Schmooze with Suze

Can We Curate, Educate & Activate With Parties and Placemaking ? My Guests: Kady Yellow and Haley Wright Tinkle

• Suzie Becker • Season 5 • Episode 1

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Join me as I recount my biggest failure from the Suzie Sucks Scrapbook! 

Serendipity meant for me to keep this for 15 years until I met these two modern muses, who inspired me to realize that bravery, creativity and resilience are a necessity for building, collaboration and reinvention. 

Welcome to the vibrant world of Kady Yellow 💛 and Haley Wright Tinkle 💝 where innovation meets artistry and passion fuels every endeavor! 
Kady is the Senior Director of Placemaking and Haley is the Director of Events behind Downtowns Vision, Inc.and together, they are the leading dynamic forces behind the Placemaking Task Force here in Jacksonville. 

Both women are a sponge for information and innovation, as well as a pitcher that pours into every planter around them- watering seeds you didn't even know were there. Haley has made a name for herself through a unique blend of creativity and forward-thinking solutions in the event and project planning space, while Kady is a powerhouse of placemaking and community building. Combined, there is a synergy between sociology and urban planning, activation and community collaboration, with a keen eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

Kady delves into the world of placemaking and how it empowers residents to shape their public spaces, fostering unity and cultural exchange. Haley shares the magic behind creating vibrant community hubs through thoughtfully curated events. Together, we explore how placemaking and events can create cohesive environments, drawing inspiration from the vibrant streets of our marvelous mosaic.

Our conversation extends to the nuances of building inclusive community spaces, emphasizing the need for genuine engagement and how anyone can participate in building the boroughs of our bold city by showing up.

These "Divas of Downtown" even offer to hold your hand at the next experience- just come on OTB*!

"Only the boring are bored."
- Toni Smailagic

You can find out more about Downtown Vision by visiting their website.
https://dtjax.com/

You can purchase Kady Yellow's book, New Orleans: Murals, Street Art & Graffiti Vol.1- which is one of my coffee table staples on her website.
https://www.kadyyellow.com/

You can find out more about how to engage with Haley by reading this insightful piece about her https://www.eachisevery.com/content/feature-haley-tinkle.

*Over The Bridge

#SchmoozeWithSuze #ViewsWithSuze #CurateEducateActivate #Community #Placemaking #DTJAX #Jacksonville #Placemakers #InspiredANDInspiring #OTB #Boroughs #OnlyTheBoringAreBored
#Podcast #Podcaster #JacksonvillePodcastersUnited

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Suzie

It has been nearly two decades and I don't know why I kept the evidence Somehow. Every time I have thought back to then, I only remember the crushing weight of disappointment, the late nights questioning every decision and that nagging voice reminding me how wrong it all seemed to be going. But when I pulled out the clippings of my Susie Sucked scrapbook for the first time in 15 years, looking back now, it wasn't a failure at all. I wasn't a failure at all. From inception through completion, I had an idea. I fought for it to come to fruition, and it was only after I left the city, nay, the state, that they were able to dismantle parts of it. But the infrastructure, the gas and electric, water and sewer, the trenching I had meticulously planned, permitted and arranged to provide power, I did that. Funny how time has a way of turning what you thought was a train wreck into a triumph of courage. Turns out that so-called failure was one of the bravest things I ever did, which had me thinking how can the benefit of hindsight be the difference between what failure and bravery looks like? And that's what we're going to tackle today.

Suzie

Hi, I'm Suze, coming to you with a dose of culture, values and global citizenship and where we might tackle those topics others may consider off-limits. A little about me. I'm a busy Gen X mom who, quite frankly, wanted to grow up like the Brady Bunch but how could I, being raised in the shadow of Schindler's List. So this means I've spent a lifetime navigating these mixed messages we get hit with daily. You know those conversations where we wonder if it's safe to speak our minds. Can we share our experiences, voice our fears and concerns, or should we just keep our mouth shut? Well, too bad. I need to know, but I'm no expert, so I'm going to schmooze the experts and get their thoughts. Why so? When we engage with our kids, colleagues or the countless committees we interact with, we can do it with competence, kindness, confidence and maybe a bit of humor. If this sounds like your cup of coffee, welcome to Schmooze with Suze.

Suzie

It started in 2006, right after my 30th birthday. Back then I was too close to the mask, too caught up in the chaos, to see what I wasn't sinking. I was breaking new ground, literally. The project was a decommissioned Air Force Base housing community with 270 abandoned homes on 70 acres. Structurally they were in excellent condition. The military doesn't build garbage. All they required was rehab to become affordable housing.

