He`s So Original

The station has changed, but the message hasn’t. The longtime afternoon DJ moved to 90.1 WNAA-FM earlier this year to keep giving his listeners what they crave: love, information and a place to get real. “I think it’s easier for people to talk when they know you really love them, when they know you really care, and when someone shares their business like I do,” he says with a laugh.

The topics may change, but the goal is the same—to help young people feel connected to the community around them.  Through social events, education and action, Donovan’s group, Face to Face (facetofacegso.com), aims to bring about positive change and develop Greensboro as a long-term destination. “It’s got a lot of potential,” he says of his native city.

He started Fuel Factor Fitness and Nutrition (nevergoempty.com) with the goal of helping improve athletes’ performance. But after leading the local Biggest Loser competition at Proehlific Park last year, the trainer and dietician started focusing more on clients who have metabolic issues.

The restaurant veterans and longtime friends want to take the local dining scene to new heights by bringing it underground. The Next Supper (thenextsupper.com) offers an ever-changing menu in a different location each month, announced only by email. “It was a reaction to our disappointment in the dining scene, our desire to do our own project, to be environmentally sensible and to offer cuisine that nobody else was doing,” Kerrie says. The challenge, beyond working in an unfamiliar kitchen with often-untested recipes, is to present food that is earth-conscious and vegetarian-friendly, as well as to bring people together. Says John, “The taste of the food is very important and the source of the ingredients is very important, but it’s still about community.” Often the food has a story, such as the yellow squash inspired by John’s mother’s recipe, but regardless of the menu, one thing’s for sure: “No one ever goes away hungry.”

What do you love about wearing a skirt? Kerrie: It finally puts an end to our paralyzing narcissism. John: I think I still have the legs to wear a skirt.

There’s no such thing as a fair fight. That’s why Mike created Daughter Safe, a unique self-defense program that teaches women and girls as young as 8 how to avoid being a victim. In three hours, the 15-year karate instructor and fifth-degree black belt demonstrates physical skills, but also hones his students’ most important weapon – their minds. “What I really want the girls to get out of the class is that nobody has the right to touch you, you never get into a car and never be a willing victim.” His love of martial arts began as a teenager, and now the marathon runner and father of two strives to make his passion accessible to a new generation of fans from ages 4 to 72. “I feel like I’m empowering people in a good way. I’m teaching people that it’s not some mysterious ancient art. What I teach is very practical.”

What do you love about wearing a skirt? “I can move stealthily, like a ninja,” he says of the traditional Japanese hakama.

He’s responsible for some of Greensboro’s most iconic sculptures – downtown’s General Greene, the A&T Four. But Jim, an associate professor of art at A&T, sees himself as part engineer, part historian. He strives for accuracy, down to the number of buttons on General Greene’s jacket, then applies his artistic talent. “There are very few perfect bodies; that’s an illusion. I’m taking what nature suggests and enhancing that pattern or that nuance.” Though his work tends to focus on historical or religious figures, Jim says what inspires him most is simply the human body. “There’s nothing more beautiful than the figure of a woman. I look at the world and say, ‘There is a God.’” When he’s not in the studio, Jim likes to sail, run or bicycle, often with Jack the yellow Lab by his side. 
 
What do you like about wearing a skirt? It gives me that same cool sensation I get when I bite into a York Peppermint Pattie. But I am, in fact, wearing a kilt.

His daughter Erica was a strong, funny, animated girl who, by the time she lost her battle with multiple sclerosis at age 5, had lost her sight and had to relearn to walk a dozen times. But instead of feeling sad, Ron wants people take action. He created Team Erica, a cycling group that rides in the annual Bike MS Tour to Tanglewood, in 2003, a year before her death. Since then the team has grown from nine riders to more than 200 last year, when it raised $122,000 to fight the incurable disease. Ron, a spinning instructor and insurance manager, will complete the 150-kilometer course again on Sept. 26 and 27. “It’s a struggle sometimes to bring it to the public . . . but it’s for the cause. That’s the whole thing that keeps us driving.” To donate to or join Team Erica, visit goteamerica.com.

What do you like about reading skirt? “The stories are very inspirational.”

What do you like about wearing a skirt? “After wearing tight bike shorts, it’s not that big of a deal.”
 

So the owner of Phipps Photo started his Gift of Photography program, where one deserving couple will be selected to receive a free wedding photography package, sort of an “Extreme Home Makeover” for brides and grooms. He also donates 5 percent of his fees to a nonprofit organization of his clients’ choosing. “I’m one of those crazy Jesus followers that believes in things like beauty and giving back and that we’re all in this together,” he says. It’s a philosophy that follows him to his other job, as a stay-at-home dad three days a week to son Kai, age one. Greg cooks for the family and often does the grocery shopping, despite earning a few odd glances. “It’s important to us that he has both of us here,” he says. “I actually get to experience him growing up.” For more about Phipps Photo, go to phippsphoto.com.

