Alexandra Mannings was just having fun in the southwest Atlanta dance class her mom enrolled her in when she was three years old. But, over time, her classes at DanceMakers of Atlanta, at 2282 Cascade Rd., became more than just a hobby. “As I got older," Mannings said, "it ended up meaning something more than just an after school activity.” Now the 14-year-old wants to be a professional dancer and choreographer. This month she will be a part of the Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker. Mannings was one of the first students to join DanceMakers, which twins Denise and Lynise Heard opened in 2001. “They…

Alfonso Dawson had a style all of his own. Born the son of sharecroppers, there weren’t many job opportunities for Dawson in the 1950s except becoming a teacher or a funeral director. He chose to become a funeral director and set out to make his mark in the business culled in gray and black by adding a splash of color. “He came with his maroon and beige cars, his bright colors and bright windows with natural lighting,” said Dawson’s daughter, Phoebe Dawson Ushery, who now runs Alfonso Dawson Mortuary, Inc., at 3000 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. “It revolutionized the funeral business. He was…

Jacques Allrich works about 60 hours a week, sometimes more, helping his clients to maximize their business through social media sites. But despite the long hours the 43-year-old husband and father has one simple goal—to work four hours a week. Admittedly, that goal may be some distance away as an increasing number of business owners are plugging in to social media marketing and are turning to gurus like Allrich for help. “Social media marketing is the next big thing today,” said Allrich, owner of Social Marketing For Youoff Camp Creek Parkway. “This is where the future of marketing is going…

Kim Tumey was running late. She was expected at an awards ceremony with Omar Benson Miller who finally tracked her down at Woodruff Park. The CSI: Miami actor watched her in amazement. Tumey, known as "The Celebrity Broker," makes her living negotiating endorsement deals, movie roles, casting calls and commercials for celebrities. But here she was, standing in the middle of the park, feeding the homeless. After getting over his shock, Miller realized why. “Oh my God, I didn’t know it was this bad,” Miller said. Then he joined in, buying hamburgers and fries from McDonald’s after Tumey and her…

David Martin wanted a product he could sell. After working years as a corporate and real estate attorney, Martin chose to bite into the multi-billion dollar meat market. “I wanted to have a product, practicing law you are the product,” said Martin, a former resident of southwest Atlanta and member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, across from Peyton Forest Elementary. “My interest was more in developing, marketing and sales than law.” Now the president and CEO of Home Style Foods L.L.C. wants to take that product international, and he’s starting with Brazil. The processor and distributor of …

Old and gray, there is nothing seemingly special about the shabby little shack tucked off Campbellton Road. It’s only furnishings are throwaway church benches and two bleached-brown tables. It’s décor: celebrity pictures plastered on walls and a lightly stacked magazine rack in one corner on the restaurant’s marred black concrete floor. On Monday and Tuesday afternoons, hardly any traffic clutters the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, which stands beside a gas station and a string of other small businesses. But that changed on Wednesday when this grey shack with seemingly little to offer …

Perhaps, they are an unlikely pair. But together the California lawyer and Georgia envelope distributor have managed to create a business that may just revolutionize the world of giving. They have connected single parents and families struggling to carve out a living and make ends meet with people who want to help them stay afloat. And they did it by creating a niche on the World Wide Web. Their business, GiveLocally.net, launched last year. “It is an unusual concept,” said Michael Nelson, who is with the Association of Fundraising Professionals. “I’ve seen it with schools but I haven’t seen …

For months Michael Davis prepared for the opening of his franchise with the world’s reportedly largest retailer of printer cartridge refills. He found the perfect spot in the upscale Camp Creek Marketplace center on Camp Creek Parkway. He researched the market, finding out which cartridges were the top sellers. His inventory stacked; his employees in place, Davis opened Cartridge World, at 3645 Marketplace Blvd., in November 2010, hoping to capture a customer base that was ready for cheaper cartridges that provided the same top quality. “Everyone is a potential customer,” Davis, 45, said. “If…

Natural light flooded the room where an elderly man sat in a wheelchair with his back turned.  He sat just inside glass doors, seemingly ignoring the jazz music playing in the background, as his gaze landed on the lush greenery and colorful flowers that took center stage on the facility’s landscape. “It’s a beautiful day,” he said, his words barely audible. Still, a man sitting a few feet away in a corner understood his words and quickly agreed. For a moment their conversation meandered between the past and the present. Then, the man in the wheel chair turned to look at the receptionist …

One night as lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the Crenshaws’ Pensacola home, Christine Crenshaw quickly turned off all the lights and unplugged the electronics. It was the 1960s and they were the only ones in the neighborhood to have a phone and a black and white television. And little Priscilla Crenshaw liked it when the other neighborhood kids came over to watch cartoons and eat some of the food her father, Fred Crenshaw, brought home from his job as a chef. She knew her mother was afraid of the lightning and thunder and watched as the house went dark in her mother’s wake. Her …