Suzie

I was young and openly admitted that I didn't know everything but was willing to learn. They called me Jew lady from New York City. To my face I took it as an alphabetized compliment. It was recommended that I find a good man to help represent me. So I found the smartest attorney in town and all four foot nine of her taught me to tread lightly and carry a big stick. So I got a dragon tattoo on my left foot to remind me not to scorch the earth. And that legal genius called Julie Groh Denton sits on the New York State Supreme Court today.

Suzie

That epic failure. It was me daring to be different, to try something bold. And the truth is, anyone playing it safe doesn't get to make mistakes like that. And the truth is, anyone playing it safe doesn't get to make mistakes like that. The more I reflect, the more I realize it was only ever a failure by the narrow standards I'd set for myself all or nothing, all 10 faces, all 270 homes, all 70 acres. But in the grand scheme it was a spark of creativity, a risk that planted the seeds for everything that came after. And I realized 15 years later I had never even stopped to be proud of myself for completing phase one. It has been nearly two decades since what I had always thought of as my epic failure, and now I know that I kept the evidence so I could reflect back on it after meeting my guests today.

Suzie

Welcome to the vibrant world of Katie Yellow and Haley Wright Tinkle, where innovation meets artistry and passion fuels every endeavor. Katie Yellow is the Senior Director of Placemaking and Haley Wright Tinkle is the Director of Events behind Downtown Vision. Together, they are the leading dynamic forces behind the placemaking task force here in Jacksonville. Both women are a sponge for information and innovation, as well as a pitcher that pours into every planter around them watering seeds you didn't even know were there. Know we're there. Haley has made a name for herself through a unique blend of creativity and forward-thinking solutions in the event and project planning space, while Katie is a powerhouse of placemaking and community building Combined. There is a synergy between sociology and urban planning, activation and community collaboration, with a keen eye for detail and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

Suzie

Hi, friends, hi, thank you for being here today to Schmooze. Thank you for having us. It's an honor to serve, it's a privilege to have you here and you're not in service. Right now you are here in the capacity of exactly who I am intending to talk about this season. I am saying season one was borrow my binoculars. I opened my perspective on Jacksonville and I looked over three bridges that felt to me like the Brooklyn, manhattan and the Williamsburg and I said, uh, hello, 39 year overnight success story. You should be at the tipping point. And the closer I got over those bridges or OTB as I like to say to downtown, I saw that it was there and it was looking for spaces to activate. And that's where you two show up over and over and over and over. So can you just start, katie, quickly, by giving an overview of what placemaking means as compared to urban planning or urban city planning?

Kady Yellow

Yeah. So placemaking is a niche field nestled under urban planning. It takes the traditional urban planning process out of the hands of professionals and government employees and nonprofit workers and puts it in the hands of the everyday residents who truly are the experts. So typically we're relying on expertise happening in four walls, institutions of higher education and kind of a top-down approach to looking over public space and how we build our cities, and far too often those planners are not attached to the spaces they're designing, planning and funding. So placemaking just puts that process into the hands of the people who use the space, who are with it every day, who feel attached to it, and allow them to pursue that process for themselves.

Suzie

And Haley when I think of events. I am from New York City, where something happening outdoors in a neighborhood is actually something I've always grown up, because it was the way we experienced cultural diversity. If I knew there was a block party like San Janeiro or the Puerto Rican Day Parade or St Patrick's Day Parade, it was like a cultural infusion in this microcosm that you could look at other people's sort of informed background and they were open to expressing it and exploring it with you together.

Haley Wright Tinkle

So now you take this idea of meeting the people where they are, in the places where they live, and you're beautifying it by way of a party, yeah, I mean, it's really just an opportunity to celebrate, I would say, like the neighborhood, and to celebrate the different um cultures and different people that are around us. Um, yes, by definition it these are giant parties that we're throwing, but we're celebrating our community, uh, together, and it's, you know, really just an excuse to gather and to get to know one another and, you know, enjoy the resources that we have.

Suzie

It's unbelievable, because I remember when I first moved here, it seemed to me like everything was so far away. I hadn't actually driven it, it was just that people would tell me things were just really far away and I would say, okay, so like how far? There was 20 to 30 minutes. And I was like 20 to 30. Do you guys understand? I sat in traffic for an hour and a half going 12 miles from Brooklyn to Manhattan 20 minutes with an audio book. Y'all gotta be kidding me.

Suzie

And so when people would say to me let's come to you, I would say to them no, who are these ladies downtown? There's these women downtown that do things and they make you go to other places. And so I know it probably seemed a little creepy. When I first came around, you can be honest, I was like a little stalky because I had never met anybody from Jacksonville who was willing to go to every other part of Jacksonville. So what called you to start in an urban core and then expand in and around what four square blocks looks like into? I mean, it's more than activation, it's community building. So I'm going to open that up, because there doesn't seem to be an organizational chart. So what is like an average event or placemaking kind of feel like.

