackened. Those nervous or overwhelmed by the variety on the menu should opt for the seafood platter, which offers a little bit of everything from fried shrimp and crawfish tails to catfish and oysters.

Last but not least, do not miss the shrimp and grits, which Jamie already calls one of the most popular menu items of the new Heights location. The grits come in creamy Monterey jack cheese and are loaded with shrimp, creole garlic butter, portobello mushrooms topped with bacon and cream cheese.

Pro tip: enjoy the seafood dish of choice alongside a handcrafted cocktail. The speciality of the house, as the name implies, is the mule, of which there is a wide variety, and new ones always rotate in. At any given time, Jamie said, she and the staff are continually hatching new ideas for additional varieties in a fun, collaborative effort.

Jamie’s favorite mule — the Delta Dirt — comes with a story. She and her husband both hail from Helena, where Delta Dirt, the award-winning craft vodka used in the recipe, is made.

“The actual potatoes that the vodka is made with are sweet potatoes,” Jamie said. “The farmer who grows those potatoes is one of my husband’s best friends.”

The smoked Delta Dirt mule is something of a cult favorite. Described by Jamie as “trendy, cute and cool,” the drink originally did not sell much compared to other varieties. But when the owners tried taking it off the menu, the outcry was such that they quickly put it back up there.

Now, Jamie said, “I’m going through like three bottles of the Delta a week, so people here really love it.”

Copper Mule in the Heights is finding its stride, from its menu to its Kids Eat Free Wednesdays (4 p.m. to close) to its Thirsty Thursday cocktail specials. The friendly vibe and

Sink your teeth into a fried shrimp po'boy, paired with a strawberry basil mule (top) or opt for Copper Mule's popular shrimp and grits washed down with a bourbon swizzle.

low-key atmosphere is quickly turning the spot into a favorite neighborhood bar and restaurant.

For the Gastons, success is all about the relationships they have built and will continue to build along the way.

“I can’t tell you how many people come through the door, and they’re looking for me,” Jamie said. “That is one of my favorite things. It’s all about the relationship-building with customers and just loving on people.”

Copper Mule Table & Tap

5705 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock

3348 Main St., Suite 600, Bryant

Sundays: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tuesdays through Thursdays: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Fridays through Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Closed Mondays

Go here for: delicious Cajun seafood paired with a house-smoked mule cocktail.

Lakewood Feast, Fish & Seafood

Nestled next to an apartment complex, Lakewood Feast, Fish & Seafood is almost completely hidden from view from bustling North Hills Boulevard in the Lakewood neighborhood of North Little Rock. Just because it can be a bit difficult to spot, however, does not mean it should be ignored.

Owner Daisy Bendeck took over the business a little over a year ago. A food industry veteran, Bendeck previously worked at the Country Club of Little Rock before spending nine years at YaYa’s Euro Bistro. A little more than three years ago, she found herself working at Lakewood, and once there she quickly fell into place, working her way through the ranks before the previous owners decided they wanted to sell the venture.

“It was wonderful that the previous owners gave me the opportunity to continue the restaurant,” Bendeck said. “That’s why I’m trying to keep it the same and offer that same, highquality seafood.”

Because of its unassuming exterior, Bendeck has gone to great lengths to announce the restaurant’s presence. Large red signs with white lettering adorn the windows, alerting those from the parking lot of the treasures within: CRAB, CRAB CAKES, CRAB CLAWS, SHRIMP, OYSTERS, WALLEYE. The windows also sport a few photos of menu items that can only be described as promising eye candy.

Upon entering, patrons are greeted with playful, color-changing LED light strands that line the tops of the walls, as well as a charming alligator figurine near the divide between the bar and tables. The bar itself features plenty, from craft and domestic beer to seltzers and all the liquor needed to make a standard drink.

Originally from Honduras, Bendeck knows a thing or two about seafood, and it shows.

“We have so much seafood in Honduras,” she said. “I’ve tried to explain to customers, you know, sometimes our prices are a little higher than other places, but it’s because we try to have everything flown in. For instance, our crab legs come from Alaska. You know, those are some of the best crab legs.”

The work that goes into flying in fresh seafood is the lifeblood of the eatery because the food is the star of the show. Diners seeking boiled seafood complete with potatoes and corn on the cob should opt for the boiled platter, which comes with an impressive full pound of crab and shrimp.

The menu item is just one way patrons can get their crab fix because the restaurant is a crab-lover’s paradise. Get it boiled with potatoes and corn. Enjoy it as a crab cake burger or via fried crab claws or a soft shell crab basket. At Lakewood, the options are nearly endless.

There are plenty of other choices as well, including mahi-mahi, grouper, red snapper, walleye and more from the fish department. Enjoy them on a sandwich or prepared in a style of choice.

Plus, there are few items outside of traditional seafood for variety’s sake, including steak, tacos, quesadillas and chicken. The options ensure that seafood lovers and those who do not favor fish alike

are sure to find something they will enjoy.

“We are trying to have a variety for seafood and beyond,” Bendeck said. “That way, you have a choice.”

The best choice? Giving this unassuming hidden gem a try. There is definitely something for everyone.

Lakewood Feast, Fish & Seafood

4801 North Hills Blvd., North Little Rock

Mondays through Thursdays: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Fridays through Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Closed Sundays

Go here for: a wide variety of seafood offerings, from crab to fish and everything in between.

Fisherman’s Wharf Steak & Seafood

When is the best time to eat seafood? When you are surrounded by a body of water, salty or otherwise. One of the most beautiful and happening lakes in Hot Springs, Lake Hamilton, provides a red-carpet entrance to Fisherman’s Wharf Steak & Seafood, a premier option in Arkansas’ Spa City.

The restaurant has been around long enough to become a Hot Springs institution. The dining areas inside and out are expansive and festooned with beachthemed necessities, from buoys and rope to fish figurines and more. The interior seating offers panoramic views, and one step outside to the covered deck gives patrons the feeling of being on an extremely large party barge or hanging out at a local haunt near the beach.

The family-owned establishment has its own flair for seafood. General Manager Jaclyn Johnson said one of its greatest accomplishments beyond the delicious options on the menu is a staff that shows plenty of love to locals and visitors alike.

“Our biggest thing is, we aren’t just a staff; we’re a family. It’s not a typical restaurant where we’ve had a lot of turnover,” Johnson said. “I’ve been here for seven years, and we’ve got several folks who have been here 10, 12, even 16 years. We’ve created a family environment.”

As one might imagine, Fisherman’s Wharf’s busiest season runs from Spring Break through the summer months, when the restaurant serves its walk-up clientele as well as those who arrive by boat. During those peak months, lines can get long.

“We have a two- to three-hour wait sometimes, but we try to make the experience worth the wait,” Johnson said, noting some hacks for surviving the line include ordering a drink from the full bar or, if the kids are along, entertaining them with the nearby fish feeders.

Regardless, the food is more than worth the wait, starting with the very popular crab legs and diner favorite grouper oscar.

“A lot of customers come in for the crab legs because we have the biggest ones around,” Johnson said. “The grouper oscar is a grilled filet of grouper topped with crabmeat, shrimp and asparagus, and it’s been on the menu since we opened 20 years ago.”

Jumbo peel-and-eat shrimp are a favorite starter, as are freshly shucked oysters on the half shell. Speaking of oysters, there are myriad ways to get bivalves here; order them grilled, fried or opt for one of the seafood platter options for those who cannot make up their minds.

As for the fish, if it swims, it is likely in the kitchen at Fisherman’s Wharf, as the extensive menu attests. Red snapper, salmon, tilapia, catfish, mahi-mahi, trigger fish, grouper and flounder are among the seafaring proteins, which have nearly endless options for customization.

“We have 13 different kinds of fish, which can be cooked in a variety of ways,” Johnson said.

Fisherman’s Wharf Steak & Seafood

5101 Central Ave., Hot Springs

Sundays: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Tuesdays through Thursdays: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fridays through Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Closed Mondays

AY’s ARKANSAS

Seafood Bucket List

PRESENTED BY Copper Mule

l Arkansas Best Seafood Garden

Forrest City

l Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse

Little Rock

l Blu Fish House

Bentonville

l Bonefish Grill

Little Rock, Rogers

l Boudreaux’s Grill & Bar

Maumelle

l Cafe Rue Orleans

Fayetteville

l Capers Restaurant

Little Rock

l Capital Bar and Grill

Little Rock

l Catfish Hole

Fayetteville

l Copper Mule Bryant, Little Rock

l Crabby’s Seafood Bar & Grill

Rogers

l Dondie’s White River Princess Des Arc

l Eat My Catfish

Various Locations

l Fish Net Family Restaurant

Caddo Valley

l Fisherman’s Wharf Steak & Seafood

Hot Springs

l Flying Fish

Bentonville, Little Rock

l Fred’s Fish House

Mountain Home

l Grampa’s Catfish & Seafood

North Little Rock

l Hidden Creek Catfish

Conway

l Jojo’s Catfish Wharf

Mountain View

l Juicy Seafood

Little Rock

l Juicy Tails Rogers

l Kemuri

Little Rock

l Lakewood Feast, Fish & Seafood

North Little Rock

l Lassis Inn

Little Rock

l Lazy Pete’s Fish and Shrimp

Little Rock

l Leon’s Catfish & Shrimp

Pine Bluff

l Loca Luna

Little Rock

l Local Flavor Cafe

Eureka Springs

l Lulu’s Seafood Kitchen

Little Rock

l Mack’s Fish House Heber Springs

l Maddie’s Place

Little Rock

l Mermaids Seafood Restaurant

Fayetteville

l Mike’s Place Conway

l Mr. Cajun’s Kitchen

North Little Rock

l Oceans at Arthur’s

Little Rock

l Olympia Steak and Seafood

Blytheville

l River Grille Steakhouse

Bentonville

l Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill

Little Rock

l Sandra Rose Kitchen

Little Rock

l The Faded Rose

Little Rock

l The Mighty Crab Benton, Conway, Little Rock, North Little Rock

l The Oyster Bar

Little Rock

l Ward’s The Crawfish Hole

Hot Springs

l Who Dat's Cajun Restaurant

Bald Knob

l Woods Place

Camden

FACE BEHIND THE PLACE

FeedingSoul the

Fat Jaws Soul Food and Southern Eats

S

oul food is a culinary tradition in the South, but it is more than just cuisine. It is a view into the culture and region where it is prepared from recipes passed down for generations. This style of cuisine is rooted in heritage and a strong connection to community. Shared meals and family are at the heart of each kitchen.

William Watkins, owner of Fat Jaws Soul Food and Southern Eats, has successfully created a restaurant where all these elements blend perfectly. As owner and executive chef, he and his crew put their heart into feeding people’s souls.

Originally from Hot Springs, Watkins lived in Dallas for about 20 years. There, he did catering and a few pop-up restaurants. After moving back to Arkansas to be closer to family in 2020, Watkins worked a full-time job as nutrition director for a Head Start program and did private catering

"Everyone told me, ‘Oh no, you are crazy to open a restaurant. It’s the pandemic, they are all closing now. I said, ‘I think it will work.'

on the side. When 2021 rolled around, he decided the time had come to do something more.

“Everyone told me, ‘Oh no, you are crazy to open a restaurant. It’s the pandemic, they are all closing now,’” Watkins said. “I said, ‘I think it will work. People need to eat, so let’s just see.’”

Watkins found a building downtown and began remodeling, using the kitchen to cook for his catering jobs. He followed that with Catfish Fridays events in which he would open in the evenings and sell catfish plates. As business started to pick up, patrons began asking him to open for lunch. Fat Jaws opened for regular restaurant service in 2022.

“In the first few months, we were averaging about 25 customers a week, and I thought we were doing great. Then I said, ‘God, just give me 50 a week,’” he said. “It moved up to 50 a week. We had our regulars coming in. Once people started spreading the word about us, it has really taken off.”

Social media also helped spread the word about the new restaurant, allowing for controlled growth and for Watkins to keep his full-time job. That time was short-lived.

“We got a call from Channel 11 to be in their ‘Eat it Up’ segment. After that aired, our 50 customers a week became 50 a day,” Watkins said. “We also participated in the Big on Little Rock campaign with the Little Rock Convention and Visitor Bureau, which highlighted African American businesses in the city, and about a month ago, the city posted about our business on their social media channels. All that publicity and word of mouth has been great for us.”

The quality of the food has not hurt the restaurant’s popularity, either. Watkins learned to cook from his paternal grandmother, Gracie Greathouse-Watkins, to whom he pays tribute in the restaurant’s decor, along with other honored family members.

“I have a wall painted behind the register. You see my maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother included on it,” Watkins said, adding that he often sat at the table in the kitchen with his paternal grandmother and learned from her. “I wasn’t interested in playing outside with the bigger cousins. I wanted to sit there and just watch her cook.

“She was an amazing cook from Tollette, and she made everything from scratch. I would love to hear stories about her learning to cook from her grandmother. I watched and I asked questions.”

One day, while Watkins was in college, he called his grandmother with a request for her roast.

“Granny stayed on the phone with me for four hours while that roast cooked, walking me through every step of the cooking process — how to dry it, stuff it and how to make the pan gravy,” he said. “That’s how I learned to cook. When I was hungry for home-cooked meals in college and couldn’t get to Granny’s house, I would be calling her. ‘Hey Granny, I really want your green beans. Tell me how to do it,’ and she would always take the time.”

This deep family connection remains the center of Fat Jaws, a bright and airy space full of colorful local art and lively music. The menu is stocked with family heirloom recipes to which Watkins has added his own spin using local ingredients.

For example, the loaded biscuit served during brunch features two open-face biscuits topped with fried tenders, scrambled eggs, bacon and Watkin’s homemade cream gravy. Another popular choice is Fat Jaws chicken

My vision was always to have a small restaurant, nothing too big because I want it to feel like home — something we can maintain and become a favorite for customers.

Catfish and collard greens tacos are just one of the creative spins the kitchen puts on soul food favorites.

and waffles, a traditional favorite with the unique twist of peach cobbler compote topping. Another dish showing Watkins’ creative side is the fried catfish and collard green taco popular among the lunch crowd. Crispy catfish is topped with creamy slaw made with tartar sauce, paired with braised collard greens and drizzled with malt vinegar. Wrapped in a warm tortilla and served with fries and hush puppies, the balanced yet flavor-packed taco is another thing that puts Fat Jaws on the local food map.

The restaurant balances the more unique dishes with the traditional elements by which any soul food restaurant is judged. The four-piece fried chicken plate, for example, offers light and crispy protein well-seasoned throughout due to brining. The yardbird is accompanied by smothered, buttery cabbage and sweet and smoky baked beans.

Another winner, the flavorful Hennessy barbecue wings, arrive sweet and sticky and served with creamy macaroni and cheese and braised collard greens. The wings are served on a slice of white bread, great for sopping.

As with the entire menu, Watkins takes great pride in his revisited heritage dishes, simple food done extraordinarily well. Hence, his personal favorite is the Church Plate comprised of homemade spaghetti with three strips of crispy fried catfish and fresh coleslaw. It speaks of Sundays in the South after a small-town church service.

As the restaurant has grown, so too has Watkins’ catering business, something else he credits with his earliest education in food.

“Catering is how all of this started,” he said. “I had friends over one day who said, ‘You can really cook!’ I was then asked to cater a friend’s birthday party for 150 people. I didn’t know anything about catering. I went out and bought all the equipment, and that’s how it all started, from one friend, and then word of mouth took over.”

Watkins said he called his original catering company He Cooks Catering because “everyone thought it was an old woman cooking in the back.” Fat Jaws has already landed catering gigs for Arkansas Children’s, as well as other businesses in Little Rock and Hot Springs.

Soul food is as much a mood and an atmosphere as it is a culinary category. When customers walk into Fat Jaws, they instantly feel comfortable, like walking into a friend’s house. A friend that really knows how to cook and knows his flavors.

“When I started, I wanted it to be somewhere people could come in and feel like they were back at home,” Watkins said. “You come in and smell the food and feel nostalgic. I’ve had someone tell me, ‘I haven’t tasted catfish like this since my grandmother’s.’ That’s what I aim for. I’m cooking from a standpoint of how my grandma cooked. When I get comments like that, I feel I’ve nailed it.

“It must be something that I would eat and that my grandmother would be proud to serve. I really do care about the food. I want people to know we are trying to put out a good product.”

As for the future of Fat Jaws, Watkins said he wants it to become a staple in downtown Little Rock but not outgrow the intimate family feel. He has plans to expand the hours to dinner, as well as add events such as gospel and jazz brunches, and he said he dreams of one day opening a restaurant in his hometown of Hot Springs.

“My vision was always to have a small restaurant, nothing too big because I want it to feel like home — something we can maintain and become a favorite for customers,” he said. “You can go to a soul food restaurant, and the food isn’t always going to be great unless you do it with love. My take on it is that whatever we are cooking, we are cooking from a place of love, a place from our soul and our spirit. That’s what I think soul food is.”

FAT JAWS SOUL FOOD AND

SOUTHERN

EATS

220 W. Sixth St., Little Rock (501) 492-6925

Sun-Tu: Closed

W-F: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Sat: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

From classic fried yardbird to inventive wings, Fat Jaws' chicken entrees are quickly becoming the stuff of local legend.

True Believers

Bound by team loyalty, Arkansas superfans come in all shapes and sizes

The word “fan” is short for fanatic, defined as a person filled with or expressing excessive and single-minded zeal for a cause. Anyone who has driven hours in a snowstorm to support their team, sat through a blowout loss in pouring rain or felt a particularly devastating loss as a literal punch to the gut certainly, and proudly, meets this description.

Fandom can run in families in lines either parallel or perpendicular – you might root for the team you do today because of who your kinfolk cheered or in spite of it, but generally speaking, team loyalties are as much a household tradition as when to open Christmas packages or Nana’s sweet potato pie. Here and there, there is a mutation in the fan gene – perhaps a child gets a full ride to a rival school or they marry someone from the other side of the conference. New traditions are formed, old rivalries spark anew, and the cycle marches on.

What sets the fan apart from the casual observer is personal investment of time and emotion. Does it really matter if you are wearing school colors if you are listening to the game on the radio? Only to a fan. Do you really need to sit through to the final whistle in a blowout? Only if you are a fan. Can they really hear what you are screaming at the television screen? They can if you are a fan.

AY About You visited the state’s four Div. 1 football schools to chase down one superfan each and capture their traditions, their tailgating styles and how they show the passion for their teams in their own unique ways. We found a tidy assortment of individuals with a lot in common – love of school, knowledge of team and the scars to show for following along, year after year, come what may.

Here’s to them and all who have ever stood and cheered as one.

Howl yes

CHRIS WOODARD

ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Jonesboro native Chris Woodard has never known a time when his family was not Wolves Up.

“I’ve been familiar with Arkansas State since I was little,” he said. “My grandparents have a connection. They went to school there. My parents went to school there. My brother went to school there.”

Woodard, who would play on ASU’s golf team and graduate from the school in 2008 with a degree in marketing, said the multi-generational connections to the school developed heirloom traditions that are still practiced today.

“We have the grill that we set up, and one of our traditions for the setup is to have ham steak for breakfast on the grill. That’s something that to this day, we still do,” he said. “I remember during basketball season, we always stopped at Wendy’s right before the railroad tracks in Jonesboro to eat almost every time before a basketball game.

“Those things stick in your mind, right? You remember the traditions of what you did when going to games. It was great to be a part of. It was our town’s team. It was something everyone rallied around, and I continue to try to rally that support today.”

Now living in Cave Springs with a family of his own, Woodard still makes it back to Jonesboro as often as he can. During football season, that means following more rituals that go back to his childhood.

“Since maybe 2005, we’ve tailgated in the exact same spot, and where we are today is where we tailgated when I was in school,” he said. “Our goal when we were younger was to be set up to watch College GameDay out there. We would get out there really early and have it set up.

“The tailgating at Arkansas State is a fantastic setup. We’re right on the edge of the trees, and we’re close to where the Red Wolf Walk happens. We’re right in the middle of what they call Tailgate City now. We’ve really seen it grow.”

Like a lot of fans of a lot of programs, Woodard has witnessed the ups and downs of the Red Wolves through the years, but whether in fat seasons or in lean, he said, the gameday experience, with its many quirks and traditions, is something he always looks forward to.

“The thing about Arkansas State games that’s great is they’re affordable. You can get a great seat. You can be around good people and see Division I football,” he said. “I do try to sit in the same place. I like to be outside. I don’t really care to watch a game from inside a suite or anything like that.

“I like to be outside in the action, and I want to make sure I’m there before the team runs out. Those are keys for me. You can’t fake passion, and that’s something that I have for the school.”

Whole Lott-a love

ROBERT LOTT UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF

At any given time before or during a Golden Lions football game, a voice comes over a bullhorn, imploring the crowd with one simple question, “HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?”

“That is my catch phrase,” said Robert Lott, creator of the saying and holder of the bullhorn. “I’ve got a lot of friends who have RVs who invite me to come join them at the tailgate. They all know me down there. Kids come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I remember growing up watching you.’ One little boy came up to my wife once and called her ‘Hello Miss How-DoYou-Like-It.’

“I buy season tickets every year. Basketball, I sit courtside, and football, I’m in the press box or down in the box seats down close to the field. I’m always yelling and screaming with my bullhorn. Everybody knows me with the bullhorn.”

Lott arrived at UAPB, then Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College, in 1968, following his brother. He showed up expecting to play football, but as a defensive end had the misfortune of being the same positional player as Golden Lions alum L.C. Greenwood, a future Pittsburgh Steeler and a member of the team’s vaunted Steel Curtain defense. Lott focused on his education instead, ultimately becoming a medical technologist supervisor and working nearly 43 years with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

His passion for the school, however, never wavered, as evidenced by the enthusiasm he brings to every game, loud and proud.

“I used to be in the press box all the time with the chancellor and everybody,” he said, “but down on the field, I can yell. I told them up in the press box, ‘Y’all too quiet up here!’ I didn’t want to be all sophisticated.

“My thing is my bullhorn, and I get the fans riled up. If I come into the stadium and everybody is sitting quiet and sitting on their hands, especially if we’re behind, I go like, ‘How’d y’all let this happen?’”

Lott’s investment in the team goes beyond gameday. Noticing several years ago how fans were showing up in everything but the school’s gold and black, he started a sportswear company specializing in UAPB licensed gear. He has also done fundraising work for the Golden Lions Foundation, funded scholarships for UAPB students, and founded and led the most successful alumni chapter in the nation. He is especially enjoying the success the Golden Lions have had recently and has gone to great lengths to experience it firsthand.

“The biggest one lately was when we won the championship in 2012,” he said. “We had to travel down to Montgomery, Ala. I had had eye surgery, and I asked my doctor, could I travel? Well, we went. I had cataract surgery. We went there. We won the championship, and I got a chance to go down on the field and talk to the players. It was really fun.”

Woo pig

KELLEY RENARD UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Visitors to the golf course just adjacent to War Memorial Stadium before the Hog’s Sept. 2 opener were greeted by two long-standing gameday landmarks. To the right was Hogman’s Gameday Superstore’s popup shop, which was doing a brisk business in T-shirts and Razorback caps. To the left was the equally landmark Phat Pigs & Hogettes tailgate setup, chaired, as always, by Kelley Renard of Little Rock.

Renard is well-known in these parts, having staked his claim to the highly visible double-sized tailgate spot for a number of years. Along with his cohorts, he transformed the bare ground into a Razorback wonderland complete with a big-screen television, a buffet table, a bar, a sound system and plenty of Arkansas hospitality.

The set-up is a collective effort with fellow couples who have made up the PP&H for the past 16 years or so, each of whom has a long story of fandom to tell in their own right. Renard, who has called the Hogs for 55 of his 62 years, stands head and shoulders above them all.

“I came up with an idea to make a tailgating trailer and designed that and built it, trademarked it,” he said. “Came up with the idea under the mentality of throwing a party, but so my house doesn’t get dirty, and I don’t have to clean up my house. Started doing that to be able to interact and enjoy friends and family and anybody that wanted to come

by. We always welcome anybody that comes by. Just hang out and have a good time.”

The Nashville, Ark., native’s trailers are just one of the contraptions Renard has come up with to help solidify his standing as a super fan and master host. He used to have a conversion van that he equipped with a platform, giving it the same functionality as a double-decker tour bus. A frequent sight at local parades, he sold it one year at the tailgate after two fans got into a bidding war over it.

The memory of that incident makes him chuckle, but what really brings a smile to his face are the many years of meeting with old friends and making new ones through the art of the pregame.

“One of my favorite memories is back when we had about six couples, and our kids were in Fayetteville,” he said. “We would tell all of our kids to bring your roommate, bring your friends, and we would feed them. One time we fed over 200 kids, did a taco bar, set that all up. We had to send out for more meat because they cleaned us out.”

Renard said the longevity of the group has brought set up and take down to a science, but it is still a thrill to welcome newcomers to the tailgating experience.

“Tailgating is always a good time. We still enjoy it,” he said. “If the team has a good year or great year, that’s even better.”

Bear down

WILL SILER

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS

Photos by Madison Ogle

By day, Will Siler is a mild-mannered medical student making his rounds at UAMS, but on gameday, he is purple through and through and a proud supporter of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

“My connection to UCA started as soon as I was born,” said the 25-yearold Searcy native. “It’s the family school for us. At one time, my dad was the only one that had graduated from there, but since then, my mom and sister have. I was a UCA fan from birth.”

Siler played football as UCA’s long snapper, and to this day, part of his game-day routine is getting to the tailgate area early enough to eat and socialize and still make it into the stadium in time to watch warmups.

“We’re probably in an hour before kickoff,” he said. “We’re not the first people in, but we’re definitely not missing the introduction and stuff like that.”

His insistence on an early arrival only scratches the surface of his superstitions.

“I played from 2017 to 2021, and when I was playing, we had a superstition where we went to Stoby’s every game-day morning and ate the exact same meal. I got a short stack with bacon every Saturday morning,” he said. “Today, if we go on a win streak, I’m going to wear the same thing to the games — same down to the socks and shoes. If we lose, I’ll switch it up a little bit.

“My wife and I actually have this weird one. Last year, going into the second home game for some reason, we were jamming out to [R & B artist] Kevin Gates in the car. We won big, and so we listen to Kevin Gates on the way to the game every single Saturday, win or lose. I guess I still believe in it.”

Siler met his wife, Bailey, at (where else?) UCA, and while she completed her degree at another school, there is no question where the loyalties of the house lie.

“She knew pretty quickly what she was getting into with me,” Will said. “She has learned to be as big of a fan as I am. When you’re at the game and you sit with us, you can tell that she’s every bit into it. She’s definitely grown to be that fan.”

Hog Heaven

Keith Stokes remembered for service to others, love of Arkansas

n the realm of college sports mascots, there are many a Tiger, Lion, Wildcat, Bear, Eagle and Cardinal, but there is only one Razorback. This fact, combined with the ferocity, strength and fearsomeness the beast embodies, makes the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville's beloved mascot one of a kind for all time.

To those who knew him, be it intimately or in passing, Keith Stokes was also one of a kind. For almost 30 years, the hog farmer from Dardanelle was the breeder, caretaker and handler of the Tusk dynasty of live Arkansas mascots. Beyond that, he is remembered as a loving husband and father, a good friend, and an outstanding supporter of Arkansas agriculture.

“Keith understood the Arkansans who lace up their boots in the morning and work with their hands, who aren’t afraid to get dirty to get the job done — the men and women who shower at the end of the day, not at the beginning of it,” said Sen. Tom Cotton in a Sept. 6 address on the floor of the U.S. Senate memorializing his friend and former staffer.

“He understood them because he was one of them. He lived on a farm, he worked in pork and forestry industries for years, and he cultivated an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from the crops in

the fields to the beetles in the forests to the animals in hunting season. He knew everything about Arkansas, from the soil to the people.”

For nearly three decades, regardless of the score or the team’s record, Stokes and the hogs in his care, Tusk I through Tusk V, were central to the Arkansas football spectacle. Every time they appeared, hundreds would line up to see up-close an animal they would go nowhere near if encountered in the wild, all because of the magic touch of the man in the cowboy hat who would somehow turn the menacing into something lovable. Even the beast’s fearsome protruding teeth seemed less scary, curling the corners of its mouth into a smile of sorts for thousands of photos a year.

"Keith Stokes represented everything that is right about our state," wrote Hunter Yurachek, athletic director for the University of Arkansas. "Keith's loving dedication and selfless service to our live mascot program paved the way for countless fans throughout Arkansas and beyond to connect with their state and their beloved Razorbacks."

John Keith (George) Stokes was born Feb. 17, 1964, in Visalia, Calif., to the late Charles and Barbara Stokes. He spent the majority of his life in Harkey Valley, a serene rural stretch of Yell County southwest of

The University of Arkansas paid homage to Keith Stokes, former mascot handler, during the Sept. 9 home opener against Kent State.

Dardanelle. There he raised hogs: the market variety and a lot of them — 300 pigs at his peak. But his real stock and trade was the kindness and compassion he showed to people in need or going through some sort of crisis, of which there are multiple examples and no doubt many, many more no one saw.

“With Keith, the thing that stuck with you was his willingness to serve any time you needed him,” said Deacue Fields, head of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “He was definitely someone you could depend on, and he’d always follow through — and he was always willing to help and support the Division of Agriculture.”

Stokes served his fellow producers as the head of the Arkansas Pork Producers Association, which he was doing when he got the phone call that would put him forever in the minds of the Arkansas faithful and at the heart of Razorback lore.

Former Hog David Bazzel had talked his old coach Frank Broyles into adopting a permanent live mascot as a way to enhance the game day experience. Arkansas’ track record with live mascots had been on-and-off through its history, and Bazzel felt the program was lacking something compared to the more established traditions of Mike the Louisiana State University Tiger or Hairy Dawg of the University of Georgia. Broyles gave his blessing, immediately after which Bazzel had an epiphany – the former linebacker knew almost squat about swine. When a few phone calls to zoos proved fruitless, Bazzel called Stokes.

“When I asked Coach Broyles if I could restart the Razorback live mascot program, I had to find somebody that would guide me,” Bazzel said. “I’m so grateful that God led me to Keith. No one has ever been more committed and passionate and given more time to the Razorback athletic program through Tusk than he did.”

Stokes did not have the required species of hog lolling around the barnyard, but after a couple of phone calls, he rang Bazzel back and said he had found two candidates. The Russian boars were not what Bazzel had in mind – he had pictured something more akin to a warthog – but he knew enough to trust the porcine expert. Tusk I was introduced in 1997, and both a fast friendship and a state legend began.

“I can only hope to live each day moving forward to be as good a man as Keith Stokes,” Bazzel said. “He was the most kind, caring, giving, hardworking husband, father, grand father and the greatest live mascot handler college football has or will ever see.

“Keith Stokes was Tusk. A lot of times, he had to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning if there was a game starting at 11 o’clock. He had to clean the pen, wash Tusk and get ready. He put in thousands of hours that nobody really saw, and he always deflected the credit, never wanted to take credit for it.”

