I’ve worked in live entertainment and sports for over 20 years in Greensboro (my home), Detroit, and Atlanta. Once upon a time I was married and lived in Asheville, NC for over five years. When I divorced, I needed a change and began looking at opportunities in venues in the mid-Atlantic area. I was offered a position at the Roanoke Civic Center and I’ve been there for over ten years, first as Director of Sales & Marketing, and for the past few years as Assistant Director of the facility. My move to Roanoke was perfect because not long after I got here, my grandmother was diagnosed with dementia/Alzheimer’s and since she lived in Bassett, I was able to be close to her during the last years of her life. Over the past decade, I’ve made so many great friends, met a legion of wonderful people, and have grown to love many things about the area.

• Robyn’s Occupation: Assistant Director of Civic Facilities, Roanoke Civic Center
• Robyn’s Hometown: Greensboro, NC
• Robyn’s Website: www.robynschon.com
• Robyn’s Social Profile: Facebook, LinkedIn

I was one of those young professionals we hear so much about, who left Roanoke in search of greener pastures. After graduating from North Cross School and Randolph-Macon College, I set off into the world in search of opportunities that were simply not available locally. My career in the commercial printing industry led me to a number of major metropolitan areas, including Richmond, Charlotte, and Washington, DC.

As my career advanced steadily, I was offered the opportunity to become vice president of sales for a company in Western New York. It was truly an eye-opening experience. The differences between the thriving areas I had left behind, and the stagnant economies of declining industrial cities like Rochester and Buffalo were like night and day. After 2 ½ years in the Great White North, the company I was working for was sold. My wife and I decided that we had no desire to remain in New York, and suddenly, we were faced with the unique opportunity to pack up and go anywhere we wished.

Jennifer had grown up in Milwaukee, and we met each other while we were both living in Northern Virginia. Our first instinct was to pick another major city as our next destination, but we realized that our priorities had changed. We wanted to have a child, and at this point in our lives, family life was more important than night life. We chose Roanoke as the ideal place to settle permanently and raise a family of our own. Even though I had been gone for over 20 years, I always considered Roanoke to be my hometown.

By this point in my life, I had a strong desire to own my own business, and after taking some time to consider my options, I opened Foodies in 2004. I wanted to do something completely different from my past experience, and introduce a new concept to the Roanoke Valley. I operated the business for 3 ½ years before selling it in December of 2007.

For the next phase of my career, I’m planning to put my 20 years of business and entrepreneurial experience to use as a consultant. I’ve spent virtually my entire career in privately owned companies, and I’m hoping to use this experience to help local businesses grow and create opportunities for the next generation of Roanokers. My goal is to ensure that when the time comes for my son to begin his career, remaining in Roanoke will be a viable option for him.

• Chris’ Career: Small Business Consultant, Applied Insights for Small Business
• Chris’ Hometown: Roanoke, VA

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

I grew up right here in Big Lick — in South Roanoke. I went to North Cross School and couldn’t wait to make it in the world once I graduated, so I went to college in Georgia, started my career in advertising in Atlanta and ended-up in Manhattan by my mid-twenties. I thought I would stay for 3 years and ended up staying for 18. After the high glamour of working for large agencies and having a campaign on the Super Bowl, I met my husband John Anderson, originally from Parkersburg, WV, and we started our own company called The Farm. We moved to Westchester County when we had our 2 sons, Seth & Isaac, and were doing fine until January 2001 when I was diagnosed with aggressive Breast Cancer. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my last day of chemo was Sept. 12, 2001. Being away from family was difficult when our lives were so traumatically touched by the events of that year. We were already working somewhat virtually through the internet, so we decided to pick up and move to Roanoke in January 2003. Though we still have an office in Manhattan and visit often, we have made a smooth transition to the easy lifestyle Roanoke has to offer and have made incredible friendships here. Our kids absolutely adore it, they actually KNOW their grandparents, and their lives are so much less stressful than those of their New York friends. Besides…you can’t beat the lack of traffic and the low cost of pretty much everything!