Kady Yellow

Yeah.

Kady Yellow

So I think the part of that question that stuck out to me is we work for the business improvement district, so we do have really strict boundaries and where our resources and time and talent goes, I've traditionally focused my efforts in business improvement districts.

Kady Yellow

I'm not a native to Jacksonville, I'm a transplant, but I bring a pretty great portfolio of placemaking work in various business improvement districts around the nation and similar organizations in Western Europe.

Kady Yellow

And I started to realize that what we were doing portfolio of placemaking work in various business improvement districts around the nation and similar organizations in Western Europe and I started to realize that what we were doing by putting up those actual boundaries was cutting off our neighbors and being bad neighbors. And I just thought you know it's a little anti-intuitive to approach the work like this, but if we creep up to those boundaries and we blend them and we'd be really good neighbors, we're actually going to have a better district. If you will, and I've applied that immediately in the work here in Jacksonville. We blend those boundaries while we don't put our pop-ups activations outside of our business improvement district. We're closely in coordination and co-creation with Out East, with Avondale, with Riverside, with Moncrief, with Springfield, with San Marco, all of the urban core neighborhoods are kind of blended culturally and in a community spirit that all meets up in downtown Jacksonville.

Haley Wright Tinkle

Yeah, and I'm born and raised in Jacksonville and in the greater metropolitan Jacksonville area and I feel like I'm on a short list of those type of people and I'm honored to be, you know, born and raised here and I would say, you know, a lot of people would say that Jacksonville doesn't really have an identity or Jacksonville, you know, doesn't have this you know, unifying thing. But I think we're a city of neighborhoods, yes, and I think it's something that we should celebrate and I think, for me, downtown is kind of the catch all. Downtown is the central meeting place where all of these neighborhoods can come together and really enjoy our, the beautiful amenities that we have. Our, our city is gorgeous. Watching the sunset on the river walk is intoxicatingly beautiful. It's gorgeous and you know, like Katie said, getting to work with all of these different organizations and getting to bring people together into this central hub, it's really magical.

Suzie

So you say neighborhoods, I organically think boroughs. It's always a borough to me. When I drive through I literally see it Like if I go over the Buckman it's one borough this way. But then it wasn't until I realized by accident that going through Riverside Avondale I didn't have to go over the Buckman. If I went through downtown there was. It was that moment when I realized that the Bronx was close to also Manhattan and also right. But you don't know it because you get here and people tell you it's the largest per square capita large city. You exactly. This is why I schmooze the experts, because I'm not the expert.

Kady Yellow

Yeah, but I mean you had asked what a typical placemaking activation looks like. We don't do typical, we do custom. Yes, right, so we're not driving them, we're helping to facilitate them. So they look like what the residents look like, they look like the neighborhoods, they look like the communities that are foraging these ideas and these activations for us. And that's how it should be. That is a strategy to vibrancy. That is how you build great cities, social infrastructure.

Suzie

So instead of building with bricks and mortars.

Kady Yellow

We're building with people.

Suzie

Yeah, yeah, and everything is transportable. So, for example, again I go back to the city because I've often said when I came here it seemed so obvious. It was like a pilot program that was waiting to be activated. And that's exactly what you guys do. It was organic, that things kind of flowed into each other. When you say you'd like go to the very, very edge of the next that's an in the show notes will be the maps. That adds the link to downtown vision.

Suzie

I think a lot of what happens is that people have opinions, they have feelings, they're holding space in their personal truths and sometimes your truth is not the truth. And when it came to Jacksonville, I kept feeling that people had this preconceived like image and it was their image and they wanted to sell me on their Jacksonville right. So you have to live in this neighborhood and only certain people live in Ortega and only a kind of person lives in San Marco and I kept thinking, like I'm a gypsy, I don't really fit into a box. So where are those people? And then, slowly but surely, with technology and social media, it's that innovation that blends communities with information and the availability of of those communities.

Suzie

What obstacles typically come up when you move to a place like Jacksonville or you're from a place like Jacksonville and you have these ideas and you're like, let's go, let's do it. I showed up to a small town this is not a small town, but it sure feels like one to me and what you said earlier, katie. I showed up I had just turned 30. I had a decade of building and construction operations experience and I went into a planning board meeting where eight people in their retirement years, who had always owned their own brick home in the historic district, were making a decision about an affordable housing project.

Kady Yellow

And I spent two years fighting housing project and I spent two years fighting. Yeah, I know big questions, it's, it's, it's. I'll break it down. I think the first thing to say to your first half of the question is um, that's why downtown is so important, because we get to kind of shed the identity of our neighborhood but also bring it with us and represent it. But we just represent, do we've always represent, jacksonville, and there's a huge amount of spirit and pride in that it. But we just represent, and do have always represent, jacksonville, and there's a huge amount of spirit and pride in that. Um, that is very special in Jacksonville. Um, I, like I had said, I have a unique perspective.