In 2006, Stokes, who would join Cotton’s staff as an agricultural advisor and who was also advising to the university’s mascot program, turned his entire hog operation over to the care of the mascots. As a 2019 piece in The Athletic chronicled, Stokes was a bona fide hog whisperer with a well of knowledge about the animals, their mannerisms, nutrition and, most importantly, their temperament, which could shift in a moment.

“Keith would get in the open area with that Razorback and handle him every day to make him more acclimated to fans,” Bazzel said. “He’d send me pictures of how it would slide up against him and cut his leg up because of the tusk on a Razorback, and there was a time when one of the hogs attacked another and killed it. So there was always this underlying current that these things were still very wild and could turn on you.”

In his tribute speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Cotton noted the complications of Arkansas’ mascot that other programs did not have to think about.

Every time they appeared, hundreds would line up to see up-close an animal they would go nowhere near if encountered in the wild, all because of the magic touch of the man in the cowboy hat who would somehow turn the menacing into something lovable.

Keith

the Oregon Beavers or the Georgia Bulldogs or the Minnesota Go phers,” Cotton said. “Not Arkansas and not Keith; we have a Razorback, a 300-pound wild boar with giant tusks and a well-deserved reputation for a bad attitude.

Tusks so that they could safely interact with fans. Keith would have Tusk follow him around everywhere on the farm and even raised a baby Ra zorback in his home to acclimate it to human company. Keith was such a good handler that young fans could safely feed grapes to these giant boars. Risk-takers could put an apple in their teeth, and Tusk would gently take it from their mouth— at risk, though, of getting slobber on them.”

or agitated, Stokes led with kindness and trust in taming them to be around the throngs of people and noise that accompanies game day. As The Athletic

ing the fight song at home and taking Tusk for road trips to get used to his trailer. The custom trailers themselves were designed with Tusk’s comfort in mind, complete with air conditioning, a 60-gallon water tank and a space on top where Stokes would sleep on overnight trips, all in the name of keeping the animal calm.

knows as long as you’re there, everything is alright,” Stokes said in the piece. “You’ve got to kind of become his blanket. You want to build that relationship and that trust with him.”

every game day for an encounter with the mascot and his people-loving handler. Whatever the team’s fortunes may be that day, encountering Stokes and Tusk made every Razorback game a good experience.

ple would all be asking the same things over and over again – how much does he weigh, how many games has he done, what does he eat,” Bazzel said. “Keith would answer every one of them. He was just so kind to so many people. He was just a really special guy.

There is more than one way to define a successful woman, and this year’s diverse and distinguished group proves just that. The women featured in the following pages are doctors and CEOs, bankers and teachers, artists and researchers, mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and everything in between.

As a woman-led organization, AY About You understands and appreciates firsthand the value of women in, and outside of, the workplace. Each of these women has been unafraid to carve their own path, whether that’s pursuing their passions, dedicating themselves to a noble cause, or pouring their energy into flourishing careers and families.

AY About You’s annual Intriguing Women section is a celebration not just of these real-life wonder women, but of what they represent. As some of the best and brightest from across the Natural State, these women set an example for all Arkansans to aspire to.

Here is your 2023 Class of Intriguing Women.

Some Q&As have been edited for length and clarity. Edit by MAK MILLARD Photos by LORI SPARKMAN • JAMIE LEE • MICHAEL DRAGGER

Special thanks to E.O. Manees House for their hospitality and accommodation in providing picture-perfect photoshoot venues.

SHARON ADKINS

Real Estate Broker, Co-owner, Adkins & Associates Real Estate; American Abstract & Title Co. (retired)

Sharon Adkins has one word for those who might want to follow in her footsteps: “Don’t!” Adkins faced a number of challenges growing up and took charge of the household and her siblings at just 7 years old while her mother worked. The only way she survived, she said, was by finding her way to Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock and “attending everything on the schedule.” That experience taught her to take life one day at a time and to value hard work. Now with five children and 10 grandchildren of her own, Adkins said she is proud of the legacy she is leaving and would not change a thing.

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My father, Bob Adkins.

What is the best part of your day?

Waking up and hitting the ground running.

What do you love most about what you do?

I feel like I have a special gift for finding the perfect home. Once you connect with the clients, you become a part of their family and friends for life. I love that too – being needed and having the answers for them.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I love to play tennis and pickleball. I have had a knee replacement and both rotator cuff surgeries in the past two years. I have just started to get back on the courts. I don’t like to lose, but I love the challenge and the camaraderie. I have met the most awesome people in tennis, and in turn, they have become my best friends.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age?

Age is just a number. Keep busy, do what you like, eat right, exercise as much as you like, and take one day at a time. There are many challenges in life. God put them there for a reason. Trust in him and move forward.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Pay my children’s mortgages off. If I had millions, I would want to care for homeless children and the older people that have nobody in this world to care for them — and we can add pets in that group; they are a part of our families that need extra care too.

PENNY CHOATE AGEE

Penny Choate Agee lives by the axiom, “If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right.” It is a mindset that applies from the moment she wakes up, as evidenced by her advice for staying young and relevant at any age: three minutes of exercise while the coffee is brewing, including a two-minute plank, 20 push-ups and 20 squats. The accomplished attorney keeps her body as sharp as her mind; when she is not in the saddle showing horses, you can find her on the golf course with friends. Agee admires women who have found a balance of family, work and hobbies that allows them to live life to the fullest – much like herself.

What attracted you to your career?

I truly feel that it is my calling to practice law. From a very early age, I decreed that I would be an attorney. After 22 years of practice, I still feel the same way.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My grandmother, Betty Jo Schmidt. She was a no-nonsense kind of person who took so much time to nurture and support me during my childhood. She taught me to play the guitar and banjo, which led to many talent competitions in my youth.

What is your proudest achievement?

Raising my son to be a standup man who prides himself on being a good father and a thoughtful and kind person. Given his 6-foot-8-inch stature, this is a good thing.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field? There is no substitute for diligent preparation.

What do you love most about what you do?

I love standing up for my clients’ best interests and helping them navigate the legal process in pursuit of their best outcomes.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

Knowing the difference between other people’s drama and actual adversity. Once identified, consider your options and act deliberately with facts rather than assumptions.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Don’t take yourself too seriously, and don’t assume things as they are presented. In other words, “Trust, but verify.”

What is No. 1 on your bucket list?

To attend the 2024 Kentucky Derby with the best hat ever!

JANIS ALEXANDER

Vice President of Operations, North Little Rock Tourism

Though Janis Alexander did leave the tourism industry for a while, she could not stay away for long. She loves the people she works with, and she relishes the opportunity to create positive experiences for visitors to North Little Rock while improving the local economy. “We have an amazing city and state, and I enjoy telling others about it,” she said. Alexander does more than just talk about the wonders of the Natural State, however. She is fortunate to have a job that encourages making life outside of work a priority, she said, so Alexander and her family can often be found enjoying the outdoors by camping, boating and jet skiing.

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My father for sure. I lost him in 2017, but he will always be my hero. He was a Vietnam and Korean war vet, which I know was a tough time, but he was also kind, compassionate and understanding.

What quality do you admire most in other women? Independence and self-confidence.

What is the best part of your day? I’m a morning person. I like waking up early and enjoying a cup of coffee and prayer before I start my day.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it? Pay off debt, take my family on a well-deserved vacation and save for retirement.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity? I try to stay positive and I lean into my faith. Sometimes it helps to walk away from a situation, regroup, and then readdress.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age? Grandkids! They keep me young at heart and up on all the new trends and fads.

How would you like to be remembered? I want to be remembered as someone who is kind and compassionate, as a good wife, mother and grandmother.

What is No. 1 on your bucket list? Going to Italy and France.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again? Any ‘80s hair band takes me back!

STEPHANIE BARTLETT,

MSN, APRN, WHNP-BC

Owner, Practical Wellness Clinic; Assistant Professor, UA Little Rock School of Nursing; Color Guard Director, Bryant High School

Stephanie Bartlett is the definition of proactive, and not just in her approach to wellness medicine. The single mom has a full plate when it comes to running a clinic, teaching at UALR and directing the Bryant High School color guard in her spare time. That can-do attitude is a good example of the trait Bartlett most admires in other women: resilience. “There truly is no limit to what a woman can manage and accomplish,” she said. “I admire women that grow up, show up and glow up, making ways for their families and children in a world that can be all-consuming.”

What attracted you to your career?

I always knew I wanted to be in the health care field. I love that nursing allows you to be a nurturer, caregiver, supporter and encourager for every client you encounter.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

Anne Frank is someone I have always been inspired by. Even as a young girl, she encouraged people to remember the little things in life and to appreciate what you have — advice we all can benefit from.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I have an identical twin sister, Jennifer, who is also a nurse. She and I really are a power duo, and I love being able to do life with her.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

My mother was also a single mom. She has always supported my independent nature and modeled a “don’t rely on anyone else to achieve and live your dreams” attitude. Growing up this way allowed me to not feel limited by my situation. Raising a son by myself has also allowed me to gain confidence in my own abilities and feel empowered to change the world.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

I have been very diligent from the beginning to set boundaries on the work I bring home. Being a mom comes first for me. I make it a point to always respect this boundary when it comes to work.

LAUREN ENGLISH BRITTON

Licensed Professional Counselor, Business Development Representative, Pinnacle Pointe Hospital; Worship Leader, First United Methodist Church Hot Springs

Lauren English Britton is candid when it comes to how she maintains a work-life balance: “I don’t.” As a full-time working mom, Britton gets up every day and tries her best to be as present as possible, no matter where she is or what she is doing. She relishes the time spent with her two boys – whether it is playing, bedtime routines or full-on car karaoke – and is grateful to have a village of support in the tough moments. Her secret to success? “Lots of planning ahead, rolling with the punches and giving myself grace.”

What quality do you admire most in other women? Independence. Women who go after what they want, work hard and never give up. I’m all about women who aren’t afraid to fully be who they are.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

After a virus affected my heart’s electrical system, causing third degree AV block, I had a pacemaker implanted when I was 13. Throughout my life, I have had eight heart ablations and three pacemakers.

What do you love most about what you do?

In a world facing a mental health epidemic, so many feel shame about getting help due to the stigma attached to mental health issues. The other day, I went to Sonic and saw a former client there. She told me how excited she was to start college this fall and how much better she was compared to several years before. The reward of seeing people not only surviving, but thriving, is what makes working in mental health worth it.

What are your favorite hobbies outside of work?

Singing, spending time on Lake Hamilton, calling the Hogs, and being an active spokesperson and fundraiser for the American Heart Association. I have enjoyed speaking to the Little Rock and Hot Springs AHA Sweethearts every year about my journey as a heart survivor.

RENATA JENKINS BYLER

Third Generation Owner, Funeral Director, Roller Funeral Homes

Renata Jenkins Byler was captivated by the funeral profession from a young age. At just 4 years old, she listened to her father recount his day over the dinner table, his working hours spent helping families through grief and telling the stories of their loved ones. She knew then she had a calling to pursue. Byler believes that everyone has a life story that matters, and she is deeply honored to help people memorialize theirs for generations. As for her own legacy, Byler hopes to be remembered as someone who loved her Lord first and all others more than herself.

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

I would own a lingerie store.

What’s your hidden talent? I can wiggle my ears.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My mom. She has a true heart of love and tolerance.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

The elegance of a Southern lady and the humble modesty to laugh at themselves as I do.

What is your proudest achievement? Being a present mom no matter how old my daughter gets.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

“Wherever you go, have your presence command – not demand – respect.”

– My grandmother, Christine Roller.

MARY CHATELAIN, AU.D.

Mary Chatelain Au.D., has a professional journey to be proud of. While founding Pinnacle Hearing, a practice now widely recognized for its commitment to patient care, Chatelain tackled every aspect of the business head-on, making sure to never assign a task that she did not have personal experience with. Starting out of a single room in a friend’s medical clinic, Chatelain’s practice later evolved into a stand-alone clinic in Little Rock. Pinnacle Hearing has since grown to cover a wide swath of south Arkansas, including the area in which Chatelain grew up. A dedicated advocate for improving the hearing of all Arkansans, Chatelain is inspired by her favorite quote, “Never give up trying to build the world you see, even if others can’t see it.”

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I admire women who are unafraid to be themselves.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

Most people with hearing loss tend to wait too long before they seek treatment. For every person getting treatment for their hearing loss, there are four others who haven’t taken that step yet. Unfortunately, these individuals are more vulnerable to the other health conditions connected to hearing loss, such as cognitive decline, depression and anxiety. In fact, some studies have even shown that using prescription hearing aids might help prevent the early onset of dementia.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

People are typically surprised when I tell them the age range of my children; our oldest is a senior in high school, our middle son is in second grade, and our youngest is in preschool.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

It’s totally fine to do things differently from what society expects or what everyone else is doing. You have the power to create your own path without seeking approval or permission from others.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

I acknowledge that I am not perfect and that striving for flawlessness isn’t practical. It’s absolutely fine to decline invitations, prioritize rest, leave work early to pick up my kids and accept that, although I have a new idea, I can’t pursue it at this time because it would take too much away from my family. It has taken me a while to accept all these things because I used to think saying ‘no’ made me a lazy person. Now, I’ve come to realize that my ability to say ‘no’ or ‘not right now’ enables me to wholeheartedly say ‘yes’ and fully commit to my top priorities.

CHARISSE CHILDERS

Charisse Childers, Ph.D., has enjoyed a diverse career path, from education and manufacturing to economic development and leadership in both nonprofits and state government. Having been reappointed to the role this year, Childers currently serves as the director of the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services, where she helps provide resources and services to strengthen the state’s economy. Childers is always looking for new opportunities for growth, and she is always working to make a difference in the lives of others. Most importantly, she continues to be excited about her calling. “I know that God has prepared me and placed me in situations for His purpose,” Childers said.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

I am thankful for my parents. They taught me to respect others and earn the respect of others, to be grateful and genuine, and to work hard and do what is right.

What is the best part of your day?

The morning. It is a fresh start to establish priorities for the day and to do your best to accomplish them.

What is your proudest achievement?

Earning my Ph.D. at the age of 42.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I have always been a purpose-driven, independent person. Just ask my parents: I was taking my training wheels off “by myself” at the age of 3.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I don’t like to have my picture taken. I really don’t like for the spotlight to be on me.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

Knowledge is power. Stay relevant.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it? Work less and travel more.

What is one thing you’d tell your 18-year-old self?

Focus on the things you can change, and don’t take things so seriously. I could tell myself the same thing today.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Time will take care of most things.

KIM CLATWORTHY

Owner, Elder Independence Home Care

As the owner of Elder Independence Home Care, Kim Clatworthy helps provide a vital service to aging Arkansans and their loved ones in one of the most difficult stages of life. Clatworthy learned the value of caring for others early on in her own life; the legacy of love passed down from her parents made her career choice not just a job, but a calling. Clatworthy loves being able to collaborate with families on solutions that work best for their unique situations. “Giving them that peace of mind is so rewarding,” she said. “You have to love people where they are.”

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My parents. They were married at 15 and 17. They lived through a lot of adversity, and nothing was handed to them. They were married for 65 years.

What quality do you admire most in other women? I admire women who take ownership of their mistakes. Strong women take charge of their life.

What is your proudest achievement?

I am most proud of my boys. They are amazing, bighearted, Jesus-loving men. I have enjoyed every season of raising them, but enjoying them in adulthood has been amazing.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I was born at 30 weeks weighing only three pounds. At that time, survival of preemies that early was a miracle in and of itself. My parents had also been through five other difficult pregnancies; three were stillbirths and two were miscarriages. The miracle is that they were entered into a study at UAMS where the fetus was given intrauterine transfusions until a gestational age of viability, as well as blood exchanges after birth.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

Spending time with family and friends at the lake or on the beach.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?

I was blessed to have parents who loved unconditionally and looked for ways to help other people, whether through their time, their talent or their treasure. I hope I have instilled that in my boys. I would hope people would say I was a lover, not a fighter, and that I worked hard to show people care, concern and love. I would hope this would live on through my children and their children.

MISTI COKER

President, Personal Pep Rally

For Misti Coker, the real secret to success is in the little things. That is the idea behind her nonprofit, Personal Pep Rally, which sends gift boxes to cancer patients to encourage them in their fight against the disease. Coker was inspired to create the organization after her sonin-law’s cancer diagnosis, and now the packages reach patients across the state and all over the country. “People need to know that they aren’t alone when facing difficult situations,” Coker said. “There is power behind small things such as a handwritten note or a short text. Community is a vital part of survival.”

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

Jennie Allen. She is from Arkansas, was a member of the same sorority I was in, is honest, authentic, writes the best books and loves God.

What is the best part of your day?

I love mornings. It is my quiet time, reflecting with Jesus as I stretch to the Soulspace app, and then my coffee.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Build an activity center for children in Stuttgart, give some to our church, invest some, and put the rest into Personal Pep Rally.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

Baking. During my childhood, my grandmother lived across the backyard, and we would bake every day from scratch: homemade pies, taffy, fudge and much more.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Life isn’t always a bed of roses. You will have trials and tribulations, but Jesus will carry you, and you will be OK. Your scars will be your story to help others.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps?

If it is God’s plan and purpose for you, it will work out, but not without hard work and dedication. There will be difficult decisions, and when thinking you can take a shortcut, remember: What is easiest isn’t always best. It may take longer than you expect, but it will be worth it. Just hold on for the ride.

KIM CULLUM

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, First Arkansas Bank & Trust

Kim Cullum got her start at First Arkansas Bank & Trust as an internal auditor before working her way up to chief financial officer and, most recently, executive vice president. She is an accomplished name in the world of finance and an active member of her community, but she also has another passion: animals. While she is proud of her career and the opportunities her knack for accounting has afforded her, if she had to pick another job, she would run an animal rescue facility. She tends to her koi fish and her garden outside of the office, and she is not afraid to get her hands dirty with a little work on the farm, either.

What quality do you admire most in other women? Being trustworthy.

What is your proudest achievement?

My two children.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

Things can change quickly. Be prepared to change course.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

Give your full attention and focus to business during the workday, and then give your full attention and focus to personal life after hours.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Open a large facility for all types of rescue animals.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

That it passes too quickly.

What is No. 1 on your bucket list?

Go to Greece.

What is the best part of your day?

Watching the sun rise.

2023

TONIA DANIELS

Secondary Market Mortgage Loan Officer

For Tonia Daniels, the business of banking is the business of people. Daniels was always drawn to helping others, and 14 years later, she is in a role that allows her to help welcome families into their new homes. She loves making people happy, and the multifaceted nature of her work means that she gets to help clients dig deep, build a broad picture of their goals, and then go out and achieve them. Daniels admires confidence, dedication and accountability in other women, and one of the most important lessons she has learned over the years is to never judge a book by its cover.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Wedding planner. I love the beautiful chaos of it all.

What is your proudest achievement? My kids. Their success is my greatest joy.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I genuinely wear my heart on my sleeve, but I try my very best not to show it. I’ve learned that taking things to heart can sometimes help you grow.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I love to travel. The East Coast is my favorite.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self? The grass is not always greener on the other side; listen to your gut.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age? You must remain open to change and be willing to step outside of your comfort zone to learn something new.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you? Don’t take anything for granted.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps? Learn that experience is the greatest teacher and there is value in criticism. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and speak up.

How would you like to be remembered?

A kind, caring person, someone that worked hard and would do everything possible to help another person or animal.

LISA DU BOSE, DNP, R. N.

Associate Professor of Nursing, Arkansas Tech University

Lisa DuBose, DNP, R.N., knows a thing or two about perseverance and hard work. Earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at age 54 took a giant leap of faith and a lot of grit, she said, but the satisfaction of walking across that stage made it all worthwhile. Now an associate professor at Arkansas Tech University, DuBose is able to combine her passions for taking care of people and teaching as she helps train the next generation of Arkansas nurses. After class, you might find the self-professed NFL nerd checking up on her fantasy football team, which she takes “very seriously.”

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My mother. I remember her completing her master’s degree when I was very young. It took me a long time to realize how hard that must have been with two young children at home.

What quality do you admire most in other women? The ability to give and receive feedback without it being personal. I think that’s very important in a professional setting.

What is the best part of your day? Coming home to my husband and our three dogs. They always meet me at the door.

What is your proudest achievement? Raising three wonderful kids. They’ve all turned out to be such great people, and I love spending time with them.

What do you love most about what you do?

I love our nursing students. It’s very rewarding to watch them learn. We spend a lot of time together in the clinical area, and it’s great to see them progress from the first days in the hospital to graduation.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age?

I think a good sense of humor helps. You have to be able to have some fun so you don’t get stale.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps? It’s never too late to go back to school to continue your education.

What role does faith play in your life? Faith has helped me through some challenging times, especially when battling breast cancer. Prayer gives me strength that I don’t think I could find any other way.

SOPHIE LAURA FLEISCHNER

Singer-Songwriter; Digital Media Content Developer

Whether she is on stage, on camera or working behind the scenes, Sophie Fleischner has a passion for creative storytelling that is second to none. When she is not wielding her content-creation skills as a digital media content developer at Oaklawn, Fleischner can be found at downtown Hot Springs venues such as Splash Wine Bar and The Heist, wowing audiences with her unique fusion of melodies and lyricism. “I am a firm believer in the magic of connection – whether it’s through a wellcrafted sentence, a captivating melody or a shared moment,” she said. “Life’s beauty is in the details, and I’m on a constant journey to uncover and celebrate them.”

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My grandmother, Laura Kirsch Fleischner. Although she passed away before I was born, her legacy continues to inspire me. Many remember her as the Arkansas Rodeo Queen and from her role in Lauray’s the Diamond Center in downtown Hot Springs. I am deeply moved by people’s recollections of her and how she impacted their lives. I hold her in high regard, and I am humbled by the opportunity to be seen as a reflection of her remarkable qualities.

What role does faith play in your life?

Growing up a Jewish woman in the Bible Belt presented challenges, but it also allowed me to develop a deep sense of identity and confidence. My faith has taught me the importance of embracing diversity, standing up for my beliefs and finding strength in the face of adversity. It’s a reminder that embracing who you are can help you overcome any obstacle.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

My journey in both digital media at Oaklawn and the music industry has illuminated the significance of adaptability and continuous curiosity. The ever-shifting digital realm demands an openness to embrace new tools, strategies, and perspectives. Collaborative efforts, paired with clear communication, facilitate the realization of creative visions, whether in crafting engaging content for Oaklawn or composing heartfelt songs. I’ve realized that growth lies in embracing change and staying open to learning. Every triumphant campaign or captivating performance is supported by relentless effort, focus and a burning motivation, forging a powerful bond with various audiences. These lessons, acquired through my varied experiences, continue to shape my journey and fuel my passion.

BEV FOSTER, D.C.

Bev Foster was always intrigued by holistic health care, but it was an interest in skeletal mechanics that led her to pursue a career in chiropractic medicine. The sixth-generation Arkansan describes herself as a “body mechanic,” and she loves that every new case is like a puzzle to be solved. Manipulating bones and joints to help people is an art, she said, and one she is adept in. Foster is also mindful of the importance of mental health. Since age 20, she has practiced transcendental meditation as a systemic approach to reducing stress, and she never misses a day.

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

I would have been a dancer.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field? Approach every day like it is a test of your skill and character.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Time eats life.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps?

Let’s have lunch.

What role does faith play in your life?

I am Episcopalian. I have faith that all people can live peacefully unified and enjoy our diversity.

What is your proudest achievement?

Being a mom.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I did not really feel the barriers commonly attributed to being a woman. My parents reared me in a gender-neutral environment, and that shaped my attitudes and behaviors. I recognized that good people judge you on your actions and not your gender. As a woman in a male-dominated profession, there were some benefits to being female. For one, it was easy to stand out. Plus, the women’s restroom was always empty. The bigger challenge for me was being a chiropractor. In the early years, my profession was quite avant garde. Now chiropractic is more mainstream and better understood. I learned to be patient, strong and to work hard.

SARAH GORDON, PH.D.

Interim Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Arkansas Tech University

True to her analytical mind, Sarah Gordon, Ph.D., takes a slightly different approach to the topic of work-life balance. She prefers to think of it as work-life harmony instead, allowing for flexibility in the face of life’s inevitable ebbs and flows. “I read once that if balance is like slicing a pie into two even halves, harmony is slicing it into however many pieces you need at whatever size you need at any time you need,” she said. Outside of her work with students, Gordon also enjoys being a chicken tender – that is, tending to the family’s flock of chickens, ducks and turkeys.

What attracted you to your career?

As a child, I was the one who asked question after question. I have always been intrigued with how and why things are the way they are. As I started pursuing my education, I fell in love with research: reading research, conducting research, doing research on research! I love making sense of things and asking empirical questions to understand the world around me.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I can’t get enough of women who empower other women, encouraging each other, building each other up, supporting one another and cheering each other on. May we all be that woman!

What is the best part of your day?

Dinner around the table with my family in the evenings, hearing about everyone’s day.

What is your proudest achievement?

I am proud of earning my doctorate. It was never on my list until it was, and I did it! I’m also proud of my family. My husband and son are some of my greatest inspirations and my “why” for everything I do.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I have an Instagram account where I share workwear outfit inspirations (@sarah.r.gordon).

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My late mother and my late husband – two of the kindest souls that taught me how to receive genuine love and whom I loved immensely.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

Women who support, empower and share in other women’s successes.

What is the best part of your day?

FaceTiming my daughter Madeline in Mississippi every morning and getting to see my grands, Harper Hope and Banks.

What is your proudest achievement?

My family and how we have survived the tragic loss of my husband and bonus daughter.

HOPE HANKINS

Account Executive, 103.7 The Buzz and The Point 94.1

Hope Hankins does not mince words when it comes to the team she works with at Signal Media of Arkansas. From the business department to the hosts to “the No. 1 sales team in Arkansas,” she said “they’re simply the best in the business.” Hankins loves getting to work with so many people across a variety of fields, but she also makes sure to work “smart instead of hard” so she can enjoy plenty of time with family and friends. Time has taught Hankins to make the most of the present and be thankful for every moment, and she hopes to be remembered as someone who loved hard and spread joy.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I’ve learned I have the strength to get through the unimaginable and that I have an amazing support system of family and friends who remind me of that strength.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Therapist. I feel like I already am one; I just don’t get paid.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant, at any age? Being happy with who you are and the life you have created for yourself.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps?

We aren’t solving the drug epidemic or curing cancer, but it is pretty cool to play a part in helping someone’s business grow.

TAMMY HARVEYSTAUBER

Chief Ambassador, ATA International; Director, H.U. Foundation; Office Manager, Arkansas Home Service West

As a teenager, many people get an idea of what they want to be when they grow up. Far fewer open their first business in high school. At just 16 years old, Tammy HarveyStauber became the ATA’s youngest certified taekwondo instructor, and at 17, she opened her first taekwondo school in Benton. Now a ninth-degree black belt, “Master Tammy” will become ATA International’s first female grand master in 2024. “To help someone who has come in with no self-confidence or coordination or maybe who has not yet found their niche in life and watch them succeed is one of the greatest gifts I have received,” she said.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Physical therapist.

What quality do you admire most in other women? Women that are genuine and have a sense of humor.

What is the best part of your day?

The look in my grandchildren’s eyes when they see their Gammy, and when my husband walks in the door from work every day!

What is your proudest achievement? My son, Ryan. Being his mom has been the greatest blessing of my life.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

I would buy back the lakefront house my parents owned on Greers Ferry Lake. My parents bought the land in 1962, before there was even water in the lake. So many wonderful family memories are there.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I like riding motorcycle dirt bikes with my husband, kayaking and spending time with family.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self? Finish college and get your degree.

KELLI HEATHMAN

West Director, Corporate Accounts and Strategic Partners, BeiGene Pharmaceuticals USA

Kelli Heathman knows what it takes to be a leader in more ways than one. In her professional career, she guides a team focused on market access and business development for the oncology pharmaceutical firm BeiGene. When she is not traveling for work, however, she heads a very different pack – her three dogs. Heathman and her Belgian malinois, Koning, are avid competitors in protection sports. In 2021, Koning earned his protection dog certification, and the pair earned their Level 1 Protection Sport Association title in 2022, placing second overall in the competition. They are currently working towards a Level 2 title. “The best part about this sport is the bond we have developed with one another,” Heathman said.

What attracted you to your career?

I have always been fascinated with the health care ecosystem and the evolution of medicine. I wanted to be a part of a community that puts patients first and disrupts systemic access barriers to care.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Given the passion I have for animals, I would be a veterinarian.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

I admire my husband, Monty Heathman. Monty and I met in 2010 in Little Rock and married in 2011. Over the years, I have enjoyed watching my husband do what he does best – teeth. His passion and commitment to excellence in dentistry are second to none. On a personal note, he’s an excellent cook and a master around the grill.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

When I’m home, I schedule events or activities that I enjoy in the evenings: date night with my husband, a walk with my dogs or simply hanging out at the pool and enjoying the sunshine.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again?

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My great grandmother Opal was such a light in our family. She was a little bitty thing, played golf and always had a smile on her face. She passed away when I was in my 20s, so I had the opportunity to make lots of memories with her, and I remember her vividly. My daughter is named after her.

What is the best part of your day?

I’ve gotten into a routine of dropping the kids at school, and then finding 20 to 30 minutes to walk outside before I start my work day. I listen to podcasts, books or music, and it really helps set the tone for the day ahead.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Enjoy being young and the freedom you have—don’t rush to grow up. And write thank you notes!

Kristen Hinson truly loves working with people. In real estate, every day brings its own challenges and rewards, and Hinson enjoys getting to know her clients and building friendships along the way. While the work of a Realtor is often tireless, Hinson also prioritizes her work-life balance. The focus is on being present, not perfect, she said, and that mindset makes a tangible positive difference in not only her own happiness, but in that of the people around her, as well. Outside of the hustle and bustle, Hinson finds time to travel and have friends over for cookouts, gamedays and playdates.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I went to college out of state, not knowing anyone. When I moved here from college, I knew only a handful of people. At the time, I didn’t realize how that would serve me. Now I see the benefits as I network and navigate new situations.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant, at any age? Participate, volunteer and show up.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Time is a thief – the days are long, but the years just fly. I really try to be present for ball games, competitions, vacations, bedtime routines, etc.

KEITHA HOLLAND

It is not always easy for an up-and-coming physician to find their niche, but for Keitha Holland, M.D., there was no going back after her first experience with obstetrics and gynecology. The combination of primary care and surgery, along with the ability to care for patients from puberty through menopause, made the area of medicine a perfect fit for her passions and personality. Holland loves her job, and said it is hard to imagine doing anything else. If she had to pick though, she would trade her scrubs for the captain’s badge of Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

What is the best part of your day?

Coming home and having dinner with my family. It’s a rare occasion when we are all together, but when we are, it’s a great way to end the day. Also: being greeted at the door by my dog, Tendi!

What do you love most about what you do?

Delivering babies! The excitement never goes away. Every birth is unique, and being a part of that moment when a new life enters the world is very fulfilling. I love being a part of watching my patients grow from their teens to adulthood.

What is your proudest achievement?

My kids are the best part of me and my greatest achievement. They make me want to be a better person every day.

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My mom. She is the strongest, most loyal and most caring person I know. She raised me on her own and is such an amazing human.