In a business off Cascade Road, a woman sat facing her staff. Her excited chatter strayed from the business of the learning center to the new earrings dangling from her ears. Soon, the buzz in the room was centered around two words – Nina Chanel. You need to check out this boutique, she told her staff. And with that, staff member Jean Adams used her lunch break to visit the boutique at 2308 Cascade Road. She smiled as she stepped on to a long, plush red carpet and inhaled the store’s flowery fragrance. But before she could move any further, a man appeared offering her a  cold beverage. A bit …

Albert Coughlin walked quietly around the dozens of twisted bodies lying on mats on the light-brown wood floor. His voice hovered slightly above a whisper as he spoke, “Soften your cheeks. Unclench your teeth. Breathe.” In a dark room encased in glass and closed off from the rest of the world, his students followed his calm, soothing voice as he guided them in the ancient practice of Yoga. Some laughed as they followed his instructions and curled into a slightly precarious position, trusting as he encouraged them to lift their hips higher, bend deeper and lengthen their stretch. They welcomed…

In a space slightly larger than a walk-in closet where the only luster was a large, old Asian fan, housed all one man needed to run a cab company—a desk, a phone and a set of files. To the left of the hanging fan that featured two flowers on a branch with a bird perched beneath it, was the brown desk where Sam Maffett sat daily dispatching calls, listening to patrons' complaints and keeping track of his six drivers. Maffett was the manager, one of many since the death of Charles Heard, the owner of Cascade Cab Company—reportedly one of the oldest black-owned cab companies in Atlanta. Still …

The little white and cream-colored house seated on a slight slope off Sylvan Road was a well kept secret – at least among the hundreds of nervous moms and dads who have walked through its doors. One mom drove by the Victorian-style home at 1750 Sylvan Road several times before she saw the sign painted in black and white letters: Sylvan Hills Day Nursery. She followed the sound of children’s laughter to the back of the home where a light breeze played with the colorful windmills just outside the playground’s gate. She watched as children of different races, some her daughter’s age and older, …

There were four of them, a military commander and three boys, having lunch outside an apartment complex off Cascade Road.  The boys were only 7 or 8 years old, their childhood stalled as they plotted their way out of a neighborhood that stole the young. “There are three ways of getting out of here, entertainment and athletics,” said Jason, the most outspoken of the three. “I’m not good at sports. I can’t sing, but I can sell drugs.” Sam Tompkins, who trained Navy Seals to disable bombs, liked to help the young. He paid the boys for doing odd jobs inside his auto parts business at 1180 Utoy …

They may not know each others' names or how they spend their days, but they always exchange smiles. Some of them hug. They are part of a growing network of healthy vegan and vegetarian eaters; and one spot that unites them is a restaurant hand-painted in the colors of nature and planted in the heart of the Historic West End. Their idyllic, ad hoc assembly forms a line around raw dishes and vegan delights cooked in alkaline water and seasoned for a Caribbean flavor. They seize upon the dishes and the information of other health-focused events, all the while thankful for the place that …

Frank Mohadou closed the door to the beauty supply business he was struggling to keep, in the slice of space he obtained from his sister. The still night held no comfort for the African native as he slid behind the wheel of the $250-a-month car he could barely afford. He ignored the thought of going home; knowing soon he would have to find another place to live since the people he was staying with were drifting apart. Instead, he sat; his anxiety and frustration combed into a manageable silence as he contemplated ways to grow his business. Just then, a Korean-American stepped up through his …

Seated on a high chair with her small fist curled around a plastic spoon, Ameerah Watson was barely tall enough to see into the pot as she stirred sautéed potatoes on a hot stove. She was only 18-months-old.   But she grew to love the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that come with preparing dishes of a modern variety – including Mexican, French, Caribbean, African and Southern.  Watson would watch her mom, aunts and grandmothers cook, southern style in iron skillets, as they prepared dishes made from scratch.  On special occasions, the three generations of women piled into one kitchen, …

For years, it served as the Cascade community’s main health food store with a ready supply of fresh fruits and vegetables, vitamins and herbs, natural body and household products. It was a teaching institution, offering classes on herbs, yoga and the Martial Arts; providing tutorials and movies for children, and tie & dye classes for adults. Then it changed names and moved to a larger place, a place more than twice its size; a place that has become a haunt of its former glory, overshadowing rows of sparsely covered shelves, and lurking over frequently empty isles. Still, the diminishing …

With its warm atmosphere, colorfully-rich décor and plush setting, Riley’s International Boutique and Thrift Shop is one of a kind – and not only in southwest Atlanta. Monday through Wednesday, the regular sounds of soulful music drift outdoors, inviting passers-by to stop and listen. Those who open the door, inhale the scent of vanilla as they step onto a plush carpet rich in earth tones and hand-stitched, as if for the floors of an upscale Las Vegas casino. They may resist the urge to sit in the comfortable brown leather chairs placed at a small table with a chess game already prepared; and…