Kady Yellow

I'm not from here. I think there's real, there's two types of barriers. Uh, the first one is cognitive, or what's in our minds. I love meeting people who are a little jaded by their hometown and, uh, they're still living in Jacksonville from 20 years ago. It objectively has changed. So I try to encourage, when I come up with that conversation, to not get kind of moody and defensive but to say, oh, you should explore your hometown, you should relearn Jacksonville. It's a whole new city now, so there's barriers there. And then there's real barriers of access. That is a global issue. Why are parks sometimes empty? Why spaces are underutilized, and it's just. They're really hard to figure out how to activate them and if you have the energy to figure it out, it's expensive to do so. If you have the energy to figure it out and then get the funding, just event planning is hard work. That's why it's a whole field, that's why it needs experts and that's why it's full time jobs.

Haley Wright Tinkle

It's not very profitable either. There's this misconception that you know. For example, there are a lot of big projects that we get to be a part of, and I hear rumblings all the time like, oh, they must be making so much bank off of all of these events, and if only anyone knew like it's the outcome, not the income for these.

Suzie

They don't pencil.

Haley Wright Tinkle

They don't pencil. And if, if we weren't, we have the privilege of looking at these events as investments into our community, because that's what they are we, we are creating space for our community to gather when there likely wouldn't be opportunities if we weren't doing this, you know, and for people who aren't in a nonprofit background, like we are, it doesn't make sense. So, of course, a lot of these events, you know, they only happen one time or they don't even happen at all because they realize they don't pencil. And so we have this unique opportunity where we get to take these risks and we get to gather everyone, you know, because we don't have this financial obligation, fortunately, you know, we obviously are very responsible with the money that we're given and, you know, do everything we can to gather, but, yeah, I mean on paper they don't make sense. And and so we have, like I said, this unique opportunity to get to to do that.

Kady Yellow

And yeah, and I really appreciate that downtown vision invests in both placemaking events. There are two different things in the placemaking world. I find some of the best placemakers are traditional event planners, but then I have to untrain them in best practices Like what do you mean? My venue has no bathrooms, no electricity, and I still have to pay for it and then provide those things. They're non-traditional venues, got it. So I just really appreciate that our organization is willing to invest in both. Invest in both.

Kady Yellow

I always try to describe the difference in placemaking is taking a super efficient process, like planning an event in a boardroom and making it more complicated and harder than it already is by bringing more chefs into the kitchen. But that was bringing those chefs into the kitchen. That's where capacity gets built, that's where stewardship models grow and that's where people truly connect with their city, so that, instead of throwing the cigarette butt or spitting on the ground, they pick up trash. That's cumulative. And again, that's where people truly connect with their city, so that, instead of throwing the cigarette butt or spitting on the ground, they pick up trash. That's cumulative. And again, that's a great strategy for vibrancy and safety and security and cleanliness.

Suzie

I agree with everything you're saying. I think that what I found from what you said that's the most that sticks out for me is that you model that behavior and you pour it in. I started with that because you're right, it is expensive, you can't hire people to do your job, but what you two have done is you have graciously said, hey, anyone who's interested in learning. Because now you've created yourself a little group of groupies like myself, the task force Okay, task force. I call my kids trolls, but they know that they're not literally trolls, but you know, I'm just saying that you selflessly give over the information, the resources, the tools and you open yourself. I mean, I said I think I texted you like during the tech, can I ask you a question? And Katie said, yeah, just compile a list of them and I'll answer all of them.

Suzie

And I was like what, what is this private school? This is not like right, because that's investing in your community and when people feel like they're invested in, they will work twice as hard. The outcome is more important than the income. People are not doing it because they want to raise the money. They're friend raising. They're boldly, because it's the bold city reclaiming their agency over what the city should look like. Maybe they're not going to be rah rah football, or rah rah breweries, or rah rah whatever else, but, like you said, I don't feel like I need to be tied down to an identity.

Haley Wright Tinkle

And that's the beauty of it is, you don't have to, and when you like. We're both so ready and excited to to share all of our resources, because we know that. You know, rising tides raise all ships and we certainly don't want to be the only two people who are planning events and placemaking and playing in the sandbox. We want everyone to come so that we can have this beautifully diverse community fabric, because if it's just us, it's going to look very similar and it's going to have a lot of the same flavor. But, you know, if we're able to teach these people the skills that we have, you know, learned and have picked up over the years, who knows what amazing events and ideas are going to come just because we shared the knowledge, you know, yeah, and if we can just be that connector, if we can just be a sounding board or if we can just be, you know, someone to listen to, it's incredible.