What is one thing you’d tell your 18-year-old self? Don’t be afraid to fail. Work hard, but remember to take breaks.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Time has taught me not to waste it. Life is uncertain and unexpected, so live it to the fullest.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again? “Shoop” by Salt-N-Pepa.

NICOLE HURST-PUCKETT

Administrator, Superior Senior Care; Co-Owner, Puckett Auto Group

Hard work and dedication have gotten Nicole Hurst-Puckett where she is today. Living by the mantra, “If you want it, make it happen,” Hurst-Puckett refuses to let anyone or anything stand in her way. That winning mindset has paid off in more ways than one, and in addition to a successful career as an administrator at Superior Senior Care, she and husband, Chris, opened Puckett Auto Group in 2021. The breast cancer survivor has overcome more than her fair share of setbacks, and she remains undaunted in the face of challenges. “Do not live in fear,” she said, “because when you live in fear, you are not living.”

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

Being a manager and a business owner, your work never stops. Being honest with your coworkers and your clients is key to managing a successful business. This sets the tone for your business, provides consistency at your workplace, and builds loyalty and trust with your clientele.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in 2017 when I was only 38 years old. I went through four rounds of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation –including a lumpectomy – while continuing to work full time.

What do you love most about what you do?

When you have helped someone that is in need, and they are happy, you know that your job was done right. That is the most fulfilling part for me.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

“Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.”

How do you maintain work-life balance?

I am blessed with a wonderful family and a great group of friends. My husband and I enjoy traveling to different places, even if it is a weekend trip away, and of course, we love Razorback football season!

2023

CATHY JARRETT

Executive Assistant to the CEO, Westrock Coffee Co.

If there is one word that comes to mind when describing Cathy Jarrett, it is “radiant.” Friends and coworkers are quick to point out her kindness and compassion, and Jarrett herself works to make sure her genuine love for people shines through in every interaction. A dedicated mother and friend, Jarrett wants her positivity and enthusiasm to be an inspiration to others. “I would encourage others to keep being the wonderful person they are, as their presence makes the world a better place for everyone fortunate enough to know them,” she said. Jarrett’s outlook on life makes her resilient in the face of adversity, as captured by her go-to phrase: “Everything’s fine. It will all be fine.”

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I greatly admire women who truly support each other. I’m very independent, so I like to surround myself with strong, independent women who are diverse, talented and emotionally supportive.

What is the best part of your day?

I enjoy morning runs or workouts with my friends to get my day started, as well as spending time with my dogs, Bentley and Copper.

What is your proudest achievement?

I started running in my late 40s and have since become a Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic, which equals a Double Agent. I once completed three marathons in 60 days, and I have run too many half marathons to count. Over the last few years, I started trail running and love being out in the woods. We call it “Party in the Woods.”

What are your favorite hobbies/ pet projects outside of work?

I love spending time with my family. Lake days are the best days.

ALESE JOHNSTON

Not many people would have chosen an art degree before launching their entrepreneurial career, but Alese Johnston is not one to settle for the expected. Johnston is always looking to learn something new, and that drive has led her into a number of fields, from programming a nd bank consulting to real estate investment. Her most recent venture, StorageTrader. com, is “the perfect next level project,” she said, and the self-storage investment platform is sure to be yet another entry in Johnston’s log of successful endeavors. If it sounds like tireless work, that is because it is. “If you love what you do as much as I do, maintaining a work-life balance becomes irrelevant,” she said.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My maternal grandmother, Dorothy Church. She left an abusive relationship while pregnant to raise my mom alone back in the 1930s when that simply wasn’t done. She made a career for herself and bought a house before women were allowed to have credit cards in their own name. She insisted that I attend college, saying that a woman with an education had the option to marry for love instead of marrying for financial support. She also gifted me with my love of coconut cake.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I helped launch Signature Bank in NYC back in 2001. I was honored to be brought in to consult on the launch and was thrilled to watch it grow to more than $100 billion in total assets in less than 10 years. That was also the year I learned to appreciate New York bagels and espresso.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

My favorite project at the moment is learning to dance again after 30-plus years off the dance floor. I am trying to master the West Coast Swing and the Texas Two-Step first. Line dancing looks like a lot of fun, so I have been working on the Carolina Shiver, but there is a backstep in the sequence that messes me up every time. Hopefully, enough practice will resolve that problem.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

Nietzsche said it best: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

What is the most important life lesson time has taught you? Showing up is the most powerful thing you can do every day. Show up and look for opportunities to contribute and to be of service. Everything else you want will follow.

GRILL

SHARRI WYATT JONES

Owner and Event Coordinator, Sissy’s Log Cabin

As a member of Arkansas’ first family of jewelry, Sharri Jones dazzles in her own right. Alongside husband Bill, Jones is carrying on a Sissy’s Log Cabin legacy that now spans more than five decades – and one she will be proud to pass along to her own children and grandchildren. Before joining the family business, the Pine Bluff native dedicated several years to education. Her passion for assisting children continued even after her teaching days, and Jones remains a staunch advocate for local organizations dedicated to at-risk youth.

What attracted you to your career? I enjoy entertaining and hosting.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? I would be a police detective. I love researching!

What is one thing you would change about your field? Nothing. The jewelry business is exciting and ever-changing.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you? I am a Girl Scout – I am a Citizen First and a recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you? Do not take yourself too seriously.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps? Keep Christ central in your home and business.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

“I am living a dream.”

What is No. 1 on your bucket list? Going to Africa.

What is your hidden talent? Playing tennis.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again?

September by Earth, Wind & Fire: “Do you remember, the 21st night of September…” which is my wedding anniversary!

WANDA KING

Vice President

Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield

Wanda King has held a number of positions in her three decades with Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, and it is that variety that attracted her to the health insurance industry in the first place. She is glad to have the opportunity to serve her community by helping people access the care they need. Over the years, the U.S. Navy veteran has learned the value of hard work, dedication and perseverance, and her time in health insurance has also taught her to be flexible in the face of change. King admires any woman who lifts up other women, and her proudest achievement is raising her two beautiful daughters, Lauren and Blair.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

Exercise and self-care.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

Traveling and reading good books.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

“Empowered women empower women.”

How would you like to be remembered?

As a kind, considerate and helpful person.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again?

“Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My grandmother, Margie Prince, was my hero. She lost her husband suddenly when she was 46 and my mom was 19. She never remarried; she spent the remaining part of her life caring for everyone around her! She wasn’t just known as “Meme” to me, but to everyone at church. She was a prayer warrior.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

Strength, resilience, empathy and confidence.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

My husband and I love to travel and go to concerts.

CINDY LUCAS

Administrator, Scott Lucas Bath & Kitchen

After marrying her husband, Scott, and seeing his remodeling business take off soon after, Cindy Lucas decided to join the company full time. Of course, she is also a full-time mom on top of that, and at 12 and 14 years old, her boys keep her plenty busy. Keeping her work-life balance in check can be complicated, but Lucas knows how to set boundaries, delegate tasks and make time for a bit of self-care and relaxation when needed. The best part of her day is the end of it, when she and her husband wrap up work and get to spend time with the kids at home.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Everything happens for a reason – the good, the bad and the ugly.

What role does faith play in your life?

Faith plays a huge role in my life. We pray about our jobs daily and the customers we have. We have faith that God will bring us the right jobs and customers.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

It is very important to surround yourself with a strong network, stay true to your goals and embrace challenges as opportunities for growth.

KRISTI MANN

From the mat to the classroom, Kristi Mann is a consummate leader. The now-retired educator spent three decades in special education, all the while raising three sons, volunteering, and leading groups while her husband served overseas. Mann has been the State Chairperson for USA wrestling close to 20 years. As one of the only women in the country to hold a similar position, Mann is no stranger to setting an example for others. She thrives in chaos and embodies the motto passed down from her father: “Keep it positive always!” So strong is the mantra, she said, that it is a family rite of passage to get the “KIPA” tattoo.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My mother. She is a spiritual giant, selfless, loving and a hero that I learn from every day. My rock!

What attracted you to your career?

The last class to complete my biology/education degree was teaching students with special needs. It was lifechanging for me. I added the entire special education track the next semester, and thus began a 33-year career of teaching the most amazing, differently-abled students.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Put your boots on girl; you are going to be raising boys and leading the pack.

What is your proudest achievement?

Being Mom to Tanner, Tyler and Tucker. They have an abundance of sports titles, awards, trophies, medals and degrees, all of which pale in comparison to the unique and amazing men they have become.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?

I hope my legacy and leadership style will be an example for my sons and their children to motivate and inspire others in many areas and aspects of life. Maybe my future granddaughter or great-granddaughter will not only be in a group or on a team, but will lead them.

How would you like to be remembered?

As a strong woman who led the way successfully down a complicated path.

LESLIE MANN

Director of Physician Network Development, Conway Regional Health System

An El Dorado native, Leslie Mann credits her small-town upbringing for instilling in her the importance of community, caring for others and making a positive impact. The desire to serve people and foster relationships eventually led her to the health care industry. Though she never had the stomach for a clinical role, she thrives on the business side of things, where she is able to put her skills to use for a greater good with Conway Regional. Outside of work, you can find Mann enjoying quality time with family and loved ones, working out, painting and cooking.

What quality do you admire most in other women? Graciousness and determination.

What is the best part of your day?

The morning or evening FaceTime calls I get from my niece, Finnley, and nephew, Maverick, who are 4-year-old twins. There is a lot of “Hey Lele, look at this,” or “Did you know…?” They are a lot of fun!

What do you love most about what you do?

Whether identifying opportunities to expand access to care or reimagining processes related to patient navigation, I find great satisfaction knowing the work we do positively impacts the communities we serve. I work alongside other exceptional leaders who make the difficult days a bit easier and the good days even better. I also have a team made of extremely talented people who consistently bring ideas to fruition. They make it happen!

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it? Invest it.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Avoid rushing or settling in any situation. Seek advice from sound influences. Listen to your mom and dad – their guidance holds true.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Control the controllables.

What role does faith play in your life?

I believe God guides my path and leads me in everything I do. While at times I have found myself trying to navigate challenges alone, I am always reminded how desperately I need Him and His guidance.

How would you like to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered as someone who was kind, honest and reliable.

GINGER RUSSELL MILLER

Commercial Talent, Russell Chevrolet

While Ginger Russell Miller might be better known for her work at Russell Chevrolet, she knows exactly what career she would have chosen if not for the family business: sportscasting. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, and to call her a huge Hogs fan is an understatement. Miller even took stats for the nationalchampionship-winning 1994 basketball team. Her love for the Razorbacks is a family tradition; Miller and her father never miss a home football game and will be traveling with the Road Hogs for three away games this year. She is also making sure to pass on that enthusiasm to her children, who are currently seniors at the U of A.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My dad, Bob Russell. He has given so much of himself to his family and to his community. He is the most selfless person I know.

What is the best part of your day?

Listening to some Chris Stapleton in a warm bubble bath with a nice rosé.

What is your proudest achievement?

My twins, Lilly and Logan. They have grown into such kind, smart, respectful adults.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

I wouldn’t be where I am today without the guidance of my parents. They are such a great support system for me every day.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

In college, I won a Harley-Davidson from Clint Black and Wynonna Judd. They flew my mom and me to LA for their concert and presented me with the keys on stage. I also won $500, lots of autographed items and a Harley jacket. My dad got to pay the taxes!

What lessons have you learned from working in your field? You can touch the lives of people you don’t know by being on TV. I filmed several commercials while I was pregnant with my twins. People were calling the dealership, asking if they had been born. One nice lady even knitted pink and blue sweaters for them. It was so touching.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self? As much as I hate to admit it, my mother was right!

MEGAN MILLER

Chief Executive Officer, The BridgeWay

Megan Miller, LCSW, is passionate about mental health care, and she is glad to have a job that aligns so well with her values and principals. Inspiring her work is a drive to make the world better not just for the people she serves, but for everyone around them, as well. Her commitment to that mission means it would be hard to pull her away from her post, but not impossible – Miller is a voracious reader, and she imagines she would make a good librarian if she put her mind to it. “I love perusing books and that feeling when you are reading a soon-to-be-favorite for the first time,” she said.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

A woman who knows how to set a boundary and say “no” to things she shouldn’t have to do or doesn’t want to do without feeling guilty.

What is the best part of your day?

I love so much of my job that it’s hard to pick the best part. Certainly a top pick is interacting with our staff and patients. It’s their ideas, knowledge and strategies that keep us advancing our programs to what our community needs right now. I like staying focused on the future and evolving with new medical advancements.

What is one thing you would change about your field?

On average, there are 132 suicides per day. I want everyone in the field and, really, every person to help us get to zero suicides. We can all show up for individuals, refer them to care and be supportive.

What is your proudest achievement?

I’m a mom to two young adults: 18- and 21-year-old boys. I’m very proud to be their mother and of how they have each grown into their own person.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

I think that making time for adventure is a very important aspect. I seem to need a balance that allows me to explore those things I’m interested in. I hate the monotony of just going to work and going home. I need time to get outdoors, read, exercise, crochet, take a pottery class or plan my next vacation.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self? Invest! Invest in yourself, invest in retirement, and invest time in the things you love.

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

Meteorologist. I am obsessed with the weather, especially when it is severe. It does not matter where you live, if you are one of my people, I will know if there is bad weather in your area and will call you up to give weather reports in real time. I’m like a personal weather concierge.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I am all about community. I admire women who know how to build community, how to gather folks in and make sure everyone has a seat at the table.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

Find yourself a really good therapist. It’s one of the best investments I have ever made.

CINDY MINOR

Small World Big Fun Travel

For Cindy Minor, helping other people plan their travels is an adventure in itself, and it is one she has been thrilled by for over two decades now. From first-time Disney trips to honeymoons and anniversary extravaganzas, Minor said, her work is a journey filled with laughter, milestones and unforgettable memories. She has also gleaned a few valuable lessons from “the hardest, least fun” part of travel: getting from where you are to where you want to be. “We can spend hours and hours planning, but really, it’s out of our hands –kind of like life. Expect the curveballs.”

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I’m the membership experience advisor for the Tri Delta chapter at the University of Arkansas. Tri Delta has undeniably been one of the most influential aspects of my life. It has provided me with a sense of belonging, countless chances for personal growth, and numerous enduring friendships. I have the privilege working with and learning from a group of women to develop and empower the next generation of leaders.

What is the best part of your day?

The very end. I take the time to evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, and set a goal to do better tomorrow. Then I allow myself a few minutes of TikTok.

CEO/Superintendent, Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools

LaShawnDa Noel’s early career took her all over the country, but she always knew she would come back home to Arkansas. After stints in a variety of roles across nonprofit, for-profit, public, charter and higher education, Noel was asked to serve as CEO and superintendent of Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools. Balancing business interests with educational needs is no mean feat, but Noel has never shied away from the challenge. “I love that I am able to impact children and families positively every day, whether inside the classroom or sitting in a meeting where decisions and policies are made,” she said.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? An opera singer.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

Grace. Life can be difficult, personally and professionally, but many of the women I know have overcome adversity with such grace. It’s mind-boggling. Women are superheroes.

What is one thing you would change about your field?

The one thing that I would change about education is teacher pay. I believe teachers are some of the most important individuals in our society. Their professional efforts impact our future. That’s such a huge role! They should be compensated.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I have a fascination with Geechee and Gullah culture.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

I have learned that all children can learn, have the desire to learn and have the right to learn. As educators, we must come prepared to introduce concepts and ideas but allow room for and challenge scholars to think, imagine/reimagine and grow.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

I would travel and explore different areas of the world. It would be a dream to take some of our scholars with me.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you? Time is money.

JENA PETRO

Chief Development Officer, The Springs of Arkansas

As chief development officer at The Springs of Arkansas, Jena Petro instituted morning check-in calls as a way to motivate and build up her team, and it quickly became her favorite part of the day. Her goal is to make sure everyone on the call walks away ready to take on whatever the rest of the day might bring. Inspired by the likes of trailblazers such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Petro admires tenacity and strength in other women. She hopes to be remembered for the positive impact she makes on those around her, both as a caring mother, wife and friend and as a leader in her industry.

What is your proudest achievement?

Becoming chief development officer by 37.

How do you maintain a work-life balance?

My family is great at helping me with this. My goal is to work hard but know when to take a break. I’ve learned the importance of resting and resetting my mind, body and soul.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

Face your problems head-on, use your good judgment and be honest.

What do you love most about what you do?

Being a part of The Springs, I get to make an impact every day in someone’s life. If I can motivate the team correctly, it can trickle down to the way the residents in our facilities are treated, which then affects the families in our area. The goal is that families know their loved one is safe and cared for. I can’t think of a better feeling than that.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self? Life gets better, and you get stronger. Your perseverance will lead you to success.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

“Always plan your work and work your plan.”

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Our whole life, my mom always reminded us to “always know your own self worth and expect nothing less.” I didn’t understand it when I was a teenager, but I definitely do now, and I am thankful she drilled it into us.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My parents and grandparents. I come from two sets of grandparents and parents who are what I call “the grinders.”

From the grandparents who fought in wars, to the mothers left alone with small homes and smaller incomes to raise their children alone, to my own parents, who worked obsessively and grew successful businesses. I do have a competitive gene to know more and to be better every day, but the modeling of a strong work ethic was the influence of my family.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

Being a female health care provider and small business owner has taught me the true challenges and barriers that females have — from the simple ability to obtain a bank loan, to forming financial and accounting teams that truly support and understand my business, my strengths and my weaknesses. I have developed thicker skin, confidence in business transactions and a tougher hand shake.

PONWITH

Nurse Practitioner; Owner, Revive Lifestyle Medicine

A born caregiver and selfdescribed empath, Lindsey Ponwith’s entry into nursing was a natural choice. That background proved especially useful when she moved into the wellness industry. As the owner of Revive Lifestyle Medicine, Ponwith has the privilege of teaching patients how to lead more functional and healthy lives. She loves the everevolving challenges that come with working in health care, and she cherishes the relationships she is able to build with her clients and team. Outside of work, Ponwith enjoys reading and is heavily involved in the Little Rock tennis community as a player, coach and cheerleader.

2023

What quality do you admire most in other women?

That in some way we are all alike. We are all struggling to find a balance between raising our families and being breadwinners while maintaining and honoring partnerships. Our roles have shifted in the past 40 years, more so than ever before. We are adaptable. I admire this so deeply, and wish we could see that we are more alike than different in this sense.

What is your proudest achievement?

My family. Raising five children with my husband has only been possible through having a team environment with co-parents and grandparents. Professionally, I am proud of growing a small business, continuing to be the best in my field and having a closeknit coworking environment.

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

If I could trade shoes with anyone, I would be Oprah. She IS a job: writing, living, sharing, conversing.

General Manager, Deluca’s Pizzeria

Heather Post’s introduction to the service industry came in 2005 at Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa on Lake Ouachita. Under the tutelage of Bill Barnes and Pati Brown, Post learned the hospitality fundamentals she would need to build her eventual career. She spent almost 10 years in her other “dream job” as an art teacher, all the while working weekends and summers at Deluca’s Pizzeria. While she adored the kids and her district, Post always found herself drawn back to the restaurant business and its unique mix of consistency and spontaneity. “Deluca’s is my home,” Post said, “and we want all who join us for a meal to feel at home, as well.”

2023

What is the best part of your day?

The interactions I have with our amazing crew and our dear customers and friends. What our team accomplishes, day in and day out, amazes me. It is all about creating delicious food and building relationships with our customers. We have such a beautiful following of locals and repeat visitors from all over who have become our extended family over the years.

What is your proudest achievement?

Switching professions from being an educator to a full-time manager at Deluca’s. When [owner] Anthony Valinoti put his faith and trust in me to take over this role, I was honored but intimidated. It was bittersweet to leave teaching, but I have been a part of Deluca’s growth and change over the last nine years; it has captured so much of my heart that my decision was simple.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

My adoptive mother, who has now passed away, is still my model of courage, strength and how to love all. I learned so much from her and the stories of the foster children I grew up around.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

Everyone has an unheard story; be patient and compassionate always. The smallest gesture could change someone’s day, so make it uplifting.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

I am still working on this balance. I am most definitely a workaholic. However, I love my family, my husband and my dogs, and I make time for them every week.

AMANDA PROPST

Senior Director of Brand Marketing, Arvest Bank

While in college, Amanda Propst came across a professor with an “unbelievable passion” for marketing. His ability to bridge the classroom and the real world — as well as his contagious enthusiasm — convinced Propst to switch to a major in marketing soon after. In her current role, Propst is able to combine a lifelong interest in personal finance with her marketing prowess. A dedicated reader of the likes of David Bach and Dave Ramsey, Propst was even a guest on The Suze Orman Show in college. “It’s exciting for me to be at Arvest, where I have an opportunity to help other women learn more about and take charge of their personal finances,” she said.

If you could have any other job, what would it be?

A landscaper, where I could create beauty and bring people joy.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

I feel as though Sandy Alstadt would be at the top of countless women’s lists across Arkansas for most admired. Sandy and I met through Calvary Baptist Church, and she has been the most amazing mentor and friend to me.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I admire those women who reach out and pull other women into their circles: at church, at work, at their children’s school, etc. Those who make others feel welcome, help others find their place and celebrate each other’s successes.

What is one thing you would change about your field?

I would make financial literacy a requirement in early childhood education. Everyone deserves the base understanding of how finances work to set themselves up for success. My team at Arvest is working daily to bring more financial education pieces to our customers and the masses.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

It’s all about seasons. Some seasons, work requires a little more, and sometimes my home life requires a little more.

SYDNEY L. RASCH

Managing Partner, Turner, Rasch, & Martin LLP; Pulaski County

Growing up in a small town, it was not hard for Sydney Rasch to stand out. Sometimes that was a good thing, but all too often, Rasch faced bullying for simply being herself. That experience inspired her to stand up for others, so Rasch pursued a legal career to help those oppressed at the hands of the legal system and bad legislation. Now residing in North Little Rock, Rasch is an active member of the community, and her proudest achievement has been starting a successful firm with two good friends. “We have incredible staff members who are like family,” she said. “I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world every day I walk into work.”

What attracted you to your career?

The first thing that attracted me to my career was probably watching Legally Blonde when I was 11. I know it sounds a bit silly, but watching Elle Woods break the rules, help her client and win her case, all while wearing hot pink and high heels, made me think, “Wow, I want to be like her.” Now I go to court in hot pink and high heels and win my cases too.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What is the best part of your day?

Coming home to my incredible husband, Naveed, snuggling with our dogs and kitty cats while catching up on our favorite shows and cooking dinner. I love to cook complex recipes, and I experiment a lot!

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

Despite common belief, I do, in fact, find time to sleep!

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I was a wedding and portrait photographer for many years. Last year, I decided to finally close down Art/Photography by Sydney Rasch, but I still love to get my camera out and take photos as much as I can.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

My friends, family and staff will all tell you – I am unapologetically me 100 percent of the time. I’m a super friendly over-sharer. I’m talkative and loud. I’m loving and caring but a shark when I need to be. I’m a perpetual optimist, and I’m not afraid of anything. What you see is what you get!

RIANNA ROWLAND

Rianna Rowland has a passion for helping the elderly and disabled, and her role at Superior Senior Care allows her to help more people stay in their own homes instead of going to a nursing home. She loves the people she works with, but she is also careful to leave work at the office so she can be fully present at home. Rowland cherishes her quiet time in the evenings, and she enjoys cooking, traveling and learning about other cultures. She also has a knack for all things crafty, from sewing to drawing to cake decorating.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Graphic design.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

What is one thing you would change about your field?

I wish there were more programs offering assistance with home care. Home care options can be expensive, and there is such a need for these services. With just a little bit of help, many could stay in their homes and feel more independent.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I know how to fish and used to go almost every weekend.

If you were handed a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Build an off-the-grid home and save the rest for retirement.

What is the secret to overcoming adversity?

Determination and focusing on your goals rather than others and what they have going on.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant, at any age? Botox… just kidding!

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

Laugh! I think you can pretty much get through anything with laughter.

SIDNEY SELAKOVICH

Registered Nurse; Aesthetic Injector; Co-founder, Radiant Wellness

Sidney Bennett Selakovich has always loved taking care of others, but it was the birth of her daughter that inspired her to go back to school and pursue a nursing degree. “I wanted to show her that, as a woman, you can have whatever you want in life as long as you believe in yourself and work hard for it,” she said. Now the co-founder of her own clinic, Selakovich combines her passion for caretaking with her love of the beauty industry to help others look and feel their most beautiful. The only thing better than her dream job is spending time with her fiance and children at the end of the day.

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

My parents. They have accomplished so much in life, and I feel like I still learn new things about them all the time. They are my best friends. I have no idea what I would do without them!

What is one thing you would change about your field?

I wish there was more collaboration instead of competition. I always say, “There’s plenty of room for everyone to succeed as long as you’re willing to work for it.”

What is your proudest achievement?

Opening a business in the middle of a pandemic. Three years later, we now have a staff of eight and two different locations.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I went to culinary school for a year just for fun, and I absolutely loved it.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

With a lot of help! It takes a village, and thankfully I am blessed to have an amazing support system.

What do you love most about what you do?

Not only seeing my patients’ transformations, but also seeing their confidence skyrocket. It makes my day every day.

What are your favorite hobbies/ pet projects outside of work?

Watching the kids play all their sports and traveling when we’re able to make the time.

PAMELA BOYD SHIELDS

Commander (retired), U.S. Navy; Senior Staff Officer (retired), Defense Intelligence Agency

Pamela Boyd Shields was inspired to enter the armed forces by her father, who was a navigator in the U.S. Air Force. Before she retired, Shields reached the rank of commander in the U.S. Navy and was an original member of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s J2 Joint Staff Intelligence Task Force created after 9/11. Shields remains active in the community, serving as a commissioner for the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs and the president of Pulaski County Republican Women. She was also elected the second chair of the 2nd Congressional District of the Arkansas Republican Party. 2023

If you could have any other job, what would it be? Writer or president.

What is your proudest achievement?

Personally, the birth of my son, Scott. Professionally, receiving the Defense Meritorious Service Medal as a lieutenant at USCINPAC for my direction in a war game and earning the Joint Chiefs of Staff ID badge at the Pentagon.

What lessons have you learned from working in your field?

I have learned to trust my instincts and call out someone if they are wrong.

What role does faith play in your life?

I believe in God, I pray at night, and I enjoy community Bible study at Immanuel Baptist. Bottom line: God has this.

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age? Do something! Join a club, hang out with your girlfriends, cut your worst case scenario friends (those who throw you under the bus) out of your world. Walk, read and listen to music.

What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?

I want people to know I cared. I want my husband, Timothy, and my son, Scott, to know they meant more to me than anything.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

I have testified in committee at the State Capitol on gun rights and the Freedom of Information Act. As the president of Pulaski County Republican Women, it’s important to know what is going on in all phases of our government and to have a voice to speak up on issues.

SABRINA SHIPP

Advanced Nurse Practitioner, FamilyPractice Certified; Co-owner, Radiant Wellness

Sabrina Shipp started out her health care career in emergency medicine. It was “a huge leap of faith” to transition to a focus on wellness and preventative care, she said, but she would not have it any other way. Now, as co-owner of Radiant Wellness in Little Rock, Shipp is proud of her work, but she is even more proud of her patients while they learn and understand the importance of hard work and consistency. “Just like with weight loss, it is not the end result that is important,” she said. “It is how we get to the end that is actually important.”

What quality do you admire most in other women? Their strength. Knowing how I struggle to give my best to my career and my family, it amazes me to see other women do it with such grace!

What is one thing you would change about your field?

I wish, as a profession, we would focus more on holistic well-being and stop chasing a problem once it has already arrived.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today? Working over a decade in the emergency room really taught me how to appreciate what is truly worth worrying and stressing about. When you deal with actual life and death, your perspective refocuses.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I work very hard at being personable, especially now as a business owner. I am incredibly shy, and socializing doesn’t always come naturally.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

As gracefully as possible. There is a give and take. There will be things I miss with my family to be a successful woman, and there will be things I miss at work for my family. It’s inevitable.

What do you love most about what you do?

Helping people feel their best. Life is hard, and we all need a little help.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work? Exercise and exploring. It is a Godgiven gift to be able to move.

MANDY STANAGE SHOPTAW

Associate State Director of Communications and Outreach, AARP Arkansas

When she is not crisscrossing the state for AARP Arkansas, Mandy Shoptaw enjoys a variety of pursuits, from creative writing to her “Come on to my House” lifestyle project. In addition to being the self-proclaimed documentarian of her group, she also loves to travel and meet new people. At her core, Shoptaw feels that she represents the everyday Arkansas women. “I don’t know that I am especially unique from thousands of other Arkansans who could be found on this list,” she said, “but I do hope that those reading our stories will know that we are real women with a lot of passion and drive who have overcome adversity and built others up.”

What person, past or present, do you admire most?

When I was a TV producer for P. Allen Smith, I met Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, at her estate in England. She was incredible: down to earth yet sophisticated, and I loved something she said that has been a touchstone as we rebuild our yard after the March 31 tornado – that we plant a garden for the future and not for today.

What is one thing you would change about your field?

It is hard to find positions in communications that pay women well. When you do, you want to hang on to them and work hard in the hopes that more doors will open for other women to climb up the ladder.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

When I first started out in TV, there was a female executive I really admired. One day, she told my boss that I should be happy being a secretary because I would never make it in TV. Well, not only did I make it, she left TV and I went on to be a nationally syndicated TV producer. I learned from that experience that women have a choice to make: you can either help someone up the ladder or kick them off, in which case you only make that ladder more unstable. Choose kindness and empathy and empowerment when it comes to your work with other women.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

When I was working at KARK as a topical news producer, I would pester all of our reporters when they came in from the field for what we called a “coming up tonight” tease. Isiah Carey began calling me “DeMandy.” It’s a funny little nickname that has stuck with me throughout my career. Yes, I can be a little bit demanding, but it’s always for the greater good of the team.

STEELE STRAUSS

Real Estate Agent, Jon Underhill Real Estate Company

London, England, born and Little Rock raised, Steele Strauss has never been a stranger to beautiful homes. Strauss grew up surrounded by the historic houses in Little Rock’s Hillcrest district, but it was while walking the cobblestone streets of downtown Charleston, S.C., that she fully fell in love with real estate. Strauss officially kicked off her career in 2019, and she would never dream of doing anything else. Helping people find their dream home always puts a smile on her face. Outside of work, Strauss is an envoy ambassador for the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and is the chair of Habitat for Humanity’s Habitat Young Professional Committee.

What person, past or present, do you admire most? My father, Trip Strauss.

What quality do you admire most in other women? Their confidence.

What is the best part of your day?

Coming home after a good day at work to my couch, comfy clothes and snuggling with my two kitties, Socks and Mr. Tim Riggins.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I have no middle name.

By what saying or slogan are you known to friends, family or business associates?

“Let’s go two!” Whenever I achieve something or something goes well in my life, this is the saying my father says to me. The number two was my first soccer jersey number.

What is No. 1 on your bucket list?

Travel to the Four Seasons in Bora Bora for two weeks.

What advice would you give to others who want to follow in your footsteps?

Learn from your mistakes, keep going and be an honest and good human being.