• Sharon’s Hometown: Roanoke, VA
• Sharon’s Company: Creative Director, The Farm

I can hardly believe that Doug and I have lived here in Roanoke almost 22 years now! How time flies when you are having fun, and I truly feel that way. We moved here on April 8, 1986, right after the 100 year flood. I think that was a turning point for Roanoke because we have seen a lot of new and progressive changes since then. We are blessed with 3 children and Roanoke was a wonderful place to raise them.

For 13 years, we lived on Maiden Lane in Raleigh Court. I feel it was like the wonderful things you read about in books on the South - friendly, hospitable, and full of community. The street was lined with trees and great flat sidewalks for riding bikes and meeting up with your friends, which consequently led to each other’s homes for visits. Being that many of us were stay-at-home Moms, we would exchange child sitting, cups of sugar and eggs with each other, and spend time together planning the yearly block party.

There were 18 children on the block, and from morning till night they were together playing in each other’s yards, having meals together, and being involved in kid-organized plays and dance groups. Though they are all grown now, our memories will always be full of the wonderful times and great friendships that we all have acquired from being in Roanoke, and a part of the “Maiden Lane Gang.”

I was born in Detroit, Michigan, but have lived in Roanoke since I was a child. Growing up, I couldn’t wait to leave and try something bigger and better. After finishing college in Richmond and in Charlottesville, I decided to move to back to Richmond, where I spent the next several years immersed in city-living and traveling the east coast in search of a place to settle down. Nonetheless, there was always a comfort about being home, so one day I took a detour to Roanoke, and accepted a position in the nearby town of Vinton. I am convinced that this decision to move back home was divinely-inspired, as most of my family is here and has fulfilled a nearby void with love and support. In addition, I enjoy the geographic location of Roanoke, as Washington, D.C, New York City, Atlanta, and Charlotte, are all within a day’s drive (that is, if you prefer to drive over taking advantage of our small, convenient airport!). Either way, I feel that I’m not too far away from the action.

While growing-up in Roanoke, I undoubtedly took for granted the beauty of our mountains, our cleanliness, and our water ways. Now, I think our local attractions such as the downtown market area, the greenway system, and the local art scene, are terrific. Roanoke has a piece of it all! Having been back for nearly ten years now, I am happy to call Roanoke “home” once again.

When Greg and I finally committed to the idea of actually leaving NYC, a place we both called home all our lives living as urban dwellers, Roanoke did not initially appear to be a viable option. Once we explored our options, we realized we found it! The place we imagined raising a family and calling home. We fell in love with it right away. Let’s see, there’s no traffic, everything is 20 minutes away, did I mention there’s no traffic, everyone is so nice and the mountains … spectacular! We love our neighborhood, our home and the wonderful people we’ve met. A week after we signed the contract on the house we found out we were pregnant. So here we were, new homeowners, pregnant and unemployed. I am a registered nurse and Greg is a self-employed, general contractor, Valley Craftsmen Construction, Inc. Our daughter, who is now 2 years old, goes to a wonderful daycare center, the Downtown Learning Center of which I am now president of their board of directors. We would love it if all our near and dear would move here. Roanoke is like, the best kept secret ever! We live close to Downtown Roanoke where new restaurants and ideas are popping up all the time. We are close to the Roanoke Civic Center and there is not a bad seat in the house. It’s no Manhattan and we are so grateful it’s not. Roanoke is our home, we can visit Manhattan anytime.

• Laura’s Occupation: Registered Nurse
• Greg’s Occupation: General Contractor, Valley Craftsmen Construction, Inc.
• Hometown: New York City, NY

Having been raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I moved to Virginia when my husband began Law School at Washington & Lee University. Unsure of whether or not we wanted to return to the southwest, it was ultimately networking and job opportunities that convinced us to settle in Roanoke. Seven years later, I can happily say that my independent advertising and marketing business, Hastings Design Corporation, has grown, and that I receive the majority of my clientele through word of mouth. While Roanoke is large enough to provide jobs for everyone, it is also small enough to allow individuals to network effectively. In addition, the city provides ample opportunities for children, as my ten year-old daughter is involved in everything from rec basketball to dance, tennis, violin, and summer workshops at Mill Mountain Theatre.

• Occupation: Owner, Hastings Design Corporation
• Hometown: Denver, Colorado