Kemper Fant

I grew up in small town outside of the DC area named Culpeper and “moved southwest” when I entered Virginia Tech in the fall of 1980. After graduating with a BS in Finance in ‘84 I jumped at the opportunity to stay in the Blacksburg area and enjoyed two completely different careers between then and 2003 when I moved to Roanoke after a job transfer. I quickly fell in love with a more urban lifestyle, and planted myself right in the middle of everything so I could walk downtown, or to Grandin Village and South Roanoke.

I really couldn’t be happier with life here. I’ve been an avid mountain biker since the early 90’s and can hop on my bike and be in the woods within 5 minutes of my front porch. Where else can you do that and still be able to walk to the movies, or the theater, or dozens of restaurants? With the Roanoke Valley Greenways project, there is even more recreation right at my doorstep and there are only more great things to come with that.

Roanoke really is the city for me, and I think it offers so much potential for young people who want to raise a family in an affordable and safe environment, and still have access to the cultural amenities that larger cities offer. It seems like a perfect mix to me. Since moving here I have left the corporate world and have my own photography business. I meet so many young people coming back here to get married. I try to talk every one of them into making Roanoke their home. Many of them really want to, and I think with all of the “right” growth we have going on here, they have lots of opportunity to do just that.

• Kemper’s Career: Photographer,
  Kemper Mills Fant Photography & Design
• Kemper’s Hometown: Culpeper, VA
• Kemper’s Social Profile: Facebook