Kady Yellow

And it's a two-way street. Yeah, so we get what we give, right? I have a couple of folks on the task force that we, like you, know how they say check in on your strong friend. Yeah. Who, like you, know how they say check in on your strong friend? Yeah, like they, we check in on each other because we know this is hard work, it's good work, but it's really hard and some days can be just really discouraging. So we know to let each other know like to keep going, which is a really important part of the process and, like Haley said, we wouldn't with that exchange. There's just so much incubation that happens. That is really important. It's difficult to quantify and talk about deliverables and ROI Isn't that interesting Cause?

Suzie

that was my next question to you and then, just as you were talking, I scrolled past it because I was like this is not like an objectionable metrics based ROI type of situation.

Kady Yellow

You can't say if we had X number of people attend an event and that's how that's how traditional metrics are, like max attendance is max success, and I learned the very hard way that that's not true. It's that is not true at all, and sometimes you have to be exclusive to be inclusive. Yeah, so I used to approach public space like all are welcome, anyone and everyone, but that's, that doesn't really work. That's not how the world is today. So it's okay to bring in that curatorial element and have people create kind of cultural standards and cultural competencies through this work.

Suzie

Yes, yes and, by the way, saying that out loud is a very brave thing because today, in this like psychological safety situation where you're afraid if you make exclusive you'll get canceled, I think elevating the environment so that there's a distinction between anyone can do a black party, anyone can do a rave, but what's the distinction between an activation that you can say I brought in people from five of the six Jacksonville boroughs because now they're boroughs.

Suzie

And you go OTB, she is, so I'm hoping she's going to help me to keep this going. We're going to totally make fetch happen.

Kady Yellow

But yeah, I just had a really formative experience in Michigan. Essentially I was practicing out of Flint, michigan, which is a predominantly black city and the governance and leadership is predominantly white. And when the black community was deciding how it wanted to curate its public spaces, there was so much judgment coming from the higher ups and I realized if you didn't like what you saw, then maybe just don't come back.

Suzie

Right, you were never here before.

Kady Yellow

Stay on the boat on the lake. You know we don't show't show up to the lake and say like we don't love the drinks you're providing or the music or the way that you're fraternizing. Interesting, yeah, it was really formative for me. So ever since that moment, um, I'm a mama bear type. I'm very protective, but I'm even more protective in explaining, um, kind of how, how people get to space, how they activate it and who is welcome. It's, it's a nuance, it's a very important nuance.

Suzie

So I guess it's not like a description you can't describe the person. I think it's more of a personality, right Cause I find myself and I bring my kids with me to every place because I want them to feel like I did growing up, that nothing is off limits, everything is on the table and you should be inviting everyone to us too. However, however, there are spaces where you go in and culturally do feel like you're not a great fit. Have you had experiences where perhaps an activation didn't lend itself to as much collaboration as you thought it might, and then you learn from that to say you know what? Sometimes people just want to keep their own community to their own community, and that's okay too.

Haley Wright Tinkle

I mean, I think you just gave a really beautiful example of that up in Michigan.

Suzie

But so far here people are more open. I actually say this about Jacksonville a lot and you can.

Kady Yellow

I don't think you guys realize how well you hang out together, because I've been in truly segregated cities and I've been in places where it doesn't work as well as it does here. Yeah, I think Jacksonville should give accolades and celebrate itself for how well you guys co-socialize and intermingle. It's a really powerful thing Because I've been in spaces where you can see the eyes and you can feel the judgment. It feels a little weird and because it is here, it's not, it's, it's. It's a very beautifully blended city. I think also I give so much credit. I look at how Haley kind of curates and leads and you great leadership. You'll kind of start to reflect and emulate their behavior. And if you know Haley, you know she is all inclusive and she's hugely respected in the community. So that energy, that feeling, that respect waves and weaves throughout her events and her activations. So people know coming to expect that environment in the spaces she provides. Does that make sense?

Suzie

Yes, it does, yes, it does.

Suzie

I know that it's true because it's the values, it's the core values. No, you cannot. So I'm always in awe. It's a bedside manner type of thing. If I can, if I can, equate it to something, I would say it's like your bedside manner.

Suzie

You have a reputation that precedes you for creating a space that is welcome, opening and open to questions, which is not always the case. And especially because I brought up this psychological safety, this environment where people are so afraid to be canceled that they'd rather sit and not say anything and we're ending up in spaces where there's less communication. And so I remember five, six years ago, being at a couple of these types of events where people were still in that throw of cancel culture and they would stand around awkwardly. Right, you can offer me a drink ticket all you want, but if we're not engaging in conversation because I'm scared I'm gonna say the wrong thing. That was a big failure and I never wanna go back again.