How would you like to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered as a person who loved life and someone who worked hard to achieve her goals.

SANDRA JOY STORMENT

President, Storment Consulting; Senior Vice President, Regional Human Resources Director, Regions Financial Corp. (retired)

Sandra Joy Storment sees retirement not as an end, but as a beginning. The end of her long career in human resources left her looking for the next opportunity, and she was determined to stay involved and continue to pursue her passions. That commitment led Storment into part-time interior designing and deepening her longtime support for nonprofits such as Women & Children First. Whether she is working on fundraisers, designing for a client or cheering on her grandchildren at sporting events, Storment is all-in all the time. “Seizing the moment, engaging and talking with whomever you are with helps to add to the enjoyment of the experience,” she said. “I have never been one to sit on the sidelines.”

What attracted you to your career?

Actually, my career was happenstance at the beginning. I was living in Bettendorf, Iowa, at the time and took tests for job-matching skills. Banking was a match, and I began my career as an entry-level proof operator at Bettendorf Bank and Trust.

What is your proudest achievement?

My daughter, Shelley. She is beautiful, adaptable and smart, a great mom to her two children, and a great wife to her talented husband, Darek.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I attended eight colleges and universities before I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I did whatever it took to finish my degrees while working, and I have lots of hours in several subjects.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

A few years back, I took lessons and started playing mahjong. I absolutely love the fun women that I play with each Monday afternoon at St. James. It’s the only time when I sit for three and a half hours and totally focus on playing.

What is the most important life lesson that time has taught you?

That this too shall pass. Tomorrow is another day, and things always become clearer the longer you have time to think about it.

KATHY SWANSON

Administrative Officer

Kathy Swanson has always been curious about the judicial system, the constitution and its applicability, so her role for the federal judiciary was a natural fit. Rather than a job, Swanson considers her work an opportunity to be a liaison for the judicial system and to the public she serves. Outside of work, Swanson is adept in another kind of defense – martial arts. In April, she tested for and received her first degree black belt in taekwondo from Kukkiwon Master Hong. When it comes to her legacy, Swanson hopes to be remembered as an adventuresome, fearless spirit with a compassionate heart for all living things.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? National Geographic photojournalist.

What person, past or present do you admire most? My father and mother.

What is your proudest achievement?

Receiving the 2008 Central Arkansas Big Sis of the Year Award.

How do you maintain work-life balance? A calendar.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

I am an ordained minister with the right to officiate weddings, and I am in my final studies to receive a certification as a Meihua Qi Cleanser in 2023.

What is No. 1 on your bucket list? Leave no stone unturned!

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

Hobbies revolve around anything that I can enjoy outdoors. Studying martial arts both external and internal is my greatest project. My curiosity is currently focused on quantum physics, frequency, energy and mindfulness.

What is your hidden talent?

I am a classically trained pianist.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

You are loved! You are OK just as you are. Keep an open mind. There are always options. Breathe. Seek trustworthy individuals who will listen without judgment.

MARTHA ELLEN TALBOT

Owner, Marlsgate Plantation

For Martha Ellen Talbot, preserving Marlsgate Plantation and welcoming visitors to the Scott community is a dream come true. Talbot and her husband, Beau, acquired the historic Greek revival mansion in 2017, and it continues to be the site of a variety of classes, tours and life events, from birthdays and weddings to gatherings of all kinds. In addition to being stewards of the town’s history, the couple also owns the popular Scott Station restaurant and The Curve Market, which showcases local produce and goods. Talbot cherishes her work and could not imagine doing anything else. “It is the highest level of challenging, satisfying and meaningful,” she said.

How do you maintain work-life balance?

The “balance” is in the blending! For seven years, we have been living our work, and the longest days have become the best days of our lives.

What role does faith play in your life?

We are where we are and who we are because of our belief that we are following God’s plan with all our heart and with the best of intentions.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

Part of our “country living” lifestyle revolves around animals – both those we choose and those who are “dumped” and choose us. Our animal family currently includes three dogs, three goats, one sheep (Beau Peep), a miniature donkey, three roosters, three cats and a revolving door of “Scott Strays” that we keep safe until we can find loving homes for them.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

Nonprofit work has been a focus and a passion. I have served for 12 years in the 20th Century Club in support of our lodge, which provides no-cost housing for cancer patients receiving treatment in our area. I have served for over 15 years in support of Hearts & Hooves Therapeutic Riding Center, and now Beyond

Boundaries Equine-Assisted Therapy Center,assisting those with disabilities through partnership with our amazing horses. Both causes represent missions that are a part of my heart.

2023

BARBARA WOMACK WEBB

Justice, Arkansas Supreme Court

Justice Barbara Womack Webb went to law school to help people live a better life. Initially, she expected to fulfill that noble goal through international law, but Webb soon realized that the best place to make a difference was in her own community. She became the first female circuit judge in Saline County in 2018, was the first female prosecuting attorney for Saline County, and she also opened a domestic violence shelter for abused women and children. Having worked diligently to clean up corruption, repair the criminal justice system and restore respect for the rule of law, Webb has earned her place on the state’s highest court, where she strives to be fair and unbiased.

What person, past or present, do you admire?

I admire my parents, who taught me that I could be successful at whatever I chose to be if I worked well with others, worked hard and remained focused on my goals with a strong faith in God.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I admire women who share with others the blessings they have been given. On a more practical note, I am not a very talented cook, and I admire men and women who feel at home in their kitchen and can bring friends, family and even strangers together to share a good meal and spend time together.

What is something others would be surprised to know about you?

I am an identical twin. I have four brilliant and beautiful sisters who are my best role models and have achieved success in their own careers and family lives.

What do you love most about what you do?

I love finding ways to look at a problem and create solutions in order to achieve what others might view as impossible.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Joy is something that you find from within yourself and not from trying to meet the expectations of others.

How would you like to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered as a person who treated others the way that she wanted to be treated and loved her Lord, her family, her friends and the law!

What is the best part of your day?

When I get welcomed home by my three Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies with their unbounding energy and unconditional love.

CANDICE WHITLOCK

Realtor, Signature Properties

After purchasing several investment properties with her husband, Jeff, Candice Whitlock found herself increasingly curious about the world of real estate. She eventually decided to follow her interest full-time, and that choice has more than paid off. Since obtaining her license, Whitlock has turned a passion for property into a successful real estate career. Whitlock said she loves getting to know clients and helping them choose the ideal place to make memories for years to come. While her professional accomplishments are impressive, Whitlock’s proudest achievement by far is her family, and she relishes the time she gets to spend with her three children, Laiken, Ana Karol and Pate.

If you could have any other job, what would it be? News anchor.

What quality do you admire most in other women?

The ability to cheer each other on.

How have your experiences shaped you into the woman you are today?

Over the years, I have learned that not wanting to be confrontational does not mean you have to stay quiet. My opinions, ideas and feelings are just as important as the other person’s.

What is one thing you would tell your 18-year-old self?

Get out of the tanning bed!

What is the secret to staying vital and relevant at any age?

Staying connected with your community and investing time in your current relationships.

What role does faith play in your life?

I never get too anxious or stressed about most things because I know the Lord has a plan for me. He is there to protect and guide me.

How would you like to be remembered?

I hope that people feel like I treated them kindly.

Hearing what song makes you feel 21 again?

“Wide Open Spaces” by The Chicks.

2023

WILLIAMS

Director of Operations, Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance

Temeka Williams has wanted to be many things throughout the years, but it was the desire to help those in need that eventually led her into nonprofit work. Now, 17 years into her tenure as the director of operations for the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, Williams describes her work as “the boring basics” –financials, HR, keeping the lights on. But those basics lay the foundation for some incredible work: “When our team gleans a field, teaches someone how to shop healthy on a budget or provides information and resources to an individual or family, it increases their food security,” Williams said. “Who wouldn’t love that?”

What quality do you admire most in other women?

I’m most proud of any woman who is not afraid to let you see her flaws and is willing to let you know the lessons she’s learned.

What is the best part of your day?

The drive after work. I used to call my grandmother every day before she passed last year, but now that time is filled with music, a quick phone call to family and friends or complete silence. Basically, it’s when I decompress from the day.

What is your proudest achievement? Keeping my family close and doing anything I can for them. My family tree’s roots are just as wide as they are deep, but I make the effort to be there for them as often as possible.

What are your favorite hobbies/pet projects outside of work?

I’m fortunate to serve on a couple boards because of my work at the Alliance, but they are both projects I care about. Serving through ViPS (Volunteers in Public Schools) and, most recently, joining the American Cancer Society’s Arkansas Advisory board, is as rewarding as it is fun.

What’s the most important life lesson that time has taught you? Never say never.

How would you like to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered as being fair to anyone that deserved it. I also hope my nieces and nephews think that I’m the best Mema ever.

What’s No. 1 on your bucket list? To visit a country outside of North America.

The Forward PATH

Arkansas organization works to combat human trafficking

The July premiere of The Sound of Freedom brought human trafficking to the forefront of audiences’ minds, and although the film’s protagonist travels to Columbia to save children from sex traffickers, human trafficking also occurs close to home. Louise Allison, founder of Partners Against Human Trafficking, said Arkansas is not immune.

“When we started talking about sexual abuse and sex trafficking, nobody believed that it happened here,” she said. “Part of our education was to say it does happen here. It’s right down the road. It is not in a poor neighborhood. We have people in very affluent neighborhoods that are being trafficked.”

Allison founded PATH in 2011 after working as a nurse and seeing a need for an organization that serves victims of sex crimes.

“I’d see a lot of sexual abuse and things that were happening in the community just in the medical field and realized that there wasn’t anyone specifically in Arkansas — and very few in the nation — that were specific to caring for the needs of those who had experienced sex crimes,” she said. “I thought that God was leading me to step out of my role as a clinician and do this instead.”

At the time, Arkansas was one of the worst states in the nation when it came to human trafficking because of Interstate 40, which provides a “huge venue for transporting,” and because of insufficient human trafficking laws.

“All these states around us had beefed up their laws, and Arkansas had not, so this was a safe place

for traffickers to hide,” she said. “The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported Arkansas as having an F on their report card as one of the worst in the nation. In a couple of years, our legislators took that from an F to an A.”

Legislators are a major partner for PATH, which worked with the Arkansas State Legislature to pass the Human Trafficking Act of 2013. The act called for the attorney general to establish a task force to address every aspect of human trafficking in the state, the Arkansas Attorney General’s website states.

Additional legislation has been developed since then, including sexual-abuse training requirements for educators and laws that have helped facilitate the arrest and imprisonment of perpetrators, Allison said.

The legislative and governmental fight against human trafficking in the U.S. began with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which banned slavery and human servitude in 1865. For decades, the Department of Justice filed its trafficking cases under federal statutes related to slavery and servitude, but, the department’s website states, the criminal laws were “narrow and patchwork.”

After 2000, Congress began flexing some governmental muscle and passed a number of bills that more effectively targeted trafficking, beginning with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations and reincarnation as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017.

State governments began following suit with legislation. Meanwhile, in 2009, the nonprofit Truckers Against Trafficking was formed in Oklahoma.

The technology and infrastructure of the trucking industry is often used to perpetuate human trafficking. Traffickers communicate via CB radio, and truck stops, because of their frequently isolated locations, are used as marketplaces or venues for moving victims to different cities.

Some drivers have also been complicit in trafficking humans.

According to state legislature figures, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has identified 557 human trafficking cases and close to 1,500 victims in Arkansas since 2007.

Truckers Against Trafficking was founded to utilize some of those same elements of the trucking industry and its infrastructure as a force for good. Through training videos and educational opportunities, TAT and partners such as the American Trucking Associations, J.B. Hunt, Amazon, Walmart, TravelCenters of America and UPS raise awareness and train truck drivers how to spot suspected incidents of trafficking and report them to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which was created in 2007.

TAT developed its curriculum and began partnering with various trucking associations, including, in 2016, the Arkansas Trucking Association.

“I believe that the trucking industry is well positioned to help be part of the solution in the fight against human trafficking because our industry is very transient and very mobile,” said Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. “Where employees report to work are often the same places traffickers use to recruit or transport victims or put them to work.”

Newton said at first, the partnership was just an agreement to work with TAT to inform association members about how to train their drivers.

“So initially it was, ‘Hey, here’s this program. They have this training video. Please incorporate it into your monthly safety meetings or show it at orientation,’” Newton said.

When it became apparent that drivers could be instrumental in the fight against trafficking, the TAT programs began to evolve into policy. In 2017, the Arkansas Legislature passed ACT 922, which mandated that anyone applying for a Class A Commercial Drivers License or renewal must complete human trafficking training and provide a certificate to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

Act 922 was sponsored by state Rep. Charlotte Douglas, who is

no longer in office, and co-sponsored by state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, who was murdered after she left office in 2019.

Not directly administered by the state, the initial training incorporated what TAT was already doing and included a 26-minute movie and 15-question quiz.

Newton described the legislative posture as aggressive at the time it was passed, but the accessibility of the training has led to general acceptance.

“There were a little bit of growing pains there, and I think we’ve kind of worked through that,” Newton said. “Some education and heightened awareness about the issue have made people more sympathetic to the training.”

Drivers are taught what trafficking red flags to look for and how to report suspicious activity. For safety’s sake, under no condition are drivers to approach the suspected traffickers on their own.

“They are strongly discouraged from engaging with any individual they might see participating in potentially illegal behavior,” Newton said. “It is strictly observe and report as much as possible.”

According to state legislature figures, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has identified 557 human trafficking cases and close to 1,500 victims in Arkansas since 2007.

The fight against human trafficking is

“When we started talking about sexual abuse and sex trafficking, nobody believed that it happened here. Part of our education was to say it does happen here. It’s right down the road. It is not in a poor neighborhood. We have people in very affluent neighborhoods that are being trafficked.”

a frequent campaign issue and reflected in continuing legislation in statehouses. In its last session, the Arkansas Legislature passed six bills related to the subject, and Gov. Sarah Sanders issued an executive order directing an integrated approach between state departments, agencies and anti-trafficking organizations.

“I think it’s important for Arkansas to be a leader in this area because we are right in the corridor of I-40 running through, and I think that’s where we see a lot of human trafficking takes place, along our highway system,” said state Rep. Charlene Fite. “Keeping it before the public will only help us.”

Fite, in her sixth term, represents District 24 and sponsored two of the recent bills.

Act 327 increases the fines for trafficking convictions and related charges to between $5,000 and $15,000 and directs the fines to be divided between specific funds supporting exploited children and trafficking victims. Act 330 ensures human trafficking victims are eligible for crime reparations, even if they do not cooperate with law enforcement.

“I was interested in these two bills because they were victim-oriented,” said Fite, a retired teacher and former missionary to Taiwan. While she witnessed no incidents related to trafficking, Fite said her travel experiences made her aware of the plight of people who are victimized by traffickers overseas. She also noted that foster children are especially vulnerable.

A member of the Arkansas Attorney General’s State Task Force for the Prevention of Human Trafficking, Fite praised the efforts of groups such as PATH and the Arkansas Trucking Association, which held a conference on the subject in northwest Arkansas during the summer.

“A very good, all-day session with Human Trafficking 101 — just what it is and how you recognize it,” Fite said.

Newton emphasized the need for awareness and education about the topic. “If you haven’t been exposed to it and you haven’t read about it in the news, then you don’t really know what it looks like,” she said.

The real face of human trafficking, of course, is the victims. When the laws and programs work and children are rescued, they are often damaged physically and mentally.

Arkansas Surgeon General Kay Chandler is a physician who has been at the Cornerstone Clinic for Women since 1997.

She said one of the biggest challenges to providing care after sexual abuse is reassuring rescued women suffering from physical and emotional trauma that they are not permanently damaged by their experiences, that they can return to a normal life and that they have worth.

“One of the biggest things I’ve seen, of course we only see women, and they just feel like there’s got to be something wrong with them now,” Chandler said.

She recalled one patient who was convinced her organs would be forever abnormal and that she would never be able to have children.

“She just broke down and cried,” Chandler said. “Just that reassurance, that, ‘Hey, I can be OK,’ that’s just one of the biggest things.”

Chandler said the clinic strives to be a loving and comfortable place that eases women back to health and a return to society.

“Our goal was really just to show them care and compassion and make them feel as at ease as possible,” she said.

Unique to central Arkansas, if not the whole state, Cornerstone Clinic is the only facility of its kind to offer its own urgent care for women. Patients can simply walk in without an appointment, which suits the schedules of many seeking care and treatment.

Additionally, Cornerstone works with PATH to provide cost-free

treatment to survivors.

Legislative changes have made an impact on trafficking in Arkansas. (Photos provided)

“If they have Medicare or insurance, we’ll file it. If they don’t, it’s OK,” said Chandler, who is scheduled to give remarks at the Light the PATH fundraiser at Little Rock’s Chenal Events Center on Oct. 26.

Allison said people can expect “fun and good food” at Light the Path, which will occur Oct. 26 at Chenal Event Venue in Little Rock.

“We’ll be there to share a little bit about what PATH does, of course, but I’ll be there to eat and say hi to everybody and get a lot of hugs,” she said. “That’s why I’m there.”

According to PATH’s website, the event will be emceed by Heather Baker, publisher of AY About You, and feature a live and silent auction, music by Pat Becker and the Rex Bell Trio, and cuisine by Master Chef Evette Brady. Attendees are encouraged to wear white to symbolize shining a light through the darkness of sexual abuse and trafficking.

Despite the growing awareness of human trafficking and the recent attention it has received, Chandler said she still thinks there is a long way to go. Appointed surgeon general in April, the governor’s task force having been set up just a couple months earlier, Chandler has not yet had much time in the role, but she said she would be interested in more training for more people in more walks of life and especially wants to see more education for young people who are often potential victims.

“Any awareness that we can raise so people know. I hope we can focus on prevention so we can educate young people,” she said. “Things to watch for to help them avoid falling prey to human trafficking and sex crimes in general.

“I’m grateful for PATH and other organizations and what’s going on in the governor’s office and legislature. … All this goes hand in hand. The drug problems that we have along this I-40 corridor, I know we’re a big hotspot for that. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to raise awareness and how we’re going to make a change.”

PATH provides training for educators, counselors and first responders, as well as four annual training sessions for the general public.

“Four times a year, we provide training on sex crimes — what they are, how to recognize it, what our role is, how we can intervene, and then any ways we can help just generally in the community or with the care of the survivors,” Allison said. “It tells a little bit about who the purchaser is, who the trafficker is, how the person is trapped, so

it goes from the problem to all the people involved in the problem, rescue and aftercare.”

She added that the training also highlights the recovery that is possible after escaping human trafficking.

“It’s not just the darkness and brutality of it that we teach; it’s also the hope because there is a crime, but there’s also the hope and the healing,” she said. “If we did not show them the hope and the healing, I don’t know how horrible they’d feel when they left our training because it’s a dark subject.”

PATH assists both male and female survivors older than 4. The organization offers a safe house for women older than 18. Children are usually housed in foster care or have a safe home, Allison said, adding that PATH works with both the children and caregivers to facilitate healing.

“In the beginning, it was just adult females, and then God showed me it was a lot bigger than that,” she said. “That’s when we started the day center so that we could have classes and provide for a variety of needs — not just adult women that needed a place to live, but people that already have a place to live, different levels of sex crime, minors and men.”

PATH can provide or connect individuals to anything they need after experiencing human trafficking or sexual abuse, Allison said, adding that the organization assists with housing, medical needs, therapy and life skills.

“When they come to us, we do an individualized assessment. What do they need physically, as far as dental care, see a physician, a place to stay? Everything they need physically, everything they need emotionally, everything they need for healing to get back to their highest level of functioning,” she said. “Some people come to us with a master’s degree after a brutal rape, and other have been homeless and were sold on the streets at the age of 7, so a completely different set of needs.”

PATH also helps survivors get back to enjoying life by providing recreational and therapeutic activities.

“A lot of them stopped having fun after the initial assault, and so we

teach them how to laugh and play again,” Allison said. “We have a lot of fun with that. We hike. We go to different museums like the Discovery Museum. We go to the zoo. We have classes here, art classes.”

In addition, PATH offers a Flights to Freedom program in which the organization pays for children who are trafficked outside of Arkansas to fly home.

When it comes to recognizing human trafficking, the general rule of thumb is anything that looks wrong probably is, Allison added.

“For us just riding around, anything that looks strange might be,” she said. “When you see a vehicle pull up at a truck stop and it’s 8:30, 9 o’clock at night, and a lot of girls are getting out in pj’s and going to the bathroom and coming out in short skirts, there’s a likelihood that something’s going on because that’s not normal.”

Human trafficking is a worsening problem, she said, but people often do not notice obvious signs.

“In our business and our routine, we choose not to stop and see that that guy is with that teenager, and she’s not making eye contact, and now another guy is leaving with her. One guy brought her in. Another one’s leaving with her,” she said. “You can see it at the bus stop. You can see it at the airport. You can see it in the grocery store, and so it is everywhere. We just don’t see it because we’re too busy.”

If an onlooker sees something suspicious, he or she should call the police and provide as much information as possible, such as descriptions, license plate numbers, location and the direction the suspicious people are traveling, she added.

Those experiencing human trafficking, sex trafficking or sexual slavery can call PATH’s helpline, 501-301-HELP.

“It’s not just the darkness and brutality of it that we teach; it’s also the hope because there is a crime, but there’s also the hope and the healing.”

Homes of Hope

Women of the Year grow WOW into a force helping survivors of violence

In Saline County, a woman opens a door to a trim villa and lets her eyes take in the fresh, inviting space. She does not own the house, but for the foreseeable future, it is hers, and after what she and her kids have been through, even a temporary place that is this nice and this safe will do. The keys she used to unlock the door feel like a prayer in her trembling hand as her children file in and start to tentatively look around. No, this is not where she pictured herself or her children, but it is what a second chance looks like. It already feels an inch closer to home.

Jajuan Archer knows every board and tile in these homes. As founder of Women’s Own Worth, a nonprofit that serves victims of violence, she dreamed of providing a place where survivors could begin to restart their lives in the aftermath of their ordeal. Not long ago these villas were nothing more than a crazy dream, the kind of wildly ambitious goal where people would wish her good luck to her face then discount her as delusional behind her back.

That is what makes these villas such a crowning achievement — the journey from dream to bare ground and bare ground to recruiting partners that donated expertise, labor or, in the case of Lowe’s in Bryant, materials. Then from there, at last, to the grand opening to welcome the first shaken survivor hoping to blur the images of the past and focus on the future.

“The villas were built for people to transition back into the community on their own,” Archer said. “They can live there six months to two years. They’re not living rent-free; it’s a hand up, not a handout. We’re helping them reestablish their work in their community, reestablish schooling and extracurricular activities for their children. The way they’re able to do that is by being able to help themselves. We’re just helping them.”

Archer also sees the villas with an understanding of their occupants that only comes from having been where they have been. To have known what it is to see death approaching and claw for an escape frantically yet

in slow motion. She has smelled the acrid black power, heard a pistol bark loudly enough to drown out her primal screams. She knows what it is to have survived, only to wonder how to live from that day forward.

A dozen years ago, Archer was ambushed outside her home by Calvin Keith Brown, who forced her into a car at the barrel of a rifle, promising to end her life. Inside, Archer snatched a pistol out of her purse, emptying it into her deranged ex-boyfriend, then took off running down the street. Witnesses say Brown staggered out of the car to level the fully loaded .30-06 at her but crumpled to the ground before firing a shot.

“I really honor and appreciate people, other survivors, who tell their story,” Archer said softly. “We learn to live with it and over and through it.”

In the aftermath of the incident, Archer struggled to come to terms with what had happened, at one point spending a month sleeping on the floor of a closet in her home, too terrified to sleep in her bed. She quickly formed the resolve to help others by creating Women’s Own Worth to connect community resources and provide a general shoulder to lean on for anyone who needed it following an attack or living under the cloud of domestic violence.

“Women’s Own Worth bridges the gap from all federal-and-state

funded programs in our state,” Archer said. “We help them with therapy, housing, with transportation, with food, with everything. We let them know what food pantries are available. We help them to get established on SNAP if they’re in a low-income bracket.

“We help them to do all those things through our volunteers. No one is getting paid in this organization — not me, not anyone. We just use our connections in the community to help in any way we can.”

Archer has lived by an “all of one” credo in building WOW from a small personal ministry to its place in the continuum of local resources for survivors. As each goal was conceived, she found individuals along the way who were happy to share a little of the load by providing guidance, expertise and time.

For the most committed among them, Archer created WOW’s Woman of the Year. Since 2015, nine individuals have been so honored in recognition of their work helping survivors move past their circumstances and resume their lives.

“These women are an inspiration to others to get involved and do things in the community,” Archer said. “It takes a village, and all these ladies have been significant to our mission and to so many people.”

There has arguably never been a more dangerous time to live in Ar-

Jajuan Archer, WOW founder

“Women’s Own Worth bridges the gap from all federal-and-state funded programs in our state. We help them with therapy, housing, with transportation, with food, with everything.”

kansas, and it is only getting worse.

In 1985, the first year of statistics available via the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer database, Arkansas’ rate of violent crime was 348 crimes per 100,000 individuals, nearly 200 crimes below the national average and far and away the safest crime period in the state’s recent history.

Three years later, violent crime began a steep ascent, peaking with the Bangin’ in Little Rock gang era of the mid-1990s, when violent crime incidents flirted with 600 per 100,000 people. The next decade saw dramatic reductions in the violent crime rate, bottoming out in 2002 at 425 crimes per 100,000 population. From there, the rate stair-stepped upward, crossing above the national average in 2003 and never looking back.

Except for a mild lowering in 2011 to 2014, the last period numbers were in the 400 crimes per 100,000 population tier, the crime rate has reached one historic peak after another. By 2019, violent crime had equaled the Bangin’ years, and 2020 saw the single largest one-year spike on record, jumping to 672 per 100,000 individuals, a mark 273 crimes higher than the national average.

In 2020, the aggravated assault rate was the highest on record with 536 crimes per 100,000 individuals, a 95-crime increase from the previous year. Homicide and rape crimes were the third highest since 1985, at 10.6 murders and 74 rapes per 100,000 individuals. In October 2022, USAFacts.com reported Arkansas had the highest violent crime rate among the 43 states reporting at a sobering 709 crimes per 100,000 people. To put that into perspective, Arkansas’ rate was nearly seven times that of the lowest crime rate in the nation, New York’s, at 102 crimes per 100,000 people.

Heather Baker, president of AY Media Group and publisher of this magazine, was attacked with her husband in a carjacking attempt on Nov. 12, 2021, following dinner out in the posh Heights neighborhood of Little Rock. Two individuals approached with guns drawn, opening fire on the car. Despite 30 shots fired, resulting in 18 slugs striking the car's frame and interior, neither occupant sustained a serious physical injury. The psychological wounds have been slower to heal.

“You don’t know who you’re going to talk to on any given day or what they’re going to say to you that will bring you back into it,” Baker said. “I have had to learn to cope and be on a level where people aren’t overwhelmed with my situation. People have empathy, but they don’t understand this unless they’ve gone through it.”

Armed with this realization, Baker took her newfound awareness and redoubled her efforts to support organizations working with violence victims, WOW among them. She and her husband, Ryan, also spoke extensively to lawmakers to increase awareness and resources for mental health services through the state’s Crime Victims Reparations Board.

“We met with lawmakers to really advocate for mental health awareness,” she said. “Less than a quarter of a percent of the money through the reparations board was going to mental health awareness. I think that’s a huge faux pas because people who have dealt with

WOW's immediate goal is to raise enough money to construct another villa, like this one, to help survivors start over.

violence have to get help or it destroys their lives."

The scope of domestic violence is murkier to ascertain because such crimes are often prosecuted under existing statues for felony or misdemeanor assault, murder or sexual assault, per the Office of Violence Against Women of the U.S. Department of Justice. While more states now have more specific language on the books that defines domestic abuse offenses up to and including animal abuse, many experts believe domestic violence crimes are among the lowest reported, which makes it difficult to compile reliable statistics.

That said, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence suggests about 20 people per minute experience physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner, more than 10 million Americans every year. About 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men experience severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point during their lives. In Arkansas, 41 percent of women and 35 percent of men surveyed reported experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime, ranking the Natural State 10th and 11th in the country, respectively.

Yet as common as it is, domestic violence still hides in plain sight in many neighborhoods either through apathy, ignorance to the problem or the simple disbelief that it is anything other than a crime found among other segments of society. Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood said this point was driven home for her when, while starting out as an attorney, she began taking cases that help women dealing with abusive situations.

“I had one really terrible case,” she said. “The husband was in a position of enormous power physically, professionally, economically and in every way was abusive. My client saw no way out; she said he told her ‘No lawyer can protect you from me, no one will even take your case to get you out of this situation, and if you try to leave, I will have the kids,’ and he was physically abusive in every way.

“I remember in taking on that case and being successful in getting her and her kids away from him, it really tugged at my heart. Her children were in school with my children, and I remember thinking how they were all portrayed as being this perfect family. Nobody knew what was going on behind closed doors. I think that gave me a passion for this issue.”

In stepping into the breach, WOW provides myriad services to help survivors get back on their feet, connect with resources and normalize their lives. The group fits into a spectrum of agencies in central Arkansas,

each with their own approach to the problem but all highly necessary in the continuing battle to serve families, said Arkansas Rep. Charlene Fite, longtime WOW board member.

“It’s not a competition because sadly, there are plenty of victims,” Fite said. “There’s plenty of work for everyone, but I do think one difference in WOW’s approach is that we come alongside survivors after all the legal work is done and things have settled down a little bit to see what they need. We provide ongoing counseling as they need it. We provide medical services. We have dentists. We have people willing to help with transportation, with providing cars or furniture — all the things that they’re going to need to build a new life for themselves and for their children.”

Archer has a goal of building one more villa to fill up the parcel of ground, a $250,000 proposition. Part of her fundraising effort is WOWapalooza, which this year will be a luncheon at the Governor’s Mansion on Oct. 10. The 10th annual event will also serve to recognize the 2023 Women of the Year.

“Is that our goal, to raise it all through the luncheon? No,” Archer said. “That would be amazing and wonderful, but we know that it’s going to take more fundraising than that. We’ve been blessed with people who really care and go above and beyond to help us. I know that we’ll reach our goal one way or another and continue to help families and work with people who have been victimized in order to get their lives back on track.”

2015

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Kimberly Key-Bell Social Worker

In her professional life, Kimberly Key-Bell helps juveniles deal with the fallout of bad situations at home. She got involved with Women’s Own Worth as an extension of her passion for breaking the cycle of abuse in young people.

“Domestic violence is a direct contributor to our kids becoming or [being] adjudicated as delinquents,” she said. “When you’ve grown up in a home where you watched a mother be abused or neglected or you’ve been neglected or abused yourself and are traumatized, those things aid in delinquency.

“People don’t always want to talk about that which is unfortunate because our kids don’t choose to wind up in delinquency; it’s a result of trauma that they often find themselves in a juvenile justice system.”

During the early days of Women’s Own Worth, Key-Bell served as referral therapist for the families the organization served. She said WOW has an uphill battle to fight as society in general becomes more desensitized to violence.