What do you like about wearing a skirt? “I like thwarting the social and cultural norms. I like doing things against the grain.”

What do you like about reading skirt! “I love Scott’s portraits and I like the design work and how it’s put together.”
 

And comedy. As artistic director and co-founder of Triad Stage, he brings a little of both to the stage each season, through fresh takes on classic plays or original works of his own. He and his business partner set out to open a nonprofit, regional theatre that was accessible to everyone, choosing Greensboro after a nationwide search. The Boone native, who once considered becoming a minister, is often inspired by his Appalachian upbringing with stories such as Beautiful Star and the upcoming Providence Gap. “I grew up in an incredible area of music and storytelling and folklore, and I think combined that’s what made me into a theater artist.” But his first love is directing. “Every day you go into rehearsal and you are collaborating with really great artists and helping guide them to some sort of vision you all share. It’s a little bit of psychiatry, engineering, design—it’s all of those things coming together.”


What do you like about wearing a skirt? Well, I always loved making people laugh, and walking through the offices to come here I got my quota of laughter for the day.

What do you love about reading skirt? I love the pictures. I love being introduced to great people in the area and seeing them captured in such an iconic way.

No, really. The magician and mentalist specializes in “the psychology of fooling people,” a passion he discovered after buying a set of tricks in the mall when he was 18. Now the recent Greensboro transplant can be seen at East Coast Wings and other local venues performing close-up magic using just simple props – a deck of cards, a fork, a business card. “I think actually experiencing magic in person, not on TV, not on stage but close up is a very surprising experience and a memorable one,” he says. “It’s something people just don’t see often.” That can be both a good and a bad thing, says Erik, who counts among his influences magicians David Blaine and Penn & Teller, as well as rockers Johnny Cash and Marilyn Manson. “I love that people don’t see it that often because I feel like I’m showing people something they will remember. People generally don’t know they like magic.”

What do you love about wearing a skirt? “The comfort. I’m a big fan of comfort, and it doesn’t get any more comfortable than in a skirt.”

Guy didn’t always want to work with animals. Armed with a biology degree and a love of nature, the avid surfer and snowboarded accepted a job at a zoo in Colorado, and it was then that he discovered his passion. It was also where he suffered a brutal polar bear attack in 1979 and barely survived. But he was back on the job two months later, and now, as curator of mammals at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, he’s responsible for many of the larger animals, including his favorites, the elephants. “Elephants are like 5- or 6-year-old children,” Guy says. His typical day might have him focused on breeding efforts or helping animals acclimate to their newest exhibit, the Watani Grasslands Reserve. But really, “A typical day is never typical, and that’s another thing I really like about the job is that every day is different. There’s always something going on that’s unusual.”

What do you like about wearing a skirt?: “Most of my friends will tell you I’m no stranger to wearing women’s clothes. I like Halloween, I like theme parties, I like getting into different characters and then seeing if I can get a reaction out of other people.”

The executive chef/owner of Muse Restaurant spent seven years as a professional ballet dancer before attending culinary school in Charleston. “You can’t eat anything when you dance. It was my revenge,” says the father of four. But artistically, he sees similarities between the two. “I wanted something that allowed me the artistic expression and the classical vocabulary that dance had, and I wanted something that I could move forward in, that wasn’t a dead end, and cooking seemed to be that. Food is the only art form that touches all five senses, and so it offers a great challenge.” Now the Greensboro native is poised for his next challenge – becoming a published author. His novel, “Buzzkill,” features characters inspired by people he’s met in the restaurant industry. “I always will have a hand in the restaurant business, but it may be that writing is the next evolution for me, and time will tell.”

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and Mark Holder gives them their sparkle and shine. After filling out his one and only job application at a jewelry store at 16, it was clear that a life of jewels, gold and silver were a perfect fit for this Brown Summit native. “I always enjoyed tinkering with metal things when I was little,” he says. “I even made horseshoes for my sister’s plastic ponies.” The combination of his mother’s creative ability with a sewing needle and his father’s skill with metal helped fuel his talent from a young age.

(Editor’s Note: This month we profiled feminist men, who wrote to us on the topic, “I am a feminist because . . . “)

“I tell my patients I’m the closest thing to a female as a man can get. I’m surrounded by women all day, taking care of them, and then I go home to a house full of women. It teaches you to sympathize with women and understand their needs.”