Suzie

But here you come from a place, and this is, I guess, the other question are there any innovations or trends that you see that help navigate that environment of collective and I say this a lot you two are inspired and inspiring. I leave you with like ideas, like the neurons are firing and I wish I was like good friends. I would text you. I'd be like I had such a great idea. But now I just text you sporadically with like okay, or somebody will ask me to like join them on a placemaking. I'm like, put my name on it, I'll help everything.

Suzie

But, to be honest, are there anything that you've caught in the last couple of years that works so well that you're like just keep doing it, ain't broke, don't fix it?

Kady Yellow

I would say two things. It's they're super analog, old school. I love old school, I'm old school, okay, um, when we do an event or a meeting, we never have attendance issues. And it's not because we do, um, exorbitant marketing, it's because we're up texting individual people, ensuring that welcomeness, ensuring that connectivity and ensuring that they come. It's not just they have to see on instagram and they know hayley's behind income. There's been that connection. Yes, we're old school, it's just true communication. Um, and then the second one. I've forgotten.

Haley Wright Tinkle

So, hayley, if you have ideas, I'll come back to it yeah, I mean, I think, um, it all just lends into stewardship and, uh, connectivity, like you mentioned earlier.

Haley Wright Tinkle

This is just personally, something that I really believe in, like, if you're invited, you're invited.

Haley Wright Tinkle

We want you here, we want to hear what you have to say, we want you to be a part of it. Um, because I truly think that all of my events are collectively our city's events and not in the sense that, like, the city owns these events or the community owns these events, but in the way that, like there are parks in our neighborhood and we love visiting those parks and we want to take care of those parks because they're in our neighborhood and there are sacred spaces, and same with these events. For me, it's like I want people to come to these events and feel community ownership of it, because, not that you know, it's third Thursday sip and stroll presented by Joe Smith but I want them to feel this stewardship, I want them to feel this belonging, you know, um, and I think it purely just stems from wanting to belong personally as an individual. Wanting to find personally as an individual, yeah, wanting to find community for myself and knowing that I get to create that opportunity within my own city is just something really beautiful.

Kady Yellow

And she's she's actually speaking like a scientist. There's a thing called a belongingness barometer.

Haley Wright Tinkle

They're measuring this.

Kady Yellow

They're measuring neighborliness. They're measuring like there's an epidemic right now for loneliness. Yes, surgeon General warning put out. So she's speaking like a social scientist right now. And my second point was this is also old school, but we do a lot of listening. We don't interpret and we rarely put our ideas out there. We're always like that's a really old school thing that we do to ensure that welcoming space. If someone says they want to do a, it's really easy to say oh, you have you thought about this and we're facilitators and that small reactive change is really important to the work that we do.

Suzie

If that makes sense, it absolutely makes sense. I've often said to people that you make the deal, your lawyer facilitates the paperwork. Same thing with a writer you sound like the dream editor. You didn't change my voice, you just adjusted for grammar and spelling and that's exactly it. That's the model. So you're basically you're like how I raised my kids free range.

Haley Wright Tinkle

Exactly, exactly.

Suzie

And what we realize is amplifying voices. That's what I am as a parent amplifying voices.

Haley Wright Tinkle

Everyone just wants to be heard, you know, and if we create this space for everyone to be heard, it gives that sense of ownership and it gives that sense of oh well, of course I want to come, you know, to Kaylee. Kaylee, that's our, that's your joint name, Kaylee Katie and Katie's Q2, right, yeah, I want to go and be part of these events because I know that when I'm there, I am heard. I'm not just a number, I'm not just a bar sale, I'm not just, you know, a person like I am coming to this event because it is my event.

Suzie

Yes, yes. So let me ask you this Okay, let's talk about upcoming, because these are two separate things placemaking and events, those are two different things that fall under the same umbrella organization. So can we talk about some of the upcoming ones? Because I, my mind, popped off my body and exactly what you've said about making those personal phone calls. Since I started to attend online, I always reach out, and not just on my social media pages, but I will text it to people or WhatsApp it to people that I think will be interested, and I think four out of five have always shown up and they're blown away. Because then they go back to the suburbs, where I live in Connecticut, of St John's County and they say do you know what's happening when in Jacksonville, which Jacksonville, this Jacksonville? And we did this enough times that now it's not like a conversation topic. They see it, they know I didn't leave town, but what upcoming events do they have that I can share with people to look forward to? The one, that's the Skyway one dream come true Unreal that.

Haley Wright Tinkle

I mean. We have been making jokes about doing an event on the different Skyway platforms in our office for at least five, six, seven, eight, nine years, um, and so we're so excited to partner with our team management, which is this incredible talent buying uh management agency, um, local here. They also put on Florida Fin Fest out of the beach. They're a huge part of, uh, taco and tequila fest and other countless festivals at the beach. They're a huge part of Taco and Tequila Fest and other countless festivals around the city.