“We accept violence as a norm in this country,” she said. “Yes, you can say there is mental illness at play here. However, we don’t talk about the ills of poverty. We don’t talk about disenfranchisement. We don’t talk about the blatant acceptance of violence that breeds sys temic issues among women, children, among the poor, the elderly.

“As a clinician, I know there are several organizations that all fill their niche in this process. WOW has been one of them that has done it very well.”

Every home is an album of snapshots, capturing thousands of moments within the frame of its walls that are spliced together to create the life story of those who dwell within. Some of the images glow with joy; others, however, are darker. Ask a woman who has been beaten in her home or any person who has been shot at random in an act of violent crime, and they could affirm how the mind holds these images closer in consciousness, projecting them on the lens of the mind’s eye again and again in agonizingly sharp detail.

Archer, knowing what it feels like to live with those images cluttering the walls of one’s psyche, pours herself into WOW, determined to provide homes of hope to help others step towards a brighter future, with a little help from her friends.

“Our Women of the Year, like all our volunteers, are so different, and yet they have all made such a substantially significant impact in our mission,” she said. “We want survivors to use their stories as inspiration to do great things with their lives and within the community in whatever avenue that they want. That’s the dream.”

WOWapalooza Luncheon

Arkansas Governor’s Mansion

11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10

For ticket or to make a donation, visit womensownworth.com.

2016

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Penny Waldroup Survivor

In October 2006, Penny Waldroup drove her children to her husband’s Tennessee residence. She had suffered years of abuse with him, and the couple was now going through a nasty divorce. Along for support was Penny’s friend, Leslie Bradshaw. When they arrived, an armed and intoxicated Brad Waldroup was waiting. An argument ensued wherein Brad blamed Leslie for disrupting the marriage, ultimately shooting and killing her.

Penny was also shot and bludgeoned in front of the couple’s children but survived. Now, almost 20 years later, time has done little to dim the terror of that day, but like Archer, Waldroup is determined to channel her painful experiences into a resolve to help others. It is a path both scary and of solace.

“WOW is providing not only material things that are needed when you walk away from abusive relationships, but most importantly, stability, support, understanding and love,” she said. “Essentially, the material things like housing are a must-have for stability. However, understanding and having caring people to show you you’re not alone is critical in those moments.

“I’m not sure what the future holds for me other than trying to live life fully. However, I know I will continue to fight for victims of domestic violence. I will be a voice for the voiceless. I will be open arms and ears to anyone who is in need to the best of my ability. I will never give up this fight to help this cause.”

2017

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Rep. Charlene Fite Assistant Speaker pro tempore, Arkansas House of Representatives

During Arkansas Rep. Charlene Fite’s second term in office, she saw a social media post seeking a sponsor for a bill that would help train the state’s cosmetologists to recognize signs of domestic violence. Fite reached out and met Jajuan Archer for the first time. The bill ultimately passed.

“It was really a great deal, and there was no real opposition to it. It was one of those bipartisan things that everybody could get behind,” Fite said. “I really enjoyed sponsoring that, and Jajuan and I got to be friends.”

Fite served on WOW’s board and became a passionate advocate for families in crisis. She has also become astute at connecting the dots between violence and other societal ills, thereby passing legislation that better addresses root causes.

“One of the main reasons children enter foster care is because of drugs or violence in the home. All of those things go together,” she said. “Arkansas is one of the leading states in a bad way for domestic violence and in drug use, so my focus has been on how can we improve things overall?

“All the laws in the world can’t make things better, but groups like Women’s Own Worth, in giving women hope and seeing a different way that their lives can be, can change lives. When we can break the cycle for a family, we’re improving life not only for those children, but for future generations.”

2017 WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Jennifer Lancaster Partner, Lancaster Law Firm

Having become increasingly aware of the prevalence of domestic violence in the community through her firm’s family practice, Jennifer Lancaster jumped at the chance to provide legal services to victims through WOW.

“When I met Jajuan and as we were talking, I realized she needed an attorney in Saline County who is familiar with the court system to assist the victims with obtaining orders of protection,” Lancaster said. “That is how I got involved and how I first started helping Jajuan and working with her.”

Lancaster said she is most impressed by what the organization has grown into over the years.

“WOW’s fundraising and connections serve people,” she said. “They’re bridging that gap, that lag time before the government can start providing some kind of assistance. WOW fills that critical role.”

Working with WOW inspired Lancaster to form her own nonprofit that provides protection for survivors’ pets, a byproduct of domestic violence most people do not think about.

“Domestic violence shelters here in Arkansas are not all equipped to accom modate pets,” she said. “Many victims don’t want to leave because they don’t want to leave their animal behind. We’ve personally represented somebody where the abuser killed the family pet.

“I started a program within my nonprofit where we would help victims by taking in the animal, providing them either with a foster home or covering the cost to board them at a local facility, cover the cost of food and any medical care the animal needed while the victim was getting back on his or her feet.”

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Jane Evans, R.N. Nurse Educator

Jane Evans met Jajuan Archer as a client of Archer’s salon, and a fast friendship soon formed. She watched Archer deal with the emotional effects of her ordeal and readily agreed to help with the founding of Women’s Own Worth.

“Watching her live through that, I was, as anyone should be, impressed and deeply moved and deeply empathetic with her experience, although I have never been the victim of the kind of violence she was, whether from a partner or from anyone else,” Evans said. “I felt very privileged to be part of her support team and see this story evolve as it did.

“When she very quickly went to take that trauma and turn it into a powerful force for good and a sanctuary for other victims of violence, that was equally impressive.”

Evans pitched in as a fundraiser for the organization and said she has been gratified to see how her efforts have directly helped individuals in crisis.

“As a registered nurse, I’ve had a bazillion #MeToo experiences; every part of my body has been grabbed by some man throughout my life, but I’ve never been threatened with violence,” she said. “Jajuan enlisted a lot of my loyalty by how she transformed this hideous experience into a powerful savior for victims. It’s an extraordinary thing.

“Today, WOW has helped thousands of people, touched the lives of hundreds of families, and remained an excellent example to our community of what we can do to stop the violence.”

2019

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Heather Baker President, AY Media Group

Heather Baker was named 2019 Woman of the Year for her support and publicity of WOW’s activities, but two years later is when what she considers her authentic advocacy began. Baker and her husband were the victims of a would-be carjacking, narrowly escaping in a hail of bullets. The case remains open.

“I realize how blessed Ryan and I are. We had the safety of the Lord on our side, and without that protection, there is no reason we should be alive,” she said. “Knowing that, I feel like I need to go out and help as many people as I can.”

The couple worked with lawmakers to increase funding for mental health services via a state program serving survivors of violent crime. They have pitched in on a more personal level to help WOW and other organizations serve more families.

“We’ve helped connect people to support groups and church groups that offer some sort of counseling,” she said. “We’ve helped people financially get into some sort of therapy or helped them gain the resources to do so.”

Heather has also kept the issue of violence front and center in the public mind, be it through articles in AY About You and Arkansas Money & Politics magazines or via her personal testimony.

“The typical victim goes through something horrible, but because they’re not a public figure, they’re in the news for a day, and then it blows over,” she said. “When it happens to somebody who’s really visible, more people tend to sit up and listen. I have a platform to tell a story from, and that’s exactly what I will continue to do.”

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Misty Hunt Development and Public Policy Specialist, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas

Misty Hunt was introduced to the issues surrounding domestic violence in Arkansas during her time as chief of staff for former Arkansas First Lady Susan Hutchinson, and since February, she has applied what she learned to the mission of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas. She said she is still inspired in her work by what she saw from her former boss.

“Watching Susan’s determination, her passion, her attitude of never giving up and yet also, she led with such grace,” Hunt said. “[Child abuse] is such a hard subject, yet she was willing to go out and speak about it. People don’t want to admit domestic violence happens, and it does. It happens right next door, it happens to the people that you know. Susan was willing to sit up in front of an audience of 300 and tell them the truth. For me, that spoke wonders.”

One of the organizations the first lady advocated was WOW, which introduced Hunt to the organization’s mission. She worked directly with the group for special events such as Woman of the Year recognition events. She said she was shocked when the tables were turned and she was the focus of that recognition.

“Women’s Own Worth means, literally, to know your worth, but I felt undeserving,” she said. “There are so many more people that do so many wonderful things. It was a huge honor; I wanted to use it to make sure victims know that we’re here. It was something I didn’t expect. I hope and I pray that I’ve lived up to it.”

2021 WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Associate Justice

Rhonda Wood

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice

Associate Justice Rhonda Wood did not start her legal career as a crusader for the downtrodden, but the challenges of starting a law practice and her commitment to pro bono work for underserved populations put her legal career on a collision course with being a trial lawyer, which led to a justiceship.

“I did not see myself on the bench, so I would say that makes me an ‘accidental’ Supreme Court Justice,” she said. “It was just God opening different doors on my legal path.”

Since 2014, Wood has chaired the Supreme Court’s Commission on Children, Youth and Families, through which she crossed paths with Women’s Own Worth. She then became a valued point of contact for various tasks that needed to get done but had languished, especially updating the Arkansas domestic violence handbook, a self-help guide for survivors that explains legal rights and how to get help from the system.

Wood continues to advocate for families in crisis whenever the opportunity presents itself. She said while much has been made of domestic violence in recent years, there is still a long way to go.

“There is still the perception that [a survivor is] weak for staying,” she said. “In fact, some women in these terrible situations are so strong, and in seeing it as an inherent weakness, the rest of us are putting the blame on the victim. We think they have a door they can walk through, but it’s rarely that easy to see it in that situation.”

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

Dawn Jones Sissy’s Log Cabin

A few months into dating her future husband, Dawn Jones accompanied him to a WOWapalooza. She said she was already painfully aware of the problem of violence in Arkansas, but the event was inspiring in how it provided hope and healing for survivors.

Since joining the Jones family behind the iconic Sissy’s Log Cabin jewelry chain, which designed and produces the custom necklace presented to Woman of the Year honorees, Dawn Jones has continued to stay active with WOW through various projects and initiatives.

“To me, the biggest thing about violence in Arkansas and especially domestic violence is just how common it still is,” she said. “I don’t want to say every woman, but unfortunately most women have experienced some form or fashion of it at some point in their life. That’s just heartbreaking to me.

“Sissy’s still does WOWapalooza every year, and I work with Jajuan on that. I’ve worked with her on the halfway houses she’s building. Anything she asks, I usu ally do my best to say yes and make it happen.

As for being named a Woman of the Year herself, Jones was taken aback.

“It was very humbling,” she said. “I couldn’t really figure out why Jajuan wanted me at first. In my mind, I didn’t think I was doing much to help her. I was doing what I could, but I didn’t think it was award worthy. Jajuan told me, and I think this is a lesson for everybody, every little bit makes a much bigger difference than you realize.”

In Defense of Children

Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas seeks to raise funds and awareness at annual gala

Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas serves more than 10,000 children a year at no cost to survivors or their families.

Child abuse is not just a national issue, but an Arkansas issue, as well. According to the National Children’s Alliance, more than 600,000 children suffer abuse in the United States each year, and according to Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas, there are more than 35,000 child abuse cases investigated in the state annually.

CACAR is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting, assisting and supporting the protection of children throughout the state. The organization performs forensic interviews, offers family advocacy, provides mental health programs and medical exams, promotes community awareness and education, and collaborates with other professionals. Every year, CACAR serves more than 10,000 children at no cost to survivors or their families.

The group operates 30 locations statewide, and each facility employs a multidisciplinary approach to reduce trauma suffered from physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Staff collaborates with the appropriate medical, mental health, prosecutorial, child protective service and law enforcement resources, all in an effort to serve the best interests of young survivors.

CACAR receives federal and state funding, as well as grants and donations. However, fundraising is a major component of its ability to provide needed services. The biggest fundraising event of the year, the 2023 Woman of Inspiration fundraising dinner, will take place Oct. 23 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Danyelle Musselman, named the 2023 Woman of Inspiration, will be in attendance at the event.

“Danyelle has long been an influential advocate for children and those in need,” said Elizabeth Pulley, CACAR’s executive director. “We are thankful that she has agreed to use her platform to bring awareness to child abuse and neglect in Arkansas. She is a worthy recipient of this award and is truly an inspiration.

“Danyelle is no stranger to breaking barriers professionally and can help CACAR break through in our efforts to educate Arkansas about the unfortunate realities of child abuse and neglect.”

A former sports broadcaster and the wife of Razorback basketball head coach Eric Musselman, Danyelle has been proactive in using her platform to shine a light on important issues.

“I’m very excited about Danyelle Musselman being our honoree,” said former Arkansas First Lady Susan Hutchinson, a past Woman of Inspiration and Lifetime Achievement honoree. “She is very much a giving person herself and has been involved in all kinds of worthy causes on behalf of the children, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation.”

The event will also feature Allie Graves, this year’s Blue Ribbon Award recipient. The award recognizes an adult who has been affected by the trauma of abuse and who now shares their story to raise awareness. Graves, a senior at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, has used her gifts as an advocate, vocalist and speaker to minister to other survivors of abuse.

The event will also feature a runway fashion show presented by Little Rock-based boutique BARBARA/JEAN. Heather Baker, president of AY Media Group, will emcee the fundraising dinner, along with well-known 103.7 The Buzz radio personality David Bazzel.

Hutchinson has long been involved with CACAR. She serves on the board of the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County and will serve as honorary chair for this year’s event. She said the organization’s mission means a great deal to her because it brings awareness to a serious issue affecting the state’s children. She said when her husband, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, campaigned for and served in statewide office, she was able to further understand the struggles many families were facing.

“It’s very humbling to see the work that CACAR has done in order to positively impact children’s lives,” she said. “My time spent with CACAR on the board of the Benton County location was eye-opening to me, as I was being mentored by people who had been in the field for 10 years at that point. It shocked me, and I knew at the time, if Asa was to get elected governor, that I would use the goodwill and support of the people of Arkansas as first lady to make them aware that there’s hope and there’s healing.”

Hutchinson said raising awareness is the most important part of being an advocate because it creates a world in which people are able to see the signs of abuse and understand what real abusstete looks like and not just what is portrayed in popular culture.

“People like myself grew up with ‘stranger danger,’ but I think they’re shocked that 90 percent of criminal activity is done by people the children very much know and that others know and very much respect,” Hutchinson said.

“People hearing me talk about this issue publicly and people hearing others talking about this subject publicly helps them to have confidence that there is help today and that they don’t have to try to hide their children from certain people or move away. Awareness allows them to know that there is a place where they’ll be heard and understood and their account will be recorded.”

Through her time being involved with Children’s Advocacy Centers across the state, Hutchinson has become painfully aware of the misconceptions of abuse and has seen these misconceptions being taken to heart by adults who also suffered from abuse as children.

“I’ve also met adults who have hope and are stepping forward on their own to get help. That’s huge, as their issues as a child may not ever have been addressed,” Hutchinson said. “I’m so proud that the statute of limitations relating to crimes against children has been pretty much obliterated, so people who experienced these negative experiences may have justice.”

Healing is not a linear process for any survivor of crime or abuse, she added. Hutchinson said one of the biggest things that can be done to help those in need is having access to trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. She said many still believe that time heals all wounds, but it is important for everyone to know

that simply growing older does not erase the burden and pain that comes from childhood abuse.

“We want everybody that needs us to come to us, and we want to be prepared to meet their needs,” she said. “Counseling is ongoing. It’s free, and it’s customized to their needs.”

Hutchinson said her greatest hope is for CACAR to continue to grow and expand in service to affected families statewide thanks to legislators and donors.

“It drives me to tears to think that more people are getting involved and that there is now more help and more opportunity for healing from these situations than ever before,” Hutchinson said. “People help statewide. They help in their local centers. They help through donations. Our communities help CACAR through investigations, and many do all they can in order to help us prevent future violations of children. This must continue to accelerate as we grow to meet the needs of all the children who need us before they’re grown and carrying those burdens.

“We help children become free, free of so many lies and so many bad memories, and we help them know they’re worthy to be loved the right way and cared for the right way and treated the right way. We help them know that they’re worthy by just being a kid, a human being.”

Dana and Joe Kleine, owners of Corky’s Ribs & BBQ and longtime CACAR supporters, are this year’s co-chairs for the fundraising gala. Dana first became aware of CACAR through a mutual friend, Shayla Copas, who encouraged her to get involved with the organization.

“I think that the word ‘advocacy’ is what stands out to me most,” Dana

“It drives me to tears to think that more people are getting involved and that there is now more help and more opportunity for healing from these situations than ever before.”

– Susan Hutchinson, former Arkansas First Lady

said. “I think we all need to be advocates for others, and in all of our lives, we need to be advocates for not only our own children, but for other people’s children. We need to be advocates for what we see going on in the community, but also through adulthood.”

Dana said in a perfect world, there would not be a need for an organization like CACAR, but the reality of the situation demands society play a role in creating a safer, more loving world for children.

“I think that it’s our duty to help other people. It is easier to put blinders on and to pretend that we don’t see things that need change, but in reality, we see things every single day,” she said. “It’s not just our nation as a whole, but it can be seen in Arkansas and Little Rock. It's very important for those who have the ability to speak out to do so."

Dana said CACAR’s mission, rooted in public health and safety, provides broadbased help to survivors address the impact of abuse on mind, body and spirit.

“It can be life-giving to have the tools needed to go beyond the offense and to know that the offense will not be repeated,” she said “We all know that mental health is a huge issue in our world right now, and the fact that CACAR is not just helping child

abuse victims but also helping the other members within a family is incredible.”

In addition to advocacy, fundraising and awareness, Dana said merely gaining the courage to speak up is an important tool in protecting children from abuse.

“I would love for more people to know and understand that they should not be afraid to speak out or to seek care for themselves,” she said. “It’s important for neighbors, teachers, students and other people to know about the services provided by CACAR and the care that they give the survivors that they’re helping.”

CACarkansas.org

“We all know that mental health is a huge issue in our world right now, and the fact that CACAR is not just helping child abuse victims but also helping the other victims within a family is incredible.”

– Dana Kleine, Co-chair of Women of Inspiration Gala

SEE Y’ALL THERE!

ARKANSAS STATE FAIR PACKS PLENTY FOR EVERYONE

The 83rd annual Arkansas State Fair will roar back to the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock for 10 days of food, fun and family entertainment. The event will host tens of thousands of fans and participants between Oct. 13 and Oct. 22

The Arkansas fair has been on a hot streak in recent years. In 2019, attendance reached 472,308, just off the all-time record of more than 473,106 set in 2015. Following a 2020 fair that was restricted to livestock competitors and pageant finalists due to COVID-19 restrictions, fair fans returned with a vengeance in 2021, setting the all-time attendance record of 539,358. The tally ranked the event 17th on carnivalwarehouse.com’s annual list of the 50 Top Fairs in the U.S. and Canada. Last year was the secondhighest attended fair at 476,114, ranking No. 36 on the top 50 list.

The growing crowds only further the reputation of the event as one of the best fairs in the nation, general manager Tiffany Wilkerson said.

“Nationally speaking, fairs have always been a big deal all over the country,” said Wilkerson, who has worked there for 20 years and was appointed general manager in January. “The last few years, we’ve ranked in the top 50 and we’re very proud of that.”

Police, the county, and they’re all ready for this,” she said. “They’re excited that we’re enforcing it. Again, we want people to come out and know they’re going to have a good time and know there won’t be issues, and if there are issues, that we’re going to fix it. We’re going to watch this every single day.”

TICKET PROMOTIONS

The State Fair will feature special promotions each day of the event, allowing families to save on admission, rides, parking or a combination of the three. Also back this year is Lunch at the Fair, sponsored by Entergy. Between 11 a.m.and 1 p.m.weekdays,fair patrons can enjoy free parking and free gate admission.

Wilkerson said fair goers may notice some physical changes to the grounds. Work was done over the summer to replace air conditioning units on two of the buildings, enhance security fencing around the perimeter of the grounds and rehab some of the parking areas with a fresh layer of gravel.

By far the biggest change will be felt each evening during the fair’s 10-day run, when a curfew will be imposed for children and youth in an attempt to maintain order and provide a safe and fun experience for all.

“Security is always a priority for us, and this year, we’re adding on a new youth curfew because we want to keep it to more of a family event,” Wilkerson said. “We want those families to come out whatever time of day and feel like they can enjoy themselves. We definitely will put the families first.”

Under the new curfew, anyone younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult older than 21. The new rule will be enforced from 6 p.m. to close every night of the fair. Wilkerson said the motivation for the move came after an analysis of incidents at last year’s fair revealed a majority of security incidents involved unaccompanied minors.

“Where we’ve seen most of the problems, I hate to say it, is with the age group under 16,” she said. “This is something that’s becoming a trend at other fairs, as well. I’ve already seen through fair and expos publications and e-mails that this is just going to become the norm everywhere.”

Wilkerson said the new rule is likely going to take some getting used to, and administration is prepared to learn and adjust as the situation warrants, but she also said police and security personnel are up to the challenge of enforcing the new rules as a way to enhance the experience for all guests.

“We’ve already met with the state police, Little Rock

DAILY PROMOTIONS

FRIDAY, OCT. 13

• KARK-4 AND FOX 16 RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

SATURDAY, OCT.14

• POWER 92.3/102.1 KOKY/PRAISE 102.5 RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• AMBETTER DAY AT THE FAIR

Arkansas Health & Wellness employees with an employee ID card or Ambetter insurance card receive $2 off gate admission for up to four people.

• POWER 92 POWER PACK

Take advantage of 92 minutes of free gate admission for children 12 and under from 11 a.m. to 12:32 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

• THE POINT 94.1 AND AY/AMP MAGAZINE RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• BANK OZK DAY AT THE FAIR

All Bank OZK employees with valid Bank OZK employee ID or any Bank OZK customer with a Bank OZK debit or credit card receives $2 off gate admission for up to four people.

MONDAY, OCT. 16

• KIDDIE DAY

Kids ages 6 and younger can ride kiddie rides for free from 9a.m. to 11 a.m. There will be free gate admission from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for adults with children. Parking is included.

• THE POINT 94.1 TWO DOLLAR DAY

Gate admission, parking and rides are just $2 each all day.

• THV MISSION HOME DAY

Visit the THV/Triple-S Alarm tent at the Main Gate for child safety wristbands, and meet THV personalities.

TUESDAY, OCT. 17

• MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY

Free gate admission for military personnel and immediate family members with a valid ID.

• SENIOR DAY, SPONSORED BY PRIMEWELL HEALTH SERVICES

Free gate admission for all seniors ages 65 and older.

• HOT 94.9 TUESDAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18

• 100.3 THE EDGE RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• KSSN 96 AND TITO’S HANDMADE VODKA LADIES NIGHT OUT

Free gate admission for ladies 21 and older from 6 p.m. to close.

THURSDAY, OCT. 19

• iHEARTRADIO THRILL THURSDAY SPONSORED BY 100.3 THE EDGE, KSSN 96, 105.1 THE WOLF, HOT 94.9 Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• 100.3 THE EDGE COLLEGE NIGHT

Free gate admission for college students with valid ID from 6 p.m. to close.

FRIDAY, OCT. 20

• 103.7 THE BUZZ/106.7 BUZ2 AND ARKANSAS CANCER COALITION RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• SCHOOL DAY AT THE FAIR

Admission tickets will be sold at gates for $3 from 1 p.m. to close for all school children through 12th grade.

SATURDAY, OCT. 21

• KSSN 96 RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

• ENTERGY DAY AT THE FAIR

All Entergy employees who present a valid Entergy employee ID receive $2 off gate admission for up to four people per party.

• FFA, FCCLA, SCOUT DAY AND 4-H DAY

Admission tickets will be sold at gates for $3 until 5 p.m. for Future Farmers of America and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America students, scouts and 4-H members, including teachers, sponsors and bus drivers.

SUNDAY, OCT. 22

• LEGENDS RESORT & CASINO AND 105.1 THE WOLF RIDE DAY

Purchase a $35 armband at a midway ticket booth for unlimited rides from 11 a.m. to close.*

*Gate admission and parking not included.

This year’s fair lineup is one for the ages. Our concerts cover more musical genres than ever, providing entertainment that appeals to just about everyone.

– Tiffany Wilkerson, general manager

“

ENTERTAINMENT

The Arkansas State Fair concert series is also back for another run, providing free concerts from national touring acts. The concerts are included with paid gate admission.

“This year’s fair lineup is one for the ages,” Wilkerson said. “Our concerts cover more musical genres than ever, providing entertainment that appeals to just about everyone.”

General seating is first come, first served. Concert goers wishing for deluxe treatment can purchase preferred concert seating for $20 in addition to their gate admission. Preferred seating provides concert goers with a reserved prime seating area and other perks.

Country performers this year include Phil Vassar with special guest Matt Stell, who will kick off the fair on Oct. 13. A veteran singer-songwriter, Phil Vassar charted eight singles that reached the top 10 on the U.S. Country Music charts, including two No. 1s: “Just Another Day in Paradise” and “In a Real Love.” He also wrote or co-wrote chart-toppers for Tim McGraw (“My Next Thirty Years”), Jo Dee Messina (“Bye Bye” and “I’m Alright”) and Alan Jackson (“Right on the Money”).

Vassar welcomes Arkansas’ own Matt Stell to the stage. Raised in Center Ridge, Stell burst onto the scene in 2019 with “Prayed for You,” which reached No. 2 on the U.S Country Music chart, followed by singles “Everywhere But On,” “That Ain’t Me No More” and last year’s “Man Made.”

Soul and R&B are also on tap, with two eagerly anticipated concerts. The first, Morris Day and the Time, is a musical tour de force originally mentored by Prince and one of the most flamboyant performers of the 1980s. The group scored a string of pop/funk hits including “Cool,” “Get It Up” and “777-9311” before appearing in the 1984 hit movie Purple Rain. The film, in which the group performs their smashes “Jungle Love” and “The Bird,” cemented its legacy in the encyclopedia of funk.

Award-winning balladeers All-4-One will bring the ultimate datenight soundtrack to the Arkansas State Fair. Their classic slow-dance jams include the monster smash “I Swear” plus “I Can Love You Like That,” “So Much in Love” and “Beautiful as You,” will have couples falling in love all over again.

For a taste of homegrown Arkansas talent, check out Jettway Performance with the Zac Dunlap Band. An award-winning recording artist, Dunlap founded Jettway Performance, a Saline County music academy for aspiring performers, and this collection of real-life School of Rock performers will blow audiences away with their musicianship and stage presence. Afterward, stick around while Dunlap and his band bring great alt-country and pop sounds to the Main Stage.

Building on the success of last year’s Hispanic concert, the State Fair is devoting two nights to the genre. La Cultura Norteña with Los Reyes and La Fuerza Del Rio Conchos with La Tropa Del Norte will bring a little Latin sizzle to the midway. These talented groups combine upbeat energetic vocal sounds with accomplished musicianship for an evening of good music and good times. Both concerts are brought to the fair by Tito’s Handmade Vodka as part of its Hispanic Concert Series.

This year’s Faith and Family Night, presented by Amplify, will be the biggest yet. Influential singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and author David Crowder inspires audiences with his successful catalog of contemporary Christian music. Crowder is joined on the Main Stage by Nick Hall to deliver a stirring and uplifting evening of music.

Multi-talented performer Uncle Kracker is another highly anticipated act. He mixes rock beats and country grooves for a unique and unmistakable sound. With chart-topping hits “Follow Me,” “Drift Away,” “In a Little While” and his double-platinum crossover effort “Smile,” Uncle Kracker brings a little something for everyone and anyone looking to have a good time.

Finally, take a trip back to the 1980s hair metal scene with the rockin’ tunes of Night Ranger. The band behind the mega hits “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” “Sing Me Away,” “(You Can Still) Rock in America” and the monster power ballad “Sister Christian” delivers a high-powered double-guitar attack that has thrilled audiences for decades.

General seating is first come, first served. Concert goers wishing for deluxe treatment can purchase preferred concert seating for $20 in addition to their gate admission. Preferred seating provides concert goers with a reserved prime seating area and other perks.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY, OCT. 13

Phil Vassar with special guest Matt Stell

SATURDAY, OCT. 14

Morris Day and The Time

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

La Cultura Nortena with Los Reyes

MONDAY, OCT. 16

Jettway Performance with the Zac Dunlap Band

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

David Crowder and Nick Hall

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18

All-4-One

FRIDAY, OCT. 20

Uncle Kracker

SATURDAY, OCT. 21

Night Ranger

SUNDAY, OCT. 22

La Fuerza Del Rio Conchos with La Tropa Del Norte

LIVESTOCK

Exhibitors from across Arkansas will bring their prize animals to compete in the hopes of winning the coveted blue ribbon and grand champion rosette. Youth work all year to raise and groom their animals. Competition this year will be held for cattle, sheep, swine, goats, rabbits and poultry. The full schedule of judging by category is available at the fair website. On Oct. 19, the annual Sale of Champions will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Barton Coliseum. The event raises money in a mock auction for the top competitors across various species. Again this year, fair goers can get up close and personal with a variety of animals at the petting zoo, presented by Arkansas 4-H chapters. Entry is free with gate admission.

CREATIVE ARTS

See the very best Arkansas has to offer across a wide range of hobby and homemaking categories, including cooking and baking competitions, art and photography, needlework, and more.

Some of the daily activities are drop-in and require no advance entry or qualification. Guests who check them out and plan to attend and participate might walk away with a prize.

SPECIAL CONTESTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS

SATURDAY, OCT. 14

Adult Open Bake Competition — Noon

Floral Express Flower Arranging — 2 p.m.

UA Pulaski Tech Demos — 2 p.m.

Arkansas Clogging Entertainment — 4 p.m.

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

Arkansas Clogging Entertainment — Noon

MONDAY, OCT. 16

Arkansas State Fair Pie Contest — 12:15 p.m.

UA Pulaski Tech Demos — 1 p.m.

TUESDAY, OCT. 17

Hiland Dairy Cooking Contest — 12:15 p.m.

Petit Jean Meats Cooking Contest — 2:45 p.m.

UA Pulaski Tech Demo — 3 p.m.

PAGEANTS AND TALENT

Attend the Arkansas State Fair talent and pageant events to see the best Arkansas has to offer in the beauty, ability, talent and community service. The Arkansas State Fair pageants are beloved events that have been held for more than 100 years.

After qualifying at the county level and Junior and Senior talent competitors, Miss Arkansas State Fair and Jr. Miss Arkansas State Fair contestants represent their hometowns with pride at the state fair competitions. Contestants are grouped by region to compete for the right to advance to the finals. Ms. Arkansas State Fair and Sr. Ms. Arkansas State Fair do not have a regional step and advance directly to the finals of their respective divisions.

In addition, a number of youth pageants and talent competitions are held for younger competitors, giving them their start on stage and a moment in the spotlight.

Miss Fair and Jr. Miss Fair pageant winners receive a bevy of prizes, including thousands in college scholarships and, together with the Ms. Fair and Sr. Ms. Fair winners, spend the year making appearances around the state. Talent Grand Champion winners in the junior and senior divisions also receive cash prizes from generous sponsors of the event.

Admission to the pageants and talent competition is included with gate admission.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18

Honey Cooking Contest — 12:15 p.m.

Splenda Cooking Contest — 2:45 p.m.

Arkansas Cattlewomen’s Chili Cook-off — 1:45 p.m.

Arkansas Cattlemen’s Brisket Competition — 1:45 p.m.

FRIDAY, OCT. 20

People’s Choice Cookie Contest — 1 p.m.

SATURDAY, OCT. 21

Youth Baking Competition — 12:15 p.m.

UA Pulaski Tech Demos — 1 p.m.

Youth Pumpkin Decorating — 3:15 p.m.

Times are scheduled. Judges start. This schedule is subject change.

TALENT AND PAGEANT SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, OCT. 14

Youth Pageant and Talent (ages 0-13)

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

Dance Showdown

MONDAY, OCT. 16

Southwest Region

TUESDAY, OCT. 17

Northwest Region

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18

Northeast Region

THURSDAY, OCT. 19

Southeast Region

SATURDAY, OCT. 21

Pageant and Talent Finals

FOOD

What would the State Fair be without great fair treats diners can only get on the Midway? In addition to the classic favorites corn dogs and funnel cakes, the Arkansas State Fair concessionaires offer a little bit of everything, from ice cream to pizza and turkey legs to cotton candy. Folks who check them out this year may not believe what can be deep-fried and served on a stick.

2023 FOOD VENDORS

CHECK OUT THESE CONCESSIONAIRES AND TRY THEIR SPECIALTIES.

Big Show Diner — Southern comfort food, fresh pies daily

Center Stage Grill — Taco salad, nachos

Gold’s Concessions — Turkey legs

Gold’s Boss Hogg — Ribs, chicken, pork chops

Ozark Candies & Nuts — Roasted pecans and almonds

Michener Kettle Corn — Pig skins, kettle corn

SW Special Events — Cotton candy, candy apples

Fried What?! — Deep fried sweet and savory treats

Sue Sue’s Concessions — Bacon central

McKinney Corn Dog — Footlong corn dog

Bennett Concessions — Cowboy burger, Krazy Frys

Gold’s Skillet — Kool-Aid pickles, reuben sandwiches

Corky Westmoreland Concessions — Elephant ears

Swain’s Pizza on a Stick — Pizza on a stick, pickle pizza

WonderStick Ice Cream — Ice cream

Linda’s Lemonade SW — Lemonade Shakeup

Ormics Dippin’ Dots — Dippin’ Dots ice cream

Ormics Mickey’s Grill — Kebabs, turkey leg

Roger Westmoreland Concessions — Funnel cake, nachos

Happi Lao Foods — Egg rolls, sesame balls

Ormics Taco Kings — Tacos, burritos

SW Chris Corn Dogs — Corn dogs

Larry’s Gator House — Gator on a stick, boudin

Bryan’s Concessions — Sirloin tips

L&M Concessions — Frosted flake chicken

Paizi’s Greek Foods — Gyros, pitas

Pat’s Kitchen — Thanksgiving tacos, fried lasagna

Mexican Corn — Flamin’ Hot Cheetos walking taco

H2QUE BBQ — BBQ sandwiches, pork waffles

Bennett Concessions — Street tacos

Midway Café’ (Arkansas Cattlemen) — Carnivore delicacies

SW Candyman — Cotton candy, candy apples

State Fair Funnel Cakes — Funnel cakes

SW Two Brothers — Pineapple whip

Bud & Burgers — Hamburgers, Frito pie

Mr. Keith’s Gourmet Kettle Corn — Gourmet popcorn

Millie’s Fish-N-Shrimp — Fish, shrimp

Raisin

Raising Barre the

Ballet Arkansas primed for enchanting 45th season

ven those who have never been to a ballet performance have some level of familiarity with the iconic and highly technical dance style, and thanks to Ballet Arkansas, now in its 45th season, more central Arkansans are attuned to the art form than ever before.

Based in a Main Street studio in Little Rock, Ballet Arkansas has been a fixture of local culture since its founding in 1966 and its incorporation as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1979. Troupe leadership said performances are broadcast across all 50 states and in 24 countries, and the organization reaches some 10,000 K12 students each year by way of its classroom education programs and similar efforts.

“Historically, Ballet Arkansas has been thought of on a more local scale, where we present the big holiday production [of the Nutcracker Spectacular] that everyone goes to and then a few things here and there,” said Michael Fothergill, artistic director and executive director, “but we are one of the largest 100 ballet companies in the nation. We have a budget of over a million dollars a year, and we present some of the most dynamic repertory that the region sees.”

The company’s goal of meeting the state’s artistic needs has always remained a constant, even though the methods by which they have done so have changed a great deal over the years. At different times, Ballet Arkansas has had a school for recreational dancers, an academy for aspiring professionals, at times both, and for a while, neither. Recently, the company has gone back to its roots by reestablishing the Ballet Arkansas School of Dance in August of 2022.

Recent years have been kind to Ballet Arkansas in terms of funding, allowing the company to worry less about sustainability and instead dream big about new ways to benefit and collaborate with the community. The organization has built its foundation on a strong group of consistent supporters who have been with the organization for years, supplementing ticket sales and individual contributions,

“The Stella Boyle Smith Trust has been integral for Ballet Arkansas,” Fothergill said. “They’ve been with us since we got on the ground and have really been a true sponsor of the exciting projects we want to do, those that feature world-renowned repertory or a dynamic combination of great music

“The John and Robyn Horn Foundation is sunsetting, but one of the last grants they awarded was to Ballet Arkansas to purchase a state-of-the-art por-

Much more than just a wooden stage that can be moved from place to place, the floor is specially designed for use by professional dancers. The kinds of dances that Ballet Arkansas performs cannot be done safely on just any surface, which creates significant limitations for outside groups that would like to host a performance. Now, rather than the organization needing to spend a sizable chunk of its budget to rent a stage, Ballet Arkansas can be brought to almost any public space.

Of course, no amount of funding would mean anything were it not for the company’s enormously dedicated cast of dancers. There are currently 16 dancers in the company, the majority of whom are from outside the state.

“A lot of people have the misconception that professional dancers are doing this as a hobby, and they have a career elsewhere,” Fothergill said. “Our dancers are paid competitive salaries on 30-week contracts and are provided with health and wellness benefits. They’re with us 40 hours a week, and sometimes during performance weeks, well into 60 or 70 hours a week, depending on what the performance schedule might allow for. It is their full-time job.”

Getting into a professional dance company, especially one of Ballet Arkansas’ caliber, is extremely difficult. Many of the company cast are teachers just as much as they are dancers, so they need both the skills to perform and the personality to educate and do community outreach.

“I’ve been dancing since I was 6 years old, so it’s about to be 18 years of dancing,” said Keith Newman, a dancer originally from Washington, D.C. “It’s not like we just put on the ballet shoes two years ago and we’re ready to join.”

“It's pretty nerve-wracking because you've spent your whole life training for that moment,” said Meredith Loy, a dancer and Little Rock native, “but once you do get into a company, I think many of us really fall in love with the organization.”

While every member of the cast has a slightly different schedule, an average workday for Loy and Newman begins with 90 minutes of teaching classes, followed by rehearsals for upcoming performances until 4 p.m. That is followed by still more classes until about 7 p.m. Weekends can also include rehearsals, especially for major performances, and time that is not spent on either teaching or rehearsing makes a great opportunity for community outreach. Calling it a busy schedule would be an understatement, but the two dancers see it as well worth the effort.

“There are many reasons I love being a dancer,” Loy said. “I enjoy the hours we spend in the studio each day. No matter how many years you've trained, there's always something to work on and improve. It never gets old. While, of course, I love performing, I think I actually love the rehearsal process the most. It's where the most growth occurs.

Your technique improves significantly,

costumes down to pointe shoes, which can cost as much as $150 and last anywhere from two weeks to just a day depending on a dancer’s rehearsal schedule.

Community participation is not limited to behind the scenes. Ballet Arkansas’ 16 dancers are outnumbered in any of its major productions by dozens of non-professional dancers who take part in the performance. This season’s rendition of Swan Lake will involve a relatively small community cast of more than 80 members, compared to the more than 300 adults and children who take to the stage each year for the Nutcracker Spectacular.

All of these elements have combined to make the 45th season one of Ballet Arkansas’ most anticipated.

“This is one of our largest seasons to date in terms of the number of main stage productions and events,” said Catherine Fothergill, associate artistic director and Michael’s wife. “It’s a big undertaking with more community cast opportunities and more education programs. It’s a really exciting season for us and one that we’ve been building up to for many years.”

The season kicked off with Live at the Plaza, held for the third year in North Little Rock’s Argenta Plaza on Sept. 8-10. The troupe also held its opening reception on Sept. 30 at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, where attendees got the chance to mingle with the company’s dancers, leaders and artistic staff and see previews of the choreography from one of the upcoming performances.

On Oct. 12-15, Ballet Arkansas will present the world premiere of Wonderland: Alice’s Epic Adventure, a reimagining of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The performance will be held at the University of Arkansas — Pulaski Technical College Center for Humanities and Arts in North Little Rock. The production will be a multimedia experience that includes visuals created by Little Rock-based Cranford Co., as well as all-new sets, costume designs and choreography.

In conjunction with the event, Ballet Arkansas will hold Down the Rabbit Hole Tea, an Oct. 14 event where guests can enjoy tea with costumed cast members, including Alice, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit, and experience a suite from the production.

Next up is the Nutcracker Spectacular, produced in conjunction with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Now in its 45th year, the performances will be staged in the Robinson Center on Dec. 8-10.

With some 400 cast and crew, the Nutcracker Spectacular is the state’s single largest and longest-running holiday production, as well as Little Rock’s third-largest tourism event. The costumes and set design alone cost some $400,000 and take hundreds of hours of work. This year’s production includes freshly painted backdrops, elaborate original costumes in Acts I and II, new set pieces and props, and brandnew choreography across all acts. More than 10,000 Arkansans attend the event each year, including about 4,000 students who come to student matinee performances.

This year also marks the debut of the Nutcracker Project, which, in addition to the performance, will include Land of the Sweets Nutcracker Tea. This teatime event, scheduled for Dec. 8-10, will feature costumed characters, performances and other activities, such as a storybook reading.

Ballet Arkansas will present its rendition

The 45th Anniversary season includes both beloved classics like the Nutcracker Spectacular, top, and firsttime performances like Wonderland: Alice's Epic Adventure, left.

“Every passing year, we grow, so if you haven’t seen us in a while, it’s a great time to check us out.”

– Michael Fothergill, executive director

of Swan Lake at the Robinson Center on Feb. 16-18 and perform what Michael called “the most grandiose and epic ballet of the classical era” with a traditional formulation. Notably, this will be the company’s first production other than the Nutcracker Spectacular to be held at the Robinson Center in many years.

On March 9, the company will hold the 45th Anniversary Turning Pointe Gala, Ballet Arkansas’ premiere annual fundraising event to support its artists, programming and community outreach.

May 2-5 will bring Bravo at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Theater. The eclectic array of celebrated works of classical and contemporary dance will be set to live music from internationally celebrated pianist Fei-Fei Dong.

The last major event of the anniversary season is Snow White, a ballet aimed at young children and their families, at UA-PTC CHARTS May 11-12. This interactive performance will feature guided participation, multimedia projection, storytelling and singing.

Ballet Arkansas is also planning a tour of northwest Arkanasas towards the end of 2024, the details of which have not yet been announced.

The organization also provides various education programs for students, from sending dancers to provide advanced education at schools with a dance program to participating in other segments of the curriculum.

“In our STEM Exploration program, the important elements that maybe students shy away from when they get into middle school and high school, a lot of those elements can be taught through the body,” Michael said. “We can learn about geometry. We can learn about friction. We can learn about gravity by doing dance-related exercises. If young students are exposed to these things, then it’s fun. It’s not intimidating. They understand the subject matter, not to mention you’re inserting a fun artistic experience into their lives, which will hopefully cultivate a love for the arts.”

Other education and community programs include virtual field trips, which digitally broadcast rehearsals and artistic conversations with the company dancers, and Unbound, which teaches students tools of self-expression and

collaboration through immersive dance instruction and guided improvisation. There are also programs for different age groups, including LEAP, which entertains and engages daycare and preschool children. Another program, Dance for All Seasons, brings the joy of dance to community centers and retirement communities to provide a fun activity and health benefits tailored to the needs of those who may need to sit or lay down.

All of that takes a lot of planning, Catherine said, which pushes scheduling out well ahead of any intended performance dates.

“Logistically, I would say we start organizing about a year in advance,” she said. “Tours can sometimes come together quickly, but usually they take six to 12 months of planning and funding. Things that require more extensive funding need to have logistics started a lot earlier.

“Right now, we’re already starting to talk about next season and what we’re going to put together, start contacting venues and make sure they’re available. We try to look at the art community and make sure that we’re not all programming at the same time. We try to balance it so if there’s a really classical production happening with the symphony, maybe that’s where our contemporary bill goes.”

In the meantime, there is plenty to experience and enjoy during the 2023-2024 slate of performances and events.

“Every passing year, we grow, so if you haven’t seen us in a while, it’s a great time to check us out,” Michael said. “We really have grown because of the hard work that everyone involved in Ballet Arkansas has put in over the years. What you might have experienced at one point, what you might have loved or not loved, is probably different today. There’s no better time than an anniversary year to see what an organization has to offer. Just give us a shot, and we’ll wow you on stage.”

For ticket and program information, visit balletarkansas.com

The large majority of Ballet Arkansas's dancers actually originate from out of state; out of 16 dancers, only two are native Arkansans.

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A New

Same Old Problem? H pe or

Science, medicine gaining on breast cancer, but challenges remain

If the declining national numbers on breast cancer are to be believed, the technology and expertise at CARTI’s Breast Center feels a little like overkill. The center, which was launched in 2019, offers some of the most advanced technology in the state and is teeming with many of the best minds in oncology, along with a battery of services to help patients battle the disease — all at a time when survivability of breast cancer is north of 90 percent nationally.

But to Dr. Stacy Smith-Foley, director of the Breast Center, it is precisely that such places exist that these strides have been made and need to continue to be made to gain meaningful traction in the generations-long battle against breast cancer.

“I think the idea to start the Breast Center spawned out of a need to really serve the patients,” she said. “CARTI was already getting referrals of patients diagnosed with cancer but realized they are uniquely positioned to care for cancer patients and that an additional service line was needed.”

Smith-Foley said this thinking reflects the ongoing philosophy of CARTI in providing a team approach to treating cancer, something common today but groundbreaking at the time it was introduced.

“They [CARTI] didn’t have imaging in the beginning, but they quickly found that patients had very unique concerns and needs for imaging, so they developed their own team of radiologists,” Smith-Foley said. “They found that oncology patients have really unique issues with their dental health, so we have a dental clinic here at CARTI. So opening the Breast Center was really a natural opportunity to meet the needs of patients.”

National statistics show America appears to be entering into an era many people thought they would never live to see and that millions, tragically, did not. According to statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, female death rates from breast cancer reached an all-time low of 30 per 100,000 in the United States in the mid-1990s and mortality has steadily decreased from there. In 2020, the death rate dipped below 20 per 100,000.

In Arkansas, the incidence of breast cancer has increased just incrementally, up 1 percent between 2015 and 2019, per statistics from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Parallel data measuring cancer mortality in the state shows that between 2016 and 2020, breast cancer deaths dropped to 19.5 per 100,000 women. This might suggest that more women are being diagnosed at a stage when the condition is more easily treated, therefore upping breast cancer survivability, which the American Cancer Society places at 91 percent nationally for the period from 2012 to 2018.

There is a second narrative to be gleaned from the numbers, one that illustrates just how much work is left to be done by CARTI and the state’s other cancer treatment centers. Despite the apparent good report card the state has achieved in recent years, Arkansas still ranks near the bottom when compared to other states. The Natural State is tied with seven others as seventh worst in terms of mortality (20 deaths per 100,000, right at the national average) compared to Hawaii and Vermont, which have the lowest incidences of breast cancer mortality at

16 deaths per 100,000. On incidence of breast cancer, Arkansas is again among the bottom 10 states and the District of Columbia, with 122 cases per 100,000, well below the national average.

While on the surface this would seem like a good thing, it could also suggest many cases are going undiagnosed due to lack of access to screening or women skipping mammograms. A positive example of this statistical correlation can be seen in states such as Rhode Island and New Hampshire, which tied for the highest incidence rates in the U.S. and are just outside having the lowest mortality rates in the country. That, physicians say, is the real hurdle to clear in Arkansas.

“We’re still behind,” Smith-Foley said. “Arkansas ranks high for mortality related to breast cancer, unfortunately, and one of the reasons I think we rank so high for mortality is our participation in screening is not very high. We rank low for the percentage of women who participate in screening; less than 65 percent of women, when polled, said that they had had a mammogram in the last two years — not even one year, but two. That’s old data; I strongly believe that those numbers went down even further over COVID and people have not come back from it.” Smith-Foley said this has resulted in more cases being diagnosed at a later stage, and evidence suggests there are a lot more where that came from.

“Just last week, a JAMA article came out that said that we are seeing more cancer in patients overall, not just breast, in people between the ages of 30 and 39,” she said. “Now those are not people that we’re screening; those are people who are coming in with a symptom or a problem and finding out that they have cancer.

“As a result, we’re constantly diagnosing late-stage disease, locally advanced disease, high rates of disease because we don’t have excellent participation in yearly screening. If we did, we would be able to do a better job of finding cancer at an earlier point in its development.”

Dr. Ronda Henry-Tillman, chief of breast oncology at the UAMS Health Breast Center in Little Rock, said the situation is not due to a lack of advocacy on the part of the medical community. She pointed to the latest in cancer diagnostic and treatment tools at work through the Breast Center at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute and years spent beating the drum for better screenings, accessible care and increased funding for research.

“We’ve advanced in technology, so we find cancers early,” Henry-Tillman said. “Here at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, we have an amazing imaging center that has 3D tomosynthesis, the 3.5 Tesla MRI. We have high-risk screening. We have genetic testing. We have so many opportunities to find cancer at its earliest stage. We know more about that than we did 20 years ago.

“Another thing we have done in the state of Arkansas is put forward the Breast Cancer Act of 1997. That gave women who were older the ability to get screening for breast cancer who didn’t have support or resources, and that program has continued to bring significant ways of treating and finding breast cancer early and providing the best care for breast cancer.”

What Henry-Tillman concedes, however, is that despite these amenities and activism, the needle has still not moved for certain demographic groups.

I think the idea to start the Breast Center spawned out of a need to really serve the patients. CARTI was already getting referrals of patients diagnosed with cancer but realized they are uniquely positioned to care for cancer patients and that an additional service line was needed.

-Dr. Stacy Smith-Foley, CARTI

“If you look at those who live from the disease and those who die from the disease, it really hasn’t changed a whole lot,” she said. “In totality, we still are not able to get some groups to make the decision to access care. It’s a personal decision, and that’s multi-factorial. I always say that my chances of getting to something is really going to be based on the time I have and how far it is for me to get there.

“It’s the same way with care. The same group of people who are dying from the disease are probably those individuals who are fearful and therefore do not choose to do their care for some reason.”

Dr. Stephan Rosenfeld of northwest Arkansas-based Highlands Oncology said changing this situation relies on a combination of messaging and services that are local wherever possible. He said that is why the practice has invested in additional clinics to bring services closer to rural areas, the most recent of which opened in partnership with Baxter Health in Mountain Home.

“Education is key; we’ve got to get women educated on the importance of mammograms, when it’s recommended, and to get those screenings,” he said. “I’m talking all the way down into the grade schools and the junior highs with girls who will become young ladies and the importance of getting a mammogram. As we make progress in terms of diagnosing breast cancer at an earlier stage, that translates into higher cure rates across the state of Arkansas.”

The issue of patient education is not an indictment of the medical literacy or sophistication of the audience, either, since a spate of conflicting recommendations and information regarding screenings have made headlines of late. In May, TIME magazine reported on the screening guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American College of Radiology and the American Cancer Society, among others, as to when a woman should start screening and how frequently.

Since 2016, the article stated, USPSTF held that women ages 40 to 50 should make personalized decisions about their screening schedule based on health history and risk factors. The group changed direction this spring, saying women in their 40s who are at average risk for breast cancer should get mammograms every other year, bringing it in line with recommendations for women ages 50 to 74. This recommendation is in line with the American College of Radiology, but clashes with the American Cancer Society, which advises most women to start screening at age 45 with annual mammograms, then move to getting them every other year at age 55.

Each side has its proponents in the medical community, with some saying annual screenings from age 40 represents a substantial buttress against future death and others arguing that too-frequent mammograms run the risk of over-diagnosis and over-treatment. Rosenfeld said he can understand why many women are confused.

“We have seen some of that, and hopefully that’s getting corrected with good, reliable, trusted networks spreading the word as to the appropriate age that ladies need to get mammograms,” he said. “Hopefully, that’s been debunked. The internet is a wonderful thing, and there’s a lot of great information, but with freedom of speech comes the risk of people reading and believing incorrect facts.”

Physicians say such conflicting messages aside, the percentage of adult women who are legitimately unaware of the issue of breast cancer is miniscule, which begs the question why certain segments of the population continue to be underrepresented when it comes to the screenings that can save their life.

“I look at my patients, and I look at all the social determinants that we have within health,” Henry-Tillman said. “What happens if you have an individual who has some factors that limit their ability to make the right decision for themselves or that will prevent them from getting support for the decision they need to make? That is one factor.

“Then I look at people who go in and get the wrong information, and they become untrusting of the system. I look at the access to care. If you look in the northwest part of the state, resources are pretty good for

the care of breast disease. If you go to the northeastern part of the state, you can probably get to Memphis or somewhere where they have more advanced care, but guess what? Most everyone else will have to come down to Pulaski County to get care. Some things we can change; some things we can’t.”

Julie Turner, a nurse practitioner with Baptist Health’s High Risk Breast & Hereditary Cancer Clinic in Little Rock, said the government is now paying more attention to the problem by putting rules in place aimed at capturing more cases, even if the patient has come in for a reason other than to be screened.

“New guidelines came out in 2018 that basically publicized breast cancer as a national crisis because one in seven women in the South are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and one in eight nationally. That’s average risk,” she said. “Most high-risk patients have a one-in-three to one-infour chance based on what their risk factors are. Once the government got involved, the American Cancer Society lowered something called a risk assessment to age 30. It used to be done at age 40 on all women, but the new guidelines say that every patient that comes through primary care or OBGYN needs a risk assessment done.

“This assessment determines, what are your risk factors? Do you need to start mammograms at 30 or 40? Do you need genetic testing? After the mandate was put into effect, a lot of OB-GYNs in the community have followed suit with trying to identify who needs to be screened earlier and sent them to a high-risk clinic, whether that be Baptist, CARTI or UAMS.”

Turner said the new horizon in breast cancer is in genetic testing, which can help pinpoint which women are genetically predisposed to developing problems.

“Genetics helps us have a specific care plan to meet your needs based on what you were born with,” she said. “It’s one in 250 Americans who have a genetic mutation, but we think it is actually more common than that because we’re still vastly undertesting patients, not just in Arkansas but nationally.

“I’ve seen positives from family history in someone who’s a distant relative. If you find out you have a genetic mutation, we can intervene and screen you differently than the general population. Genetic testing can be definitely be life-saving.”

LOSE A New Way to

The

pros

and

cons

of the new prescription weight-loss drugs

People have been trying to lose weight for years, and if history is a guide, they will try just about anything to make it happen.

A sampling of the lineup of past fad diets includes some dubious recommendations such as the Cigarette Diet of the 1920s (just smoke when you are hungry), the Chewing Diet of 1903 (chew 32 times and spit out what is left), the Avoiding Swamps Diet of the early 1700s (just avoid living near swamps), the Cotton Ball Diet (a dangerous concept involving eating cotton balls dipped in liquid) and the Drinking Man’s Diet of the 1960s, copies of which are still available on Amazon.

Maybe it tracks that the current spate of popular weight loss drugs led by Ozempic and Wegovy have their origins in lizard spit. More on that in a minute.

With observable, measurable results and Food and Drug Administration approval, the drugs, originally designed to help treat diabetes, have exploded in popularity thanks to an assist from celebrities who tout their effects.

“This has been called a Hollywood drug because it makes you lose weight, and in Hollywood or the East Hamptons, they have this image of being in the normal [body mass index] range,” said endocrinologist Dinesh Edem, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and director of the hospital’s weight-loss clinic.

“In case they gain weight, instead of doing the hard work like in lifestyle, they fall back on these medicines to stay in shape when they’re not obese to begin with.”

The FDA approved Ozempic for people with Type 2 diabetes in 2017 and approved Wegovy for those with obesity or who are overweight and have additional health problems in 2021.The Wegovy approval marked the first time since 2014 that federal health authorities approved a new weight-loss drug.

Both Wegovy and Ozempic are forms of the drug semaglutide, of the drug class glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonists. GLP-1 is a hormone that causes the body to produce more insulin to make a person feel full, but the FDA approved them for different indications and dosages.

“I think three to five years from now, it might be a very different picture, but right now, it seems to be working well for people as an adjunct to what I do,” said Eric Paul, a bariatric surgery specialist with the Baptist Health Bariatric Center-Little Rock.

Paul approaches obesity primarily from the surgical side, while Edem’s approach is through medication. They refer patients to each other, and each makes lifestyle recommendations part of the process.

The doctors agree that drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, taken by injection, are useful in treating obesity and that they do work safely as weight-loss drugs of choice.

“It’s very different from the other types of weight-loss drugs we’ve been using forever, like Adipex, which are basically amphetamine driven and falsely speed up your metabolism,” Paul said. “Theoretically, you’re only supposed to be able to use those for a short period of time due to cardiac side effects.”

It is never the drugs alone that cause weight loss, Edem said. Diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices must be included.

“I have made patients lose 100 pounds of weight in eight months with these low-dose medicines,” he said. “It’s not just medicines. It’s a whole host of things other people have to do.”

So how did such drugs come on the scene and earn their popularity?

“It started 15 years ago,” Edem said. “There’s a lizard called gila monsters, which will go into hibernation for months, and the scientists were like, ‘Why is this animal not eating?’ They did some saliva tests and found elevated levels of GLP-1.”

From the lizard saliva, a synthetic GLP-1 medicine was formed.

“When you inject it, it suppresses your hunger and appetite in the brain,” Edem said. “Next, it slows down your stomach so you don’t get your hunger pangs. If you eat half the food you did earlier, you feel full.”

Weighty matters

Long-term use (more than 12 weeks) of Ozempic or Wegovy can lead to major weight loss. The combination of weight-loss medicine and lifestyle changes leads to greater weight loss than just attempting lifestyle changes alone.

Taking the drugs for a year can lead to a loss of total body weight of 3 percent to 12 percent, more than what people can lose by just working out and changing their eating habits. Losing 5 percent to 10 percent of total body weight can have health benefits such as lowered blood pressure, blood sugar levels and levels of triglycerides, or fats, in the blood.

A physician may recommend a weight-loss drug for those who have not managed to lose weight using a combination of diet and exercise if their BMI is greater than 30 (obesity) or their BMI is greater than 27 and they have a medical problem linked to obesity, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

Patients should consult with their health care providers about their medical histories and health challenges and go over the pros and cons of weight-loss drugs. They should not be used if a person is pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant.

In the U.S., about 70 percent of adults are obese or overweight, which can lead to health problems that put them at increased risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some types of cancer.

A BMI of 25 to 30 falls within the overweight range. Someone whose BMI is 30 or higher is considered obese. Obesity is subdivided into Class 1 (BMI of 30 to 35), Class 2 (BMI of 35 to 40) and Class 3, sometimes categorized as “severe” (BMI of 40 or higher).

Arkansas’ rate of obesity has bounced up and down in recent years but has stubbornly remained in the top rankings of the most obese states in America. With 38.7 percent of the population classified as obese, Arkansas is currently No. 6, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Previously, the state was No. 9 at 36.4 percent.

“Obesity is truly a disease, and the obese populations, their brain chemistry acts different with them, their balances are different,” Paul said.

Celebs and supply

As Edem noted, Ozempic and Wevogy have gained popularity and publicity thanks to the celebrity crowd. Jimmy Kimmel made an Ozempic joke at the Academy Awards, and Elon Musk has tweeted about it.

In fact, a number of celebrities have advised caution, saying they tried the drugs and stopped because of side effects such as nausea or that they do not personally use them but would not criticize those who did.

Still, with stars like Tracy Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Real Housewife Lauren Manzo talking them up, the weight loss drugs have grown in popularity and demand, so much so that they might not be available for people who are truly obese.

“They’re to the point where people who actually need them for their diabetes are having a hard time getting them,” Paul said. “The drug makers are doing their best to keep up the supply.”

Much of the public discussion is dominated by people with money, and for the wealthy, cost is not an issue, but for the bulk of the national population, and within the state, there are cost and availability issues.

Edem noted that Arkansas’ high national obesity rank means there is a great demand for weight-loss treatment. Second, Edem said, there are not many providers for the number of patients suffering from obesity. “There is a patient-physician disparity,” he said.

Third, he added, the popularity of weight-loss drugs around the country has put a strain on supply chains, especially in Arkansas, which does not have that many resources. That is rough for patients who may start the drug, then cannot get it for one or two months and have to start over again.

“This creates supply chain [problems] for actual diabetics who need to lose this weight,” Edem said, “so there are significant disparities.”

Using Ozempic or Wegovy without insurance coverage can cost more than $15,000 a year, which is problematic for doctors and patients, especially in Arkansas. Both physicians noted that employer insurance rarely, if ever, covers weight-loss drug prescriptions.

“The way we practice here in Arkansas is much different from other states, and other states’ insurance has made it easy to approve these types of drugs,” Paul said. “We’ll send out 20 referrals to insurance, and maybe only one will get accepted.”

Insurance protocols differ from state to state, Paul said, explaining that his hospital tries to do “a lot of things” with Arkansas Medicaid, but insurance can be a struggle.

“We have to fight with them a lot for everything we can do,” he said. “At Baptist, we try to serve an underserved population. We do take Medicaid and Medicare, but it’s becoming more difficult to do that because they just don’t reimburse, and the hospital is losing money every time we try to help these people that need operations and medications.”

Causes and effects

So what is the good and the potentially bad in pursuing weight loss through the use of medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy?

The good, Edem said, is they suppress a person’s natural biology of hunger and appetite.

“You eat less food,” he said. “You think less about eating food, and you can be in a significant calorie deficit. So people that have lost weight, they reduce the quantity of foods and change to better quality of foods.”

However, Edem noted, without exercise that uses weights or muscle-strengthening exercises, the medicines can cost a person 30 percent to 40 percent of weight in muscle loss, while 60 percent to 65 percent will be fat.

If a person loses weight with the drugs, they will probably need to keep taking them, as those who quit Ozempic or Wegovy often regain weight quickly, something Paul said has not been stressed enough to the public.

“For people who need to lose 30 pounds or so, it can be effective,” he said. “I don’t know, for people who are just jumping on the

bandwagon, if they understand that they have to take it forever. There is a significant weight gain when they come off the drug. I don’t think that’s been portrayed.”