Haley Wright Tinkle

But that was one of our Placemaking Jacks projects. They applied through Placemaking Jacks. They were like, hey, we have this crazy idea and they forged their own relationship with the Jacksonville Transit Authority to make it happen and we have been able to just come alongside them and woohoo, woohoo. That's literally all we're doing is like, ok, great, you're having your next meeting. That's awesome. Um. But another one we're really excited about is the return of third Thursday, sip and stroll the summer off because it is ungodly hot. So hot, so hot, um. But this is we're. We're also taking a new spin on it too. Um, we had, uh, over 200 applicants for placemaking jacks, um, and we had about three, three to four teams reach out um about wanting to have culturally specific sip and strolls.

Suzie

They really loved sip and strolls, but they fell Love that Like themed yes.

Haley Wright Tinkle

So we um for the fall, we are partnering with three different groups. Um, in September that'll be our first one we're partnering with a group called Rio Latino, uh, to kick off Hispanic heritage month. Um, so it's been so fun getting to work alongside these community members. Um, they are booking all of the entertainment and all of the food. So I essentially gave them the bones of sip and stroll and we're like but let's make it specific to you template documented it.

Suzie

Yeah, she spoils them spoiling the people.

Haley Wright Tinkle

And then in october, we're partnering with a group called jack's caribe, um, so it'll all be caribbean inspired. And then in november, um, we're working with a group called jack's filipino, so it'll all be about the past, present and future of philippine, philippine culture, specifically, specifically in Jacksonville. Yeah, it's the largest population, exactly.

Kady Yellow

Yeah, and for listeners who don't know, placemaking Jax is our placemaking program. We do an open call every year. We pretty much ask for a five to $10,000 project ideas by teams that want to lead in these spaces. What would you do to activate downtown? We get to do it every day. Why don't you come in on that fun and that work? Like she said, we had a couple hundred applications and we just actually launched our fall series. So we post everything at placemakingjacks on Instagram. We have the full lineup there.

Kady Yellow

There's incredible activations coming. There's going to be an incredible Paris style fashion show at Friendship Fountain on November 9th. Yes, by Numa designs and the collect uh collaborative at just relocated to Riverside, um, on September 21st we're activating lift every voice in sink park. Now Jack's is doing a Jack's photo fest. Yes, modeled and inspire, after the Brooklyn activation photo bill, which does an incredible outdoor installation. Uh, a photography that celebrates, um, the lesser seen, lesser known photography scene. That's huge here in Jacksonville. And the list goes on. We just have an incredible list of activations. So I encourage your listeners to go there and check those out. They're custom, curated, very unique experiences, one of a kind nights for you and your life.

Suzie

Yeah, you know my tagline is curate, educate, activate. I think it's important to curate a good reason for people to want to leave their house. You educate them about all the reasons that once they've left, they've got so many places and spaces to go see, experience and share and activate yourself. That's really it. Tony Smiler gets our friends. As you know, you can't be bored unless you're the board. If you're boring, you're here. I'm not lacking in places and spaces.

Suzie

So one final question, and this is really about moving forward as we look at the landscape of a city that's got a river everywhere you look and all these things, people think it has to be all about rivers and now all about the silent discos, but really, at the core of it, it's about people and it's about community. What would you advise people if they wanted to get a glimpse? What would be the events that you would say the top three that they should attend to get an idea? Also, what's the best way to support downtown vision, since every dollar you raise gets put right back into providing services and friend raising for our own city and community?

Haley Wright Tinkle

Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge proponent for third Thursday sip and stroll. That is my brain it. It's truly one of the most magical experiences. It's a happy hour event on the South Bank Riverwalk every third Thursday of the month. Artwalk is also a community statement and has been for two decades. Um, I truly think one of some of the best people watching you'll ever have is at art walk. Um, one of my favorite things to do is just sit in the art walk tent and see our city come out and shine. Um, and then a third. My, I would say they've been popping up all over the city.

Haley Wright Tinkle

Most recently, they've been popping up at the class factory Um, and we are also partnering with them through placemaking jacks to pop up, um, and lift every voice and sing park, um, and it is just this really beautiful collective of creatives. Um, they usually have, uh, hip hop ciphers, they have all kinds of local art. Um, I don't know how to describe it other than the vibes are immaculate, and I feel like that's really cringy to say, but you, you don't know until you experience it. It's really great.

Kady Yellow

I just love that theme. They call it a placemaking operation. I went to one, their very first one, um, at vagabond coffee. That was in Murray Hill and there was about maybe 40 people in a little alley and now it's five or 600 people in a warehouse yes, and their festival is going to probably break records. So it's just incredible to watch that happen over a calendar year. There's also a couple like off the beaten path places that I like to frequent Anytime there's anything going on out east on A Philip Randolph Boulevard the Ave.

Kady Yellow

I highly encourage folks to go stroll out there um patron the businesses, um stop at the avenue grill, stop at we make the sure, or raquel's tasty cakes, um spend time in checkerboard park that's a really special experience. Um anything that phoenix jacks does, I'm there for the arts district, that's um coming up rising out of the ashes, so to say. Um north of springfield highly encourage that space. And then I follow two local event curators or activation curators, candice Nicole Clark and Elena Olander. Anything they put on, I'm there.

Suzie

Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. You guys are spot on, because I've been to all those things. I even had a piece at Candice's pop-up last. Yeah, that's awesome.

Kady Yellow

And for those who are listening, who are like no way I would never. I'm way too nervous way to have all these. I'm an introvert, no way I'd go out. Please reach out to us. We will literally hold your hand into these places and spaces. We're happy to bring you in comfortably, securely.

Suzie

They're absolutely not kidding. When they say that Psychologically safe, we're saying that we got you. They're not going to cancel you for asking dumb questions. I do it all the time and they still hang out with me.

Suzie

I'll definitely and I love that she says nothing louder than any other person. In Jacksonville, katie Yellow literally says nothing so loud. Yeah, she's saying it now. Well, I will say that it has been a true privilege that you share, and you share graciously, and you make it fun. Every one of your learning opportunities, your workshops, your task forces, they feel like we can just hit the, you know, like the button, that staples button, is that the one Easy? You make it seem easy. That staples button, is that the one easy, easy, you make it seem easy. Even the applying for permits you gave, like the, the dummies guide to permit application. You guys, I want to come and be your, your intern. Oh, you do not thank you.

Suzie

do you see what a mixed bag this is? But I will share that. Today was the first time. Well, last night actually, I went and I found those clippings because for 15 years I had convinced myself that this was the biggest mistake of my life, when in fact I did a project from inception through completion and it was everybody in a building department, or was a planning board, or it was a mayor. It was everybody except for the people who wanted to live in the homes, the people down the block from what was a 70 acre abandoned neighborhood that were begging for renovation. Everybody except had an opinion.

Kady Yellow

And you know, susie, that that, that that you're telling everyone has, that Everyone can look back 15 years ago and that that weight of that failure might still be on their shoulders and it sounds like through you going outside, you've healed through that and found new purpose and found new energy and found new interest in the work that you've always done and bringing it back. So I hope that we encourage folks who are listening to forgive themselves. Yes, come out and play.

Suzie

Yes, so please come out and play with downtown vision. It's really beyond any words that you can imagine, because you don't know what you don't know, so borrow my binoculars. Yes, all right. Well, thank you. It's been an honor. No, it's been a privilege. Happy to be here, thank you. And now it's time for our honorable mention. Mensch is the Yiddish word for a person of honor and integrity, who does the right thing even when nobody is watching. This week's honorable Mensch is Mrs Honey Holsendorf, community steward and advocate of Checkerboard Park.

Suzie

In the vibrant out east community, there is a remarkable individual who has dedicated herself to uplifting the lives of its residents. Miss Honey, known for her unwavering determination and compassionate nature, has become a beacon of hope for many. Through her genuine connection with the community, miss Holzendorf has been making a significant difference in the lives of those out east, starting with the elderly population. Her passion for community service and empowering others began early in life. As a child, she thrived on the challenge of solving puzzles, developing a keen sense of focus and determination. Guided by her grandmother's teaching, ms Honey embraced the belief that failure was not an option and, after spending a decade away from her community, when she returned to out east. She was deeply moved by the struggles faced by her elderly residents. Through heartfelt conversations on their porches, she began solving their problems and offering guidance, becoming a source of solace for the lonely and vulnerable. By engaging and connecting with her community, she has witnessed significant transformations. Ms Honey's compassionate actions have helped bridge gaps in essential resources, and the out east community has steadily improved. Now Ms Honey is an active community steward of Checkerboard Park, who continues to educate and empower, and her crown shines in all four directions of Jacksonville.

Suzie

If you know of someone who is the kind of mensch who should get an honorable mention, send me a note at schmoozewithsuesorg or drop me a line on Instagram. That's going to do it for us today. Thanks for sticking around. Make sure to subscribe to Schmooze with Suze on YouTube and follow me on Instagram to get your daily dose of chutzpah. I'm Suze, your well-informed smartass who's not afraid to stand up and speak out. Because what's an envelope if not for pushing? Hey, stay inspired and inspiring.