Side effects, while not necessarily widespread, most commonly include gastrointestinal problems. In clinical trials, patients have experienced nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, headaches, fatigue, indigestion, dizziness, bloating and gas. Edem said around 10 percent to 15 percent of patients experience side effects and of those 30 percent to 40 percent are nausea.

“Your stomach slows down and your acid comes up,” he added.

In 10 percent to 15 percent of patients, there may be vomiting, Edem said. Some can experience abdominal pain or constipation.

“That’s why we start with the lower dose and start it up slowly, a month or two. Then you go up in the dose,” Edem said, “and you go up only if you don’t have side effects. If you have side effects, you don’t go up.”

There are medicines for suppressing nausea and treating constipation such as Zofran and stool softeners that can mitigate side effects for the most part.

“Rarely, if ever, do my patients stop these medicines because of side effects,” Edem said.

Patients with pancreatitis or a family history of medullary pattern cancers should not use the drugs, Edem said.

CNN ran a story about stomach paralysis as a side effect, Edem said, adding that sometimes the most extreme side-effect cases make it into the news.

“I’ve had zero cases of permanent paralysis of the stomach,” he said. “Medicine doesn’t work that way. These are temporary. The symptom goes away in 10 days. … If the medicines are not tolerable to you, you change the class of medicine.”

Edem warned against shady operators such as medical spas that provide non-FDA-approved compounded semaglutide without knowing about potential side effects, which has resulted in some of the negative stories.

Down the road

Ultimately there are more benefits than detriments if weightloss drugs are used properly under a physician’s care, Edem said.

“For the most part, these medicines have played a very positive role in weight loss for people who take them,” he said. “Many of them have gone on to reduce their diabetes, reduce their hypertension.”

It will take several years to really understand the long-term effects of the drugs, Edem said, because not enough time has passed and there are no studies as of yet.

“We are still learning about the side effects from the general population,” he said. “We do not know what happens if patients take this more than 10 years.”

That said, he added, the outlook is fairly positive, and the drugs and our knowledge will only improve with time.

“So far, I don’t think we will have any permanent side effects,” Edem said. “These drugs will be studied more and more in the future. More and more classes of drugs will come up which do similar things, or even better.”

The important thing is for patients to continue working and consulting with their doctors, follow their advice and work within guidelines.

“My goal is when you reach your weight goal, I stop these medicines, and if you’re regaining the weight, which happens sometimes, we restart the medicines,” Edem said. “I give them a soft landing with other medicines and lifestyle so they don’t regain the weight.”

Arkansas’ rate of obesity has bounced up and down in recent years but has stubbornly remained in the top rankings of the most obese states in America.

NE W SPECIAL IZED INPATIEN T PRO GR AM DE SIGNED JUST FOR WOMEN

DECADES OF CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY

Since 1983, The BridgeWay has provided behavioral healthcare services to our surrounding communities. Our programs are designed to give each patient individualized care to help manage their symptoms, resolve problems, recognize life stressors and effectively cope with their condition.

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Physicians are on the medical staff of The BridgeWay, but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of The BridgeWay. The facility shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.

SPECIAL IZED IEN T PRO GR AM DE SIGNED FOR WOMEN

The Pilgrim’s Progress of ANTHONY LUCAS

Kismet, divine retribution and the journey to PA

It is mid-August, and the post-practice, late afternoon sun is reminding those still milling about of one irrefutable fact: Football season may be looming, but fall most certainly is not.

Inside the comfort of a student lounge that overlooks the field at Pulaski Academy’s Hatcher Stadium and once served as football fieldhouse, Anthony Lucas gives a writer his undivided attention.

In Arkansas, one does not have the undivided attention of Anthony Lucas and not ask about 1999. It would be like having the ear of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and not asking about that triumphant return to the Philippines.

After guiding PA to consecutive state titles, Lucas is well on his way to building a coaching legacy, but his celebrity in Arkansas was born as an all-American Razorback football player in the late 1990s, and his legend was cemented on Nov. 13, 1999 with “The Catch” against Tennessee.

Twenty-four years later, Lucas is asked regularly about that game, about the game-winning touchdown pass he caught from Clint Stoerner, about the stadium shaking and the goal posts taking off for Dickson Street. It was more than just a win and one of the biggest individual moments in Razorback football history — it was divine retribution.

But we’ll come back to that.

***

It was not any of the big games he played in a Razorback uniform that made Lucas the most nervous. It was not playing for high school basketball state championships back in Tallulah, La., or being recruited — for football and basketball — by major Div. 1 schools. It was not even reporting to his first NFL training camp.

All those big stages notwithstanding, nerves almost got him just one time, when he addressed the PA team in the locker room before his first game as head coach.

It was opening night 2021, and the Bruins were just down Arkansas 10 in west Little Rock at Joe T. Robinson High School. Lucas had been on the PA staff for a decade, coaching wide receivers and helping oil the Bruins’ finely tuned offense. As an assistant, the soft-spoken Lucas never had to give the pre-game speech. Now, as the coach taking over for the legendary Kevin Kelley, pre-game speeches were his to deliver.

The Bruins were about to launch the post-Kelley era, and eyes would be fixed on this game.

Lucas admitted that a moment of self-doubt surfaced before he addressed the team, but it was for a moment only.

“I remember just like it happened yesterday,” Lucas said. “It was time for me to address the team. I walked in there, and I was nervous. My heart was pumping Kool-Aid, but I was shaking. I was supernervous getting ready to talk to them. I’m like, ‘You can’t let these kids see that you’re nervous.’ I had to tell myself, ‘You’ve been around these kids. You’ve

watched Coach Kelley. You know how to lead people,’ and I had to challenge myself.”

He was up for the challenge; PA went on to win that night, and three months later, the team capped the season with another Class 5A state title. Lucas and the Bruins followed it up with another state championship in 2022, the school’s first at the 6A level.

Jason Wyatt, PA’s athletics director and longtime defensive coordinator, has been at the school for 20 years and had a front-row seat for the transition. The program didn’t skip a beat, he said, once Lucas took the reins. Four of six assistant coaches remained with the program after Kelley left, and Wyatt said each one “knew what Bruin football was” and wanted it to continue. Lucas embodies that desire, he said.

“Anthony believes in what he’s doing, and he has so much passion. He’s done a tremendous job in that aspect.”

***

Rena and Gerald Lucas always figured their son would end up playing college basketball. A 6-foot-3-inch frame meant he was destined to play center for his old McCall High teams, but Anthony’s athleticism stood out on the court nonetheless. In fact, Gerald said he believes basketball helped develop Anthony’s timing as a receiver, especially when going up for his specialty, jump balls of the football variety. His junior year, Anthony led the Dragons to a state title, but despite basketball coming naturally, he was drawn more to football.

Gerald often took his young son to games at nearby historically black colleges and universities like Grambling State University and the elder Lucas’ alma mater, Alcorn State University. Anthony grew up idolizing HBCU players like Jerry Rice, who played college ball at Mississippi Valley State University, and Alcorn’s own Steve McNair.

So when colleges came calling, there was not necessarily a favorite home-state school in the lead for Anthony’s signature. Louisiana State University recruited him early but backed off, and Lucas said he had not really grown up a fan anyway. His five official visits were to Texas A&M; Georgia State University; the University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Louisiana Tech University; and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. At one time, Lucas envisioned himself playing at an HBCU school and even took an unofficial visit to Alcorn.

“He got a lot of letters, and it was thrilling for him to go on all the visits,” Rena said. “He did have offers in basketball, but his goal was football.”

Lucas, who has led PA to consecutive state titles at the 5A and 6A levels, embodies what Bruin football is, according to his AD.

This YouTube image from the 1999 Tennessee game shows Lucas just having come down with what became the winning catch; his NFL rookie card from Pacific (below) included stats from his senior year as a Hog.

***

Anthony Lucas ended his collegiate career at Arkansas as an all-American. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2000 NFL draft by Green Bay, but his NFL career was cut short at three years by knee injuries just 10 months apart.

His post-playing journey began in the Springdale corporate office of Tyson Foods, but his path soon led to Little Rock and Life CHAMPS Youth Sports. The faith-based youth football league was started by Little Rock lawyer Steve Snyder and the man who recruited Lucas to Arkansas in the first place, Fitz Hill.

Lucas remembers getting the call from his old position coach at Arkansas, who was, by this time, the head coach at San José State University. The two often kept in touch, and this time, Hill had another offer on the table.

“They were looking to start a youth sports organization that focused on character,” Lucas said, “and they asked me if I’d mind moving to Little Rock to get it started. I was kind of hesitant at first, but Coach Hill and I always had a great relationship, and still do, and I said, ‘Why not?’ I’d always thought of Little Rock as the midway point for me driving from Fayetteville to Tallulah. I never thought I would be living in the capital of Arkansas, but I ended up moving down here, and the rest has been history.”

With its focus on developing character as much as football skills, Life CHAMPS provided Lucas a perfect reintroduction to football. Throughout his playing career, Lucas had been known as much for his own strength of character as for his stat lines, and that is saying something. Lucas is etched into Arkansas football lore as one of the program’s greatest receivers of all time. In 1998, he became the first UA player to amass more than 1,000 receiving yards in a single season, and he remains second in career receiving yards (2,879). He was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.

Lucas and his older sister, Latasha, were raised to hit the books first and live as examples of their Christian faith, and Anthony Lucas did not veer from that path in Fayetteville. He took a college degree with him to the NFL, and once back in northwest Arkansas after his playing days were done, Lucas earned a master’s degree.

Hill, who went on to become president of HBCU Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock and is now a pastor for New Life Church, knew there was just one person for the job when Life CHAMPS was being launched.

Lucas, he said, was a consummate teammate at Arkansas. He did not care who got the credit as long as it helped the team. He even helped coaches recruit other players to Fayetteville. Lucas led by example, Hill said, and that was just the kind of leadership Life CHAMPS was looking for.

“Anthony was a perfect fit,” Hill said. “When Steve asked me who I thought would be a good candidate to lead it, I knew immediately that Anthony was the one who could help teach these kids the game of football and, more importantly, about the game of life.”

Lucas credits his humility to his upbringing. Rena credits family on either side for helping mold Anthony into the person he became.

“He was reared by a village,” she said. “My parents and my husband’s parents. We were all very close. My husband’s father was a minister who pastored four churches. That had a lot to do with it.”

Gerald said success never changed his son’s outlook. “Throughout all the high levels of achievement,” he said, “Anthony always stayed humble.” ***

The coaching bug finally bit in 2012. Anthony had led Life CHAMPS to massive growth and was working with local athletes at D1 training in Little Rock when Kelley called. The PA coach, by then already nationally notorious for his unusual approach to the game, offered Anthony the opportunity to join the Bruin staff and coach wide receivers. Gerald said his son had found his ultimate match.

“When he told us that he was getting into coaching, we thought it was the best thing for him,” Gerald said. “He loves football. He lives football. He eats football. We had a feeling he wanted to get into coaching.”

Anthony Lucas said he remembers his parents asking him what took so long.

“But as they taught me growing up, always remember that you’re not on your time, you’re on God’s time,” Lucas said. “It was just God’s time, and I’m grateful that Coach Kelley gave me the opportunity to come and coach here.”

Growing up, Lucas took note of how hard his parents worked — more than 80 years of teaching experience between them — and for little pay, but ultimately, he “was called to coach and teach.”

Lucas joined the PA program as it was making a national name for itself thanks to Kelley’s unique, percentages-based system (no punts, always onside kick, no return game) that relied heavily on a high-flying offense and an aggressive defense often put in precarious situations. By the time Lucas was tabbed to replace Kelley as head coach in 2021, the standard at PA was state title or bust. The Bruins had won nine state championships in 17 years, including six of the last seven, under the trailblazing Kelley, whose philosophy was the subject of stories by the likes of Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

Lucas, therefore, knew all about the tricky nature of replacing a legendary coach. As Polish author Stanisław Lem once noted, “You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down.”

That may be so, but under Lucas, the program still enjoys a view from the top. The Bruins repeated as Class 5A state champs in his first season as head coach, and despite being moved up in class for 2022-23, added a 6A crown to the trophy case.

Kelley is back in Little Rock with Kid Champion, where he teaches young kids how to develop athletic skills and fitness concepts. He said he is not surprised by PA’s continued success.

“I’m a big Anthony Lucas fan,” he said. “Everybody loves him; he’s such a great person and he does a great job as coach. I’m smart enough to know that if things are going well, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, and Anthony’s the same way, but he’s made some tweaks and is doing it his own way, and that’s what he should do.”

The Bruins defeated Greenwood High School in the 6A state championship game last fall, avenging a regular season loss. In the title game, PA held on in part by playing it safe. Lucas opted to punt and pin the Bulldogs deep three times. Kelley said Lucas obviously made the right calls because the Bruins won. Pressed a little, he admitted that he would have gone for it two of those three times. The fact that he would have punted even once is rare for him.

Throughout his tenure at PA, Kelley was known to forego the punt, even from deep in his own territory. As he explained to Sports Illustrated in 2011, when a team punts from near its own end zone, the opponent will take possession inside the 40 and then score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. If the opponent takes over on downs inside the 10, it will score a touchdown 92 percent of the time.

“So [forsaking] a punt, you give your offense a chance to stay on the field,” he said. “If you miss, the odds of the other team scoring only increase 15 percent. It’s like someone said, ‘[Punting] is what you do on fourth down,’ and everyone did it without asking why.”

Kelley preferred to roll with PA’s precision offense. Often enough, the Bruins converted or the equally aggressive PA defense held when it did not — or, of course, the other team scored. Either way, Kelley’s system created one of the state’s all-time dynasties.

Lucas may have tweaked Kelly’s techniques slightly, but it looks very much the same as it did when PA was rising to prominence. Those punts in the championship game represented three of the Bruins’ four punts the entire 2022 season.

“We really haven’t backed off from [the system],” Lucas said. “We’ve basically, you know, done it our way. We did do something that PA hadn’t done in a while when we punted three times last year in the state championship, and I still say, if we don’t punt those three times, we don’t win the game. So we’ve adjusted some.”

Each time there is a decision to make, Lucas said he consults with his staff and makes a final call based on the flow and circumstances of the game. On rare occasions, that may lead to a punt or a field goal where Kelley would have gone for the first down or touchdown, but Lucas is fully bought into the system; you can’t coach at PA and not be. Still, the first time he was on staff and the Bruins went for it on fourth down deep in their own territory, Lucas admitted he was a little nervous.

With his parents wondering what took him so long, Lucas finally got into coaching, at PA, in 2012.

“We were backed way up,” he said, “and everybody was like, we’re going for it. Let’s go. It’s just the culture here.”

That culture extends to discipline and execution. It is doubtful there are many college teams, much less high school squads, as adept at kicking and recovering onside kicks and PA’s potent offense runs on timing and precision.

Like Kelley did before him, Lucas uses the system to overcome typical disadvantages in size, both of players and rosters. For example, PA used consecutive onside recoveries to open the second half and break open a close game against Russellville on Sept. 8.

“We teach it according to what our kids can do,” Lucas said. “We get our kids to play extremely hard, and they’re disciplined. We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fastest, but for the most part, it’s the culture. We do what we do, and we’re pretty good at it.”

For Lucas, coaching is about much more than football. He relishes the opportunity to impact players in a positive way — as he says, to help kids stay on the right track or get back on it.

“I think the most satisfying thing for me is that I get to invest in a lot of kids,” he said. “I know the expectations here at Pulaski Academy and the program. I know we have to win, and winning is the tradition here, but I also get excited

“Anthony believes in what he’s doing, and he has so much passion. He’s done a tremendous job...”

when I can tell a kid when he’s messed up and I can steer a kid into going in the right direction.

“I’m big on character, you know? I stress that so much, so I get the opportunity to teach a kid not only to be a football player, but how to be a phenomenal person off the field, as well, and me being an example. I had three years in the NFL, and I’m grateful for that time, but my character is what I hope I can bring the most. I’m not perfect, but I’m big on character.”

As a coach, he draws on his vast experience as a football player on every level, from peewee to Sundays. Perhaps more importantly, he uses his position as coach to share the life lessons he was taught growing up.

“You can’t lead with John 3:16 because we’re not a Christian school and we’re in this day and time, but the kids know my values and know I’m a God-fearing man,” he said. “I have my own way to reach them in that aspect of life.”

Lucas deflects all credit to his parents. He said they taught him to be humble, to always give glory to God and never to think he is bigger than anyone else.

“Do something for somebody all the time. Treat people with respect, and you know, all those things fall under character,” he said. “I really get excited about that, and not just with my football team, but with the kids here at Pulaski Academy, the faculty and staff, as well.”

Lucas believes that is something every kid needs to hear, regardless of where they were raised.

“If you can get one kid to change, you’ve done a great job,” he said, “and I do feel like that. The kids, they know my expectations of them and how I want them to take care of themselves, and since I’ve been in this position, I’ve noticed a difference in a few kids. You know, a lot of people are like, ‘Y’all don’t have problems like that in private school.’ I say, you have no idea. You have no idea what these kids may be going through at home.”

Wyatt, who has been at PA since 2000, said Lucas provided a seamless transition while placing his own stamp on the program.

“You couldn’t ask for a better leader of young men,” he said. “He’s very charismatic, and his charisma comes through to anyone who’s around him for 30 seconds. He genuinely cares about each individual, and that becomes apparent with each conversation with him, and it becomes apparent pretty quickly.” ***

It must have been something like kismet that brought Lucas to Fayetteville to play for the Razorbacks. If he had picked basketball over football or chosen to play somewhere else, he never would have found his adopted home in Arkansas and never would have found divine retribution in the south end zone of Razorback Stadium.

The kismet comes in when one considers that Lucas recorded both the first and last touchdown catches of his organized football career in the state of Arkansas. His parents were at both games — the first as a seventh grader from Tallulah playing about 50 miles up U.S. 65 in Eudora. The last? Well, that one still gets replayed in Arkansas. It came on the afternoon of Nov. 13, 1999, and it provided the final score in a 28-24 win over No. 3 Tennessee that avenged a loss by the same score from ’98 that SB Nation’s Football Study Hall years would later call “one of the biggest gut-punch near-upsets in college football’s history.”

On a national scale, the outcome of that ’99 game moved the needle only because it eliminated Tennessee from the national title chase and made the Hogs bowl eligible.

But from an Arkansas perspective, needles moved because the earth shook.

Lucas ran a post, gaining his customary step on the cornerback, and took in a 23-yard scoring strike from Stoerner with 3:24 left to play. The defense survived a couple of Tee Martin throws into the end zone to give Arkansas its most cathartic win in program history.

The previous year, Lucas had owned the University of Tennessee’s secondary. Eight catches, 172 yards, two scores. He could not be covered. Both teams had entered the highly anticipated ’98 game at 8-0 with SEC and national title implications at play. The Hogs built a 21-10 lead and outplayed the top-ranked Vols for three and a half quarters. Then things happened late, things no coach could plan for, and the Hogs left Knoxville numb in the aftermath of a 28-24 defeat.

That Stoerner and Lucas connected for the game-winner a year later, matching the ’98 final score, was nothing short of what Lucas would describe as a “God thing.”

Lucas remembers seeing the goal posts being carried out of the stadium by a moving mass of students and fans through what was then the open-air south end zone. They — the goalposts and the mass — would end up on Dickson Street, which those even remotely familiar with the lay of the land around Razorback Stadium know is no easy trip. Later that night, as Dickson Street was thumping into the wee hours, the Razorback heroes were beckoned.

“They called Stoerner; somebody had his number,” Lucas said. “We were at his house hanging out. My parents were there. We all went over there and just hung out, and man, we got a call. I mean, I could hear the guy: ‘Hey, y’all need to come down. We got the goal posts down here at Ozark Brewery. You need to sign ‘em.’ It was wild, but man, what a memorable moment.” ***

Rena and Gerald said they are grateful for Arkansas’ symbolic adoption of their son.

“Arkansas has shown an extreme amount of love for our son,” Rena said. “We really thank Arkansas for being so good to him. We’ll go to Walmart or something when we visit, and Anthony can’t get out of the store, can’t get out of the parking lot because of all the people who recognize him and want to say something.”

For his part, Lucas said he does not see himself going anywhere, though he will not rule out coaching at the collegiate level one day should the opportunity arise. But he is not searching it out. He and his wife, Devae, are raising their two kids, Kassidy, 12, and Kaylee, 6, in Little Rock and living a blessed life.

“Right now, I’m so grateful. I’ve got a great group of coaches that I work with, and I can’t say enough about this,” he said. “The staff here, these guys are so talented, and we are so different in our own little ways, but we come together, and we get our kids to perform. I don’t know where the journey’s going to take me. I just try to live one day and one week at a time.”

“If you can get one kid to change, you’ve done a great job, and I do feel like that. The kids, they know my expectations of them and how I want them to take care of themselves...”

THE BEST VERSION OF EBONY MITCHELL

Former Miss Arkansas Ebony Mitchell transitions from pageants to food pantries

ccording to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “hungry” has both positive and negative connotations. On one hand, it describes the uneasy feeling or painful sensation that results from lack of food. On the other, it describes someone who is strongly motivated by something, such as status or success. For former Miss Arkansas Ebony Mitchell, both types of hunger are extremely familiar.

The good kind pushed her to become the fourth black woman to ever hold the title of Miss Arkansas in 2022. Now that she has passed the crown to current Miss Arkansas Cori Keller, Mitchell hopes to tackle the bad kind of hunger in her new role as director of external affairs at the Arkansas Foodbank. It is a cause close to Mitchell’s heart.

“I grew up in a single parent home the youngest of three children, so I didn’t always know where my next meal was coming from,” Mitchell said. “I think having that background kind of gives me that drive to help other people in Arkansas who are maybe facing a similar situation.”

According to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, Arkansas ranks second in the nation for food insecurity. Feeding America estimates one in six Arkansans are unsure where their next meal will come from. Even worse, one in five children in Arkansas are unsure of their next meal. The largest hunger relief organization in the state, the Arkansas Foodbank works to address the problem by collecting and distributing food to pantries, schools, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and senior centers around the state.

Growing up in Harrison, the self-described “introverted extrovert” was not always a shoe-in for public-facing roles like Miss Arkansas or director of external affairs.

“When I was younger, I was extremely shy. Like, I used to hide behind my mother’s leg at the doctor’s office,” Mitchell said.

In a community not particularly known for diversity or inclusion, Mitchell often stood out whether she liked it or not.

“At one point, my brother, sister and I were the only black children in the entire school district,” she said. The situation forced Mitchell to develop a thick skin that would be useful to her once she started doing the pageant circuit.

When Mitchell was 7 years old, her big sister brought home a flyer that recruited girls for a district beauty pageant. Her sister signed up, and so did Mitchell, figuring it could not be much scarier than a dance recital. Mitchell loved to dance and had become acclimated to performing in front of large audiences.

“The crowds were easier to ignore,” she said. “I couldn’t see them from the stage.”

Luckily for her, pageant contestants were not required to give speeches or even perform a talent at that level, so she kept at it without taking the work too seriously. All that changed when Mitchell was 9 years old and then-Miss Arkansas Eudora Mosby walked into her school and made eye contact with little Ebony. From that moment, Mitchell said she wanted to become Miss Arkansas someday and do the same thing for other kids that Mosby did for her.

“She was the second black Miss Arkansas ever,” Mitchell said, “and she spoke to me, and I felt seen and valued and like I was capable of doing great things.”

First, Mitchell would have to confront her fear of public speaking. She jumped into the Diamond State Princess program, which pairs young women ages 5 to 12 with a mentor from the Miss Arkansas organization.

“My first interview when I started was awful,” she said. “I just didn’t want to even go out there. I was so terrified.”

When she aged out of the first program, Mitchell pushed past her discomfort and continued with the Miss Arkansas Outstanding Teen program, but she never captured the crown. At that point, Mitchell took a break from pageants to concentrate on college. In 2015, Mitchell began attending the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. In 2016, she watched Savvy Shields win Miss Arkansas.

“Then of course she goes on to win Miss America [the third Miss

Arkansas to ever win it], so I thought maybe this is my sign to get back into the organization,” Mitchell said.

Over the next six years, Mitchell’s path to Miss Arkansas was not smooth-sailing, but a lesson in stick-to-itiveness. Mitchell started competing in pageants again in 2017 as a sophomore at UCA but did not win anything that year. In 2018, she tore her ACL, which put an end to her college cheerleading career. Then she competed for Miss Arkansas and lost again, putting a damper on her whole year.

In 2019, Mitchell won Miss UCA, a local preliminary to the Miss Arkansas pageant. She also made some gains in the state competition that year, inching a little closer to the crown. Unfortunately, the Miss Arkansas pageant was canceled in 2020, but Mitchell returned again in 2021 and clinched the first runner-up spot. Finally in 2022, Mitchell realized her childhood dream of becoming Miss Arkansas and barely had a moment to appreciate it before it was time to hit the ground running.

During her yearlong reign, Mitchell attended galas and balls, gave speeches, met with legislators, and performed community service. Every single day required something different of her without so much as weekends off. Needless to say, it was a punishing schedule.

“I went to every corner of Arkansas,” Mitchell said. “I drove a little over 55,000 miles during my year, so I’ve seen the entire state at least three times.”

Mitchell was not finished competing, either. During her first six months as Miss Arkansas, she had to simultaneously fulfill those duties while also preparing to represent the Natural State in the Miss America pageant. While she did not place in the national competition, Mitchell felt honored just to participate.

“It’s crazy that I even got to do that and go to Miss America,” she said. “I read a statistic somewhere that you’re more likely to have a son play in the Super Bowl than your daughter compete in Miss America. My mom loves to tell her friends that.”

One of Mitchell’s biggest commitments as Miss Arkansas and the one most meaningful to her personally was visiting schools. During her year, Mitchell visited every school in the Harrison School District, hoping to inspire the future generation the way Eudora Mosby inspired her.

“Being in those shoes really put into perspective how much of an impact you can make on someone just by being in the room,” she said

Five to six times a week, Mitchell would give school presentations across the state, where she also saw firsthand the enormity of the hunger problem in Arkansas.

“I was going into private charter schools, but I was also going into Title 1 schools in very, very small towns or even inner-city schools in Little Rock,” Mitchell said. “So I’ve seen the difference in students who are struggling with food insecurity and students who are not. It doesn’t just affect them in the fact that they’re hungry, but it affects the way they learn and affects the way they communicate with people.”

This eye-opening experience led Mitchell to do volunteer work with the Arkansas Foodbank, where she learned more about the organization’s mission and methods. Headquartered in a 99,000-square-foot warehouse in Little Rock, Arkansas Foodbank receives food, supplies and monetary donations from individuals, retailers and corporate sponsors like Walmart, Sam’s Club and Tyson Foods, which the food bank then distributes to its partner organizations.

“A lot of people don’t really understand what the food bank does; I really didn’t until I started working here,” Mitchell said. “It’s just like any other bank except our ATMs are the pantries that we serve.”

In 2022 alone, the Arkansas Foodbank distributed over 40 million pounds of food to more than 400 partner organizations across 33 counties in central and south Arkansas, paying special attention to vulnerable communities such as children and seniors. In addition to distributing food to school pantries, the AFB also runs the Backpack Program to provide hungry children with food for weekends and school holidays.

“The senior population is really affected, and a lot of people don’t realize that,” Mitchell said. “If you can’t work, you know, you have no extra income other than what you accrued during your working time, and as we know, inflation changes, prices change.”

To that end, the AFB assists eligible seniors with home food deliveries and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Arkansas

Foodbank even assists with disaster relief efforts, providing food and supplies to victims of severe weather events and other emergencies as needed.

Mitchell finds the hunger problem particularly frustrating in Arkansas because of the state’s abundance of natural resources.

“I think it’s really sad because we are such a giant agriculture state, and of course, we’re the rice capital of the world too,” Mitchell said. “We have the ability to grow our own food. It’s just learning and teaching people how to do that, and then how to make it sustainable and how we can make it equitable.”

Together, the Arkansas Foodbank and Walmart are working toward a zero-waste future, which includes helping get excess food into the hands of the people who need it most.

“[Walmart is] a really great partner, because any time they have anything leftover or anything that they need to pick off the shelves, they donate to food banks across America,” Mitchell said.

Although Mitchell’s new role at the AFB keeps her busy, she still works to mentor younger women within the Miss Arkansas organization. As one of only 85 women to ever hold that title, Mitchell has some expert wisdom to impart.

“I think at first I thought I had to be this perfect Miss Arkansas, but Miss Arkansas is different every single year. There is no mold to be her, and I think I kind of learned that over the first couple months in my year,” Mitchell said. “Every time people ask me for advice, I always tell them they’re not looking for a certain person; they’re just looking for the best version of you.”

As for young people who may want to sign up for a pageant but have not dipped their toes in yet, Mitchell urges them to do it.

“I can be in these shoes right now, based on what I’ve been through and where I come from, then anybody can do it,” Mitchell said. “There’s always an open door somewhere; you just have to find it.”

According to Mitchell, the Arkansas Foodbank’s doors are always open, as well.

“People don’t realize how accessible we are,” she said. “I mean, we read DMs and message people back. We’re always accessible to anybody who is struggling with food insecurity or someone who knows someone who is struggling, and we’re always able to point you in the direction of getting food as soon as possible.”

Competing in pageants took Mitchell to every corner of the state, cured her fear of public speaking and pointed her in the direction of communicating for a living. It also paid for a college degree in marketing and an MBA degree in health care management.

“I learned how to not take myself so seriously, and I also learned the importance of giving back,” she said. “The impact that one person can have on your life is so incredible. I mean, it really can flip somebody’s entire day or life around.”

As for her future, Mitchell said she does not see herself ever leaving her home state.

“I would love to stay in the nonprofit space just to help Arkansans who are struggling with anything that I faced as a child,” she said. “I just want to keep working with people.”

Although she has already made a huge impact on this state through her work as Miss Arkansas and now on behalf of the Arkansas Foodbank, who knows? Maybe the best version of Ebony Mitchell is yet to come.

SOARING

Special

Olympics

Arkansas to build updated headquarters in North Little Rock

HIGHER

peaking in front of an audience takes courage, even for Special Olympics World Champion swimmer and accomplished public speaker Nathan McClain, who shared his story at a Special Olympics Arkansas’ capital campaign launch in North Little Rock on July 20.

“I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous,” he said before the presentation, adding that public speaking was more nerve wracking than swimming. “I might have some nerves coming up to the block, but once I jump off, all those nerves go away.”

Regardless, McClain seemed full of confidence when he dove into his speech.

“Special Olympics has played a major role in my life,” he said during the presentation. “Over the years, Special Olympics has given me many kinds of experiences. I get to be with friends and work on many sports. They have also provided me with coaches who have really helped me improve at my best sport, swimming.”

The event kicked off the organization’s Launching a Legacy for Inclusion capital campaign to build a new headquarters at 2115 Main St. in North Little Rock. For 24 years, Special Olympics Arkansas owned a brick office building on the now-vacant lot, and it also owned a neighboring building that served as a storage space.

The 2020 snowstorm damaged the office building’s roof, causing the building to flood. Although staff members did their best to dry out the office, the water left its mark.

“We continued to work there, trying to figure out what to do, and let it dry out,” said Terri Weir, executive director and CEO. “It smelled, and we had people come in and walk around, and you could visibly see the water damage. You could hear the squishing of the carpet every now and then.”

The structure was rendered unsafe, so the organization leased a temporary space in Little Rock and continued to store some equipment in the storage building. While driving to pick up equipment one day, Weir noticed new flowers lining the road, along with banners that read, “MidCity Main Street.” Curious, she called North Little Rock City Hall to ask about the changes and learned they were part of Mayor Terry Hartwick’s vision to beautify Main Street from 13th to 24th streets.

“I said, ‘We’re a part of that vision,’” she said. “‘We want to be back there. That’s our home. That’s where we lived. That’s where our athletes knew where to come and see us.’”

In 2021, the organization began working with the city to con-

struct a new headquarters at the original location.

“They came to me right after I got elected and told me their plans, so we started talking about what the future brings and what they’re going to do,” Hartwick said. “I’m very supportive. I told them I’d back them every step of the way, and I will continue to do that, without a doubt.”

The planned structure will be a boon to revitalization efforts in the area, which include a new fire station, he added.

“With Special Olympics coming in with a brand-new building and the new fire station, our midtown’s really growing, and I’m very excited about it,” he said. “Without a doubt, it’s special.”

Designed by WDD Architects in North Little Rock, the headquarters will feature 4,680 square feet of office space and 3,000 square feet of storage space. A Legacy Wall, celebrating those who donate to the campaign, will be to the right of the entrance to the grand hall. To the left will be offices and a 13-foot by 24-foot conference room.

“Something we’ve never been able to have, believe it or not, is a real conference room and meeting space, and space for people to come and visit us and know that we are important not just to the community of North Little Rock, but to the state of Arkansas,” Weir said. “That other space on the left, that’s our space. That’s for us to be able to create, to be able to build, to be able to grow this program.”

The organization is also looking forward to the spacious warehouse that will be tucked behind the Legacy Wall, she added.

“We can store all of our equipment that’s in our garages, that’s in mini storage, that’s in our parents’ garages, that’s everywhere,” she said. “We can serve our athletes. We can make sure that everyone has all the equipment they need without having to go anywhere. You can touch it every day.”

More than just a place to report to work, the new development will allow Special Olympics Arkansas to create new opportunities, competitions and initiatives, Weir said, adding that she hopes to add popularly requested sports such as 5K runs, pickleball and stand-up paddleboard. The organization may also host community events such as informational lunches at the headquarters.

John Fournier, board chairman, said the new building is integral to the success of Special Olympics Arkansas.

“It’s like you have a body, and then you have a soul, and without the body, your soul can’t do much, visibly,” he said. “This building’s so important because finally, we’ll have a place where the athletes can come and work with the staff and the volunteers.”

The location has always been a great fit for the organization, he added, but the new headquarters will allow Special Olympics Arkansas to fulfill its mission in unprecedented ways.

“We’ve done so much with so few staff. With a functional building, we can do even better than that,” he said. “I think it’s long overdue, and we’re glad we’re in North Little Rock, where we can be a partner with that whole area. It just seems like a great opportunity all the way around.”

The goal of the campaign is $3 million, and the campaign was almost halfway to its first mile marker of $1 million by the July launch event, Fournier said. He noted the organization hopes to break ground in December and once construction begins, it may take up to 10 months to complete.

“I’m confident the people of Arkansas will help make this dream come true for all the athletes,” Fournier added. “It will be a great day when that happens.”

Weir said the organization has also applied

for a few grants for the project, a process that’s also being funded by donations. Sponsors of Special Olympics Arkansas include Centennial Bank, Arvest Bank, Ridout Lumber, the Knights of Columbus, Stallion Transportation Group and many others.

Butch Rice, president and CEO of Stallion Transportation Group, said his organization has supported Special Olympics Arkansas for more than 15 years. One of its trailers has a wrap that depicts athletes from Special Olympics Arkansas, he said, and the company hauls equipment for games, competitions and events.

The company has installed shelves in the wrapped trailer to carry athletes’ baggage, which reduces baggage fees when athletes fly to out-of-state events. Stallion Transportation Group has traveled as far as Seattle and Or-

lando to haul baggage and equipment for the USA Games.

“It’s not about winning at Special Olympics; it’s all about the fellowship,” Rice said. “Everybody loves everybody. Everybody cheers everybody on, and I think that’s why we’re so attached to it.”

Rice said the cause is near and dear to the company because several employees have family members who participate in Special Olympics.

“For these special individuals, I believe God uses them to touch hearts, and these athletes will touch more hearts than anyone walking down the street,” he said. “It’s just a blessing to be around them.”

The company also contributes manpower to Special Olympics events. This year, more than 40 Stallion employees volunteered at the Spe-

“For these special individuals, I believe God uses them to touch hearts, and these athletes will touch more hearts than anyone walking down the street. It’s just a blessing to be around them.”

cial Olympics Arkansas Summer Games, and Rice routinely encourages other business owners to get involved as well. He said volunteering with Special Olympics Arkansas is crucial because the organization has few full-time staff members and relies on volunteers to serve its athletes.

“I know everybody’s lives are busy, and it’s so simple for some business owners to write checks, but it’s the volunteers. It’s the working with the athletes,” he said. “I think it’s by God’s will that we should support them and help them in their efforts of making these individuals feel a part of society.”

In August, Stallion Transportation Group surprised Special Olympics Arkansas with a six-figure donation for the new building at an event that included all 150 of its employees.

“Stallion Transportation is a really special family, a really special partner of Special Olympics Arkansas,” Weir said. “Butch Rice and his team do great things for the state.”

This month, Stallion Transportation Group will participate in a special event hosted by Special Olympics Arkansas. The Truck Convoy for Special Olympics Arkansas will take place Sept. 23 in Little Rock. Sponsored by the Arkansas Highway Police and FedEx Freight, the event invites truck drivers to decorate their rigs with banners to help raise awareness about Special Olympics.

“There will be probably 150 to 200 drivers at this event,” Rice said. “It’s a great event for Special Olympics. It raises a lot of money for Special Olympics, and there are a lot of blessed hearts there.”

Weir marked the event as one of the most enjoyable days at Special Olympics Arkansas.

“The truck drivers bring out their families and enjoy everyone being together,” Weir said. “It’s one of my favorite days.”

Also in September is the 31st Annual Robert J. Williams Memorial Golf Classic, which will take place Sept. 22 at Longhills Golf Club in Benton. The event honors Williams, who was killed during the Waco, Texas, standoff in 1993, and other fallen law enforcement personnel.

“We get a lot of support from the police. We get a lot of support from the community. We get a lot of support from corporations,” Weir said. “We’re very, very excited and honored.”

Special Olympics provides yearround sports training and competitions to children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics Arkansas has been recognized by Special Olympics USA for serving more athletes per capita than any program in the country, Weir said.

Special Olympics Arkansas offers 15 sports and 245 competitions to 23,900 athletes and unified partners. It is assisted by 16,000 volunteers who do everything from coaching athletes and assisting at competitions to helping with fundraisers and speaking about the mission.

“The list is endless of what our volunteers do for us,” Weir said.

Weir joined Special Olympics as a volunteer when she was in high school, and she has worked for the organization for more than 30 years. During that time, several programs have allowed the organization to expand its reach.

Young Athletes provides children ages 2 to 7 years old with developmental play and skill-building activities. The program has been shown to increase cognition and communication skills in participants, Weir said.

“We’re educating families at the very beginning of life so that they know that we’re going to be there throughout the whole span. Once you start Special Olympics, you don’t get out of it,” she said. “We are there to make sure that from the very beginning, young athletes are a part of our future.”

Unified Champion Schools provide athletes with and without intellectual disabilities with a chance to compete together on the same teams.

“School children are brought together as peers to reach an inclusive goal, to have a community that is together from the very beginning, learning about Special Olympics and learning about how to live together and be together as a whole community from the time that they are in school to the day they leave school and beyond,” Weir said.

As part of the program, athletes can compete in qualifying tournaments that allow them to participate in the Arkansas Activities Association’s state basketball tournament, state bowling tournament and Meet of Champions, she added.

“That is where those athletes compete on the same floor as the varsity athletes. They get the same award,” she said. “Thank goodness for our partnership with the Arkansas Activities Association, have the same housing. Everything is just the same for them as it is for any other state championship basketball team. That’s a great partnership we have.”

McClain said unified programs are among his favorite programs offered by Special Olympics.

“That really touches me, because we’re able to be with other people, as well,” he said. “We were able to have a unified swim relay, and that was a really cool swim. To be able to see other people who don’t have disabilities be able to compete with us, that was fun for me.”

Special Olympics Arkansas also offers health programs to both athletes and health care workers. The organization provides professional development training to medical personnel with the goal of ensuring equitable care for patients with intellectual disabilities.

“We’re talking to these doctors, we’re talking to these therapists, we’re talking to these nurses,” Weir said. “We’re providing them with resources so that when a person with an intellectual disability comes into their ER, comes into their hospital or comes into their treatment room, they are treated with the same dignity, the same respect, as anybody else.”

Healthy Athletes provides athletes with health screenings at most competitions and teaches them how to improve and maintain their fitness between games.

“We’re teaching our athletes to be champions not only on the field, but we’re teaching our athletes to be champions of their bodies,” Weir said. “It’s important for them to know that when they go to a doctor’s office, they can talk to their doctors just like anyone else.”

The health programs are among the most impactful programs offered by Special Olympics Arkansas, she added.

“That is something that has really changed our athletes. We’ve seen true growth,” she said. “The Athlete Leadership Program is another one, where we’ve seen a difference in athlete attitudes and confidence growth in a different manner than we had before.”

The Athlete Leadership Program provides a range of leadership opportunities to athletes. Some have learned to share the story of Special Olympics while participating in a storytelling workshop, while others serve as health messengers by demonstrating fitness activities on the organization’s social media platforms.

Other athlete leaders serve on the Athlete Input Council, which meets once a month to share ideas about how Special Olympics Arkansas can change and grow. McClain is chair of the Athlete Input Council for Special Olympics Arkansas and serves on the Athlete Input Council for Special Olympics USA.

“As a leader, one of my goals, I would say, is to focus on my health and to have a voice for my other friends, my other athletes, to support them,” McClain said. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to be a part of.”

Through the national council, he visited the Dominican Republic, where he helped athletes from other countries develop their input councils.

“That was a life-changing experience right there,” he said. “I enjoyed it.”

Taking on leadership roles increases the impact athletes can have on Special Olympics, and McClain said it also increases the impact

Special Olympics can have on athletes.

“It helps us athletes become more determined, more focused,” he said. “It helps us form a leadership outside of the sport, and it helps carry us.”

McClain, who also coaches a swim team, said he was afraid of the water until he was in his preteens. Although he would swim in the shallow end of the pool, he was terrified of the deep end.

“How could I turn into a swimmer when I was scared of the water?” he said. “One time, a friend of mine threw a ball in the deep end. He said, ‘I’ll go get it.’ I said, ‘No, I’ve got it,’ so I paddled over and got it. Before I knew it, I was on my neighborhood swim team.”

He swam for the Arkansas Dolphins Swim Team at the Little Rock Racquet Club before transitioning to Special Olympics around age 13.

“Special Olympics means a lot to me,” he added. “Sometimes it can be a bit emotional, but in a good way because sometimes it’s too good to be true, if you know what I mean. I can’t express my thank you to people who help the cause. I can’t say thank you enough.”

McClain, who is part of a rap group called TMZ Crew, quoted the lyrics of one track, “Disability,” which state, “I have a disability, but that doesn’t slow me down.” That is certainly the case for McClain, who has won numerous medals in his specialty event, the 50-meter butterfly.

His butterfly won national gold his senior year of high school, when he attended the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games in New Jersey. The following year, he won a silver medal in the 50-meter butterfly at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.

McClain now has countless medals for swimming and has also won awards for basketball and flag football, and he’s also competed in powerlifting.

He is not the only world champion from Special Olympics Arkansas, which posted to its Facebook page the results of two athletes who attended this year’s World Games in Berlin.

Powerlifter Josh Warner won a gold medal in bench press and silver medals in squat, deadlift and triple combination, and runner Amy Price won second place in the 3,000 meter run, sixth place in the 4x100 meter relay and eighth place in the 1,500 meter run.

Like others at Special Olympics Arkansas, McClain said he is excited about the new headquarters and its impact.

“All I have to say is, wow, I can’t believe that’s happening,” he said. “We’ve come a long way, and I’m looking forward to it.”

"Sometimes it can be a bit emotional, but in a good way because sometimes it’s too good to be true, if you know what I mean. I can’t express my thank you to people who help the cause. I can’t say thank you enough.”

-Nathan McClain

side of SEVEN

ROLLING UP THEIR SLEEVES

Youth earn scholarship through the work of their hands

Arkansas high school students can apply for a variety of scholarships to help pay for post-high school eucation. There are academic and athletic scholarships, music and military scholarships, legacy and lottery scholarships, and plenty of scholarships based on need or extracurriculars like cheerleading and scouting.

There is even a scholarship for work ethic. And of the 200 students nationwide who earned the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship in 2023, two are from Arkansas.

“My mom says my work ethic came from her dad, my grandpa,” said Hezekiah “Kiah” Heard of Hot Springs. Kiah is a first-year welding student at SAU Tech in East Camden.

“My biggest motivator for becoming a welder was my grandpa. He was a welder and he’s always told me all these really cool stories about everything he has done. He worked on Nuclear One [in Russellville]. He built the cross for St. Jude Hospital [in Memphis]. I love hearing all the stories and I want to make memories just like that to tell my kids.”

“I started working for my dad when I was probably 12

or 13,” said Deacon Parnell of Brookland, a first-year welding student at Arkansas Elite Welding Academy in Quitman. “He owns quite a few rental properties. We would remodel them and I always enjoyed doing the demolition part, of course.

“I did all kinds of research about what welders make what money. There are all different kinds of welding to be done. My original goal is to get on a pipeline, just anywhere. I would like to go around the states and see new things and go to new places.”

Kiah and Deacon are not the first students to attend trade schools in Arkansas on a Work Ethic scholarship. Everett Koski of Beebe graduated in February 2023 from Arkansas Elite Welding Academy and is currently making about $50,000 per year. Douglas Niethammer of Aurora, North Carolina, graduated in February 2022 and is currently working 60 hours a week and being paid $26.00 per hour. In 2022, 106 of Arkansas Elite Welding Academy’s 113 graduates landed a job working in welding within 30 days of graduation (94%).

The work ethic scholarships help Kiah and Deacon pay for the cost of tuition, books, and/or tools, about $24,000 at Arkansas Elite and $14,000 at SAU Tech. The scholarships cannot be used for room and board, transportation, or other cost of living expenses.

“It makes me very happy that the Mike Rowe scholarships focus on hard-working individuals, and they like to give their money out to the people who are willing to put the work in,” Heard said.

Not surprisingly, a scholarship awarded for work ethic isn’t easy to get.

First, applicants have to enroll in an approved program that offers training in a blue-collar trade like automotive technology, commercial driving, construction, HVAC, plumbing, electrical technology, welding or one of many other skilled fields. Four-year degree or bachelor programs are not eligible.

Then, applicants must sign the SWEAT Pledge and be able to answer four questions about the pledge. Next, a 60-second video describing an applicant’s work ethic and why they are worthy of a scholarship must be submitted. Like many scholarships, applicants are asked to provide references, a high school transcript, a verification of school costs and their most recent W2.

Circling back to the SWEAT Pledge, it stands for Skill and Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo. The 12-point manifesto is summarized by the Mike Rowe Works Foundation as “a solemn oath not to become a lazy, self-entitled drone that blames others for their troubles and expects to be taken care of. This pledge is not for everyone, so if you’re offended or threatened by its content, it’s probably best to seek out a different scholarship.”

“It kind of just tells you what your standards are as a worker,” said Parnell about the pledge. “It describes what people expect out of a good, hard-working laborer.”

How much can a student who earns a work ethic scholarship expect to get? The amounts awarded vary, but this year $1 million dollars was shared by 200 students.

“On average the awards are $5,000,” Heard said, “But because my schooling was already mostly paid for, they gave me $3,000 and they gave the other $2,000 to another kid who needed it more.”

Both Heard and Parnell applied for and received other scholarships from trade organizations such as the Fabricating and Manufacturers Association and the American Welding Society. Both expect to have all school debt retired within a year of graduation. Not coincidentally, this is aligns with Part 5 of the SWEAT Pledge, which states, “I deplore debt and do all I can to avoid it. I would rather live in a tent and eat beans than borrow money to pay for a lifestyle I can’t afford.”

On Labor Day 2008, Mike Rowe launched the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. The 61-year-old host of the Discovery Channel TV series Dirty Jobs has made it his mission to encourage people to consider pursuing a career in the trades and to bring attention to our nation’s aging infrastructure. You can read more at mikeroweworks.org.

Both Kiah and Deacon knew early on that going to college for four years after high school was not for them.

“I would say probably right around when I turned 15,” said Heard. “School taught me that I really did not want to work inside. I just enjoy being outside in a new environment every day. I don’t like sitting in a classroom all day. I can’t really sit still. I much preferred my shop classes in high school because I was always busy. I was always doing something. It just clicked with me.”

“I think it started about 10th grade,” said Parnell. “I was in an ag mechanics class at my high school. We were in the shop, and [the teacher] fired up the welder. I ran a few beads, and I thought, man, this is kind of cool. So I started going in there every day to see how good I could get at it.”

Speaking of getting good at it, every spring a competition for high school welders takes place in Quitman whereby 20 competitors earn scholarships. Students can register at arkansasewa.com.

Deacon and Kiah are exactly the kind of teens and young adults to whom Mike Rowe targets his messaging and seems to be following the precise path Arkansas needs more people to follow.

“It’s never a bad idea to get into the trades,” said Parnell. “There is always help needed. Welding is so in demand right now, it is unbelievable.”

JASON PEDERSON

For two decades, Jason Pederson served as KATV-Channel 7’s Seven On Your Side reporter. Now on the other “side” of his awardwinning time on the news, he now serves as deputy chief of community engagement for the Arkansas Department

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M URDER MYSTERY:

The tale of the teens

One small-town high school, four teenagers, two murders and two killers – for the community of Bald Knob, this was an implosion the effects of which still linger, as do the many questions which line up like beads on a necklace, a very long necklace.

One, two, three, four…that was the number of days that elapsed before Robin Farnsworth’s mother reported her missing. The date she last saw her shy 15-year-old was noted by the Bald Knob Police Department as Jan. 27, 1995. No, there was no drama, no argument before she left for school. Actually, she seemed happy that morning. She just never came home.

Left behind was a huge source of happiness for Farnsworth. Her life as a typical teenager was forever changed when at age 14 years old, she gave birth to a baby girl. While some other teenage moms might have resented all that meant, Farnsworth embraced the situation. She loved that child as hard and as strongly as any mother would.

Why then was her disappearance brought to police attention sooner? Her daughter had, the woman explained, run away once before. She had been sure she would turn up. Apparently, the police thought so too. In their defense, law enforcement often deals with runaways, most of whom circle back home.

In place, though, was a 1985 requirement that law enforcement enter missing minors into the state and national databases set up for such. The law did not differentiate between involuntary, i.e., suspected abducted minors and voluntary disappearances.

Robin Farnsworth was never put in either database. Had her mother and law enforcement made a premature conclusion that Farnsworth was a “runaway juvenile”? Did this result in less urgency in finding her, even though as a runaway, she might still be in danger?

How actively law enforcement pursued this case is known only to them. It appears, though, that no major searches were organized on Farnsworth’s behalf, and there was barely a trickle in the media. Thus, many in the community were not even aware that a girl was gone or that others might be in danger. That is until early March.

Despite being seen shortly after her classes ended, Kenyatta Haynes

had not made cheerleading practice. In fact, nobody knew where she was. Outgoing and friendly, Haynes was the girl checking all the boxes – good kid, good student, good family. Within hours, the White County Sheriff’s Department had been notified, and they too were checking all the boxes – officially designating Haynes as missing, setting up search perimeters and informing media.

Within days, the sheriff’s department was able to provide the community with answers and suspects. The search had ended in sorrow for the Haynes family. Killed within hours of her abduction, Haynes’ beaten, and bound body was found in nearby Devil’s Kitchen. The wooded, isolated location was known to teens as the place to go to escape parents and rules. It provided a strong first clue.

The horror of Haynes’ murder was compounded by the identity of her killers. This was not a random killing, no, not the work of a stranger either. The arrested – James Derrick Grubbs, 17, and Donnie Ray Tempel, 18 – were two Bald Knob high school students.

Grubbs not only shared a locker with Haynes, but it was common to see them sharing a lunch table. Grubbs and Tempel – along with Farnsworth’s boyfriend – all worked at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. Yes, they were all known to each other – Haynes, Grubbs, Tempel and yes, even Farnsworth, who was not even a thought in anyone’s mind except apparently Tempel’s, coincidentally Farnsworth’s cousin by marriage.

After being incarcerated, Tempel blurted out to a guard that Grubbs had killed Farnsworth too and even told them where the body was. This was a crucial conversation for all parties involved, one that no doubt law enforcement would have wanted to continue. The law, however, would not allow that. The guard instead had to stop Tempel from talking further until his attorney was notified. The latter, of course, prevented Tempel from saying anything more about this. Even now, almost 30 years later, he still has not.

While what he had said might not have been admissible in court due to the circumstances, the sheriff’s department was all for running with what was heard. Grubbs, Tempel claimed, had taken him to an old barn where Farnsworth’s badly beaten body lay under a pile of newspapers. Quickly pursuing this lead, the sheriff’s department located a barn fitting Tempel’s description off Old Russell Road, the route between Bald Knob and Russell.

There was no body inside, but Tempel was not exactly wrong either. In the thick woods surrounding the barn, officers made a discovery. Under a cedar tree, there was a spot where decomposition of some sort appeared to have taken place. There was no body there either, but rather

a purple fingernail, some finger bones, and a few buttons.

Did these belong to Farnsworth or possibly to that missing girl from the next county over? Were the items shown to the Farnsworths and that of the other missing girl for possible identification? There is no record of that having been done, only that the items were boxed and put into police evidence. It appears that neither girl was ruled in or out. Two families would wait.

While Tempel had been advised not to talk about Farnsworth, he had previously given authorities’ information about the murder of Kenyatta Haynes. The day that Haynes had disappeared, Grubbs picked up Tempel at school. On the floorboard of his car was a bound, but still alive, Kenyatta Haynes. Together they went to Devil’s Kitchen, where, Tempel said, Grubbs beat Haynes to death with a shovel. Then the two boys put rocks in her clothes, weighing her body down in the creek.

Although Grubbs would later plead guilty as to the charges, it was just a legal move. He did not then, nor has he since, confess, explain, or show remorse. He has left no answers behind him, particularly regarding motive. Could that be because Tempel did this on his own? Convicted on capital murder charges in the Haynes case, Grubbs and Tempel were handed sentences of life without parole. Neither has ever been tried in the case of Robin Farnsworth. Nor has anyone else.

Was the town safer when these two presumed teenage killers were sent away? Potentially, but there is a possibility that in a few years one of them may leave his prison cell behind, perhaps even returning to Bald Knob. How could this be? Well, 18 years after Grubbs and Tempel were sentenced, a law was enacted that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life but can instead be subject to parole after serving 30 years. It will retroactively apply to one man’s case.

Tempel, who claimed he was not involved in the Farnsworth death and was only an accessory in the Haynes murder, was nevertheless 18 years old at the time. Thus, as a legal adult at the time of the crimes, he will remain ineligible to ever receive parole. Pending any unforeseen change, he is where he will die. But Grubbs, who Tempel says killed the girls, was two months shy of his 18th birthday when he was arrested. His sentence falls under the new jurisdiction. His parole in a few years is not a given, but a possibility.

Meanwhile all the evidence found near the barn was still in Bald Knob, the bones having never been sent to the state crime lab. It was not a requirement at the time, and perhaps law enforcement had concluded that the crime lab could only tell them what they assumed – purple fingernail – most likely a female.

Almost three years later, more evidence was found. About a hundred yards from the barn off Old Russell Road, a hunter spotted a shoe, small enough that his first thought was that it belonged to a child. Very quickly, the hunter saw more, and the purple fingernails linked it to the prior evidence found in the near proximity. Here too was a human skill with no jawbone. Then there was a red sweater with tassels that inexplicably had hardly any dirt on it despite presumably having been outdoors for a

long amount of time. Or was it not out there that long?

Within two days, Dec. 30, 1997, the state crime lab had examined the evidence. However, it would not be until March 2003 that the bones, along with the conclusion that they were female, would return to Bald Knob. Why were the bones not returned sooner if they had been examined immediately? No explanation has been given, but they would not remain in Bald Knob long. The FBI had the ability to do what the state crime lab could not at that time – identify remains through the use of DNA. The FBI would confirm that Robin Farnsworth, thought to have been a runaway, had in fact been found.

The evidence is no longer on a shelf. Robin Farnsworth was given a resting place, but the case file is still open. Many people remain convinced that it is as Tempel said. Indeed, evidence was found near the barn, but one person still believes the killer or killers are out there. Robin Farnsworth’s mother has all along claimed to have seen Farnsworth alive after Tempel and Grubbs were arrested. Her assertion just piles on the questions that have long been strung together like beads on a necklace.

Although Grubbs would later plead guilty as to the charges, it was just a legal move. He did not then, nor has he since, confess, explain, or show remorse.

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Crows

Frankly, I never much cared for crows, thanks to legendary movie director Alfred Hitchcock. Emerging with some cousins late one night from a theater in downtown Springdale after viewing his classic thriller, The Birds, this 11-year-old boy was scared to death, the images of crows brutally attacking children firmly etched in my mind. Some 30 million crows live in this country, and I was wary of every one. When I learned that crows ranked only slightly ahead of skunks and lizards when Americans were asked to list their favorite animals, I wasn’t surprised.

After all, crows are loud, raucous and large (up to 21 inches in length). Completely black, they’ve been associated with darkness, sorcerers and witches for centuries. Some societies consider crows a bad omen, that a crow lighting on a rooftop signals bad luck or even death for the home’s occupants. Nowadays they’re strongly associated with Halloween mischief and mayhem.

But my attitude shifted after reading about the successes that Marian and Keller Breland experienced with crows at their Animal Behavior Enterprises outfit in Hot Springs. Here’s one example: Working on a classified government project, they trained the birds to fly to skyscraper windows, identified by laser dots, where the crows took photos of the rooms’ occupants with their head-mounted cameras. For another secret program, crows were trained to place listening devices behind enemy lines. So, it turns out there’s a lot more to crows than participating in a few cinematic sleights of hand. For one thing, crows – along with magpies, ravens and blue jays – belong to the corvid family of birds, a group that is surprisingly smart. Some experts consider them “the Einsteins of the bird world.”

Which begs the question: Just how smart are crows? Although a crow’s brain is only about the size of a walnut, it’s actually huge in comparison to the rest of its body. As a percentage of body mass, a crow’s brain is virtually the same as that of a human. Its forebrain – the part which controls thinking, understanding, learning, remembering and behavior – is considerably larger than might be expected. Scientists have determined a crow’s intelligence is on par with chimpanzees and gorillas and well above that of our pet dogs. To bring it closer to home, a crow’s brainpower is approximately equal to that of a 7-year-old human.

Crows in the South Pacific, for example, manufacture tools from twigs and leaves to capture their prey. Here in North America crows will place mussels and hard-shelled nuts on highways and then wait patiently to feed until they’re cracked open by passing cars. Crows also possess a remarkable memory. Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Washington have determined that crows can recognize individual faces of humans. Not only that, they can pass along information from one generation to the next about a human who’s treated them poorly. Using at least 23 distinct calls to convey messages to others of the species, the

American crow is a great communicator.

In many respects, crows are remarkably similar to humans. They fight, play and tease. They live in close-knit families and young crows will help their parents raise the next brood of fledglings. Working together, they drive away predators such as owls and hawks. Strangely enough, crows are known to leave gifts – items such as paper clips, buttons, colored glass and bottle caps – for humans who’ve shown them kindness.

These amazing animals have also been observed conducting what can only be described as a memorial service to honor a fallen comrade. When a crow discovers another dead crow on the ground, it immediately begins cawing loudly. Others quickly arrive, maybe a dozen or more, and they surround the body. A few may react noisily while some remain quiet. Often one will fly away and soon return, placing a twig or pieces of grass on the corpse. Others will then follow suit. Once their respects are paid, the birds will depart.

That relatively large brain of the crow requires a lot of fuel – something on the order of three-quarters of a pound of food per day. They’ll eat about anything: nuts, earthworms, garbage, snakes, watermelons, roadkill, frogs, mollusks, mice, fruit, other birds, sandwiches stolen from picnic tables and, of course, grain.

Because of that interest in crops, crows have been the bane of farmers for much of recorded history – which brings us to the topic of scarecrows. For most, our scarecrow experiences have limited to watching Ray Bolger’s memorable performance in The Wizard of Oz. A fortunate few may have been lucky enough to have helped a parent or grandparent assemble and erect one of these garden-guarding effigies, and fewer still can claim one lording over their cucumber and tomato plants.

Scarecrows have been around for centuries, first appearing in Egypt over 3,000 years ago and later in the ancient cultures of Greece, Rome and Japan. Native American tribes such as the Zuni and Navajo regularly employed scarecrows to protect their fields of corn and maize.

Emigrants to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries brought their own agricultural traditions to rural America, including the Germans, who built a human-appearing scarecrow called a bootzamon (i.e., bogeyman). Scarecrows were a fixture across the nation’s agrarian landscapes during the Great Depression but began to vanish as farming became more and more mechanized and expansive fields of row crops replaced the small garden plots which at one time dotted the countryside. Even so, attentive travelers driving over the backroads of rural Arkansas can still occasionally spot a solitary scarecrow. The fact is, though, that unless a scarecrow is cleverly animated, the intended audience will soon determine it poses no real threat.

For those readers interested in an obscure word to impress their friends, try formidophobia. Its definition? The fear of scarecrows.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of Arkansas Parks and Tourism, has written Arkansas Backstories, a delightful book of short stories from A through Z that introduces readers to the state's lesser-known aspects. Rice's goal is to help readers acknowledge that Arkansas is a unique and fascinating combination of land and people – one to be proud of and one certainly worth sharing.

Each month, AY will share one of the 165 distinctive essays. We hope these stories will give you a new appreciation for this geographically compact but delightfully complex place we call home. These Arkansas Backstories columns appear courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. The essays have been collected and published by Butler Center Books in a two-volume set, both of which are now available to purchase at Amazon and the University of Arkansas Press.

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The new Conway Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center of Arkansas, led by Dawn Hughes, MD, and Stacey Johnson, APRN, offers care for women with complications found prior to or during pregnancy and for their unborn baby. Each woman's journey to having a baby is unique, which is why our highly-skilled specialists collaborate with ob-gyns, neonatologists, and pediatricians to provide each patient with a special, individualized care plan. Visit ConwayRegional.org to learn